Episode 133: Ghosted by a Customer? Here's how to get Back in the Game

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Who wants to build the highest performing and engaged teams, stronger sales teams is right where you need to be. Welcome back to Stronger Sales Teams. The place where we provide real world and practical advice to help you develop super powered sales teams. Getting Ghosted Hands up if it's happened to you. Yeah, I've got one hand up, I've got two hand up. I got my feet in the air. Every single salesperson I've ever worked with has both hands up and both feet in the air. Because getting ghosted is a part of the job. However, it doesn't mean it's a part of the job that we like or that we need to accept. And having spent quite a bit of time out on the road over the last couple of months, one thing I've noticed is that in my opinion, resilience around hanging in there when customers ghost us has certainly decreased over recent years. Now, I don't think it's an intent piece and what I mean by that is I don't think that salespeople are unmeaning to just give up. Right. I don't think that salespeople don't have a level of personal resilience to be able to get out there and focus on customers, particularly when they slow down their comms back to them. However, I do think it's somewhat of a lost art. I do think that given businesses have had things so good for so long, yes, the last 12, 18, 24 months has been a little bit more difficult. But certainly before that, many businesses had a 2, 3, 4, 5 year period that was pretty good. And before that a 10 year period that was pretty good. And I think that what has happened here is that we have in many instances just forgotten how to ride that bike. Just forgotten how to really make customers want to engage with us. But more importantly to be that little bit persistent when things don't go our way. Now I'd like to clarify before we get into this podcast, the difference between avoiding being ghosted and really pestering and hounding someone, for me, there is an absolute difference. And there's a line that I generally recommend customers don't cross, right? And that's when you see the daily calls, the twice daily calls, just again, again and again, the 10, 20, 30 types of outreach over a really short period of time. I think that moves from being persistent and trying to create value to customers. Right. To simply hassling them. That won't do anyone any good when it comes to winning deals. But what I'd like to focus on today is when we have customers who we believe have the right intent and the right interest to want to move forward, but perhaps just haven't quite been able to engage with us along the journey. An example here I'd like to use to set the scene is I've certainly been in this, in my personal space a number of times is I want you to imagine that you've been dealing with someone where you're going to be buying a product from them. And I want you to think about a moment where perhaps you've moved from being quite engaged to. To your communications in return have slowed down. I think the majority of people who are listening, I don't think it's too bold for me to say at some point in time would have had someone selling them something where they may have just fallen off that regular comms in return. Right. And perhaps left someone hanging. I know I've done it and we don't mean to do it, but I want you to put yourself in that situation. I want you to imagine that time goes by and you've had emails from people and phone calls and you just know that you need to get back to them. In fact, you might even want to do the deal, you might even want to buy the product from them. But more and more times they contact you that you start to feel perhaps that little bit guilty. I know I certainly do, and I've said that a couple of times now. But for me is when the more someone contacts me and the slower I am to get back to them, the slower I actually then end up being getting back to them again. And what I mean by that is I start to focus on things that are easier on feeling guilty that I haven't got back to them. So I don't call them. I bury my head in the sand a little bit now. I try really hard not to, but certainly it happens. It has happened multiple times to me across my life. So what ends up Happening is what could have been a really good engagement doesn't go ahead because I simply did not get back in touch with that customer. And by the time being, it got to the point where I was ready to go. I just felt like, you know, I'd done the wrong thing, I hadn't contacted them back, or the customer on the other end had just pestered me so much that I didn't want to deal with them anymore. Right. It kind of goes both ways there. But certainly for me, I always like to look at this from a personal point of view first to understand how I'd behave in instances when I have someone chasing me, but I haven't been able to get back to them. We're going to continue to call that being ghosted. And I'm going to go through today about 20 or so different types of ways that we can be getting back in touch with customers when perhaps that process of ghosting has commenced. So let's start at the top. Let's picture that situation, right, where you have contacted a customer or you've met with a customer. They seem quite interested in learning what you're going to do. They've committed to doing some things for you. Right. So they're going to go away and do whatever jobs they need to do to keep something moving forward. But all of a sudden, boom stops. Nothing happens, and the deal appears to be dead. So I'd like to start to think about here. We've made a few phone calls, we've tried some emails. Right. And we haven't gone ahead anywhere. Here's a whole lot of ways that you can roll into your repertoire to try and reduce the propensity of being ghosted or actually bring back some contact from that customer. Right, back to the future where you were talking previously to try and get that rolling again. All right, so some of these are going to be really straightforward. But if you can find just one or two ways to adjust how you're making contact with customers from this episode, then that's going to be a really strong success, particularly because you're able to then roll out these one or two things again and again and again and again when you're talking to customers over the next weeks, months and years. But let's get straight into it. So number one, and this is short and sharp, the first piece here is when you're finding customers won't get in contact with you or won't answer your calls, really it's really important to try different times during the day. Everyone's busy, everyone has different styles of schedules. Some have more meeting heavy mornings, meeting heavy afternoons. Some people start later, some people start earlier, finish earlier. Right. Everyone works a slightly different schedule. So the first thing I'd really encourage you to do is to think about how you can adjust your times, that you're trying to make contact with customers. And that's not just different days, but also different times of the day. Mornings, middle of the day, afternoons, even within the afternoons. Just before 5pm, just after 5pm Right. That's something that's in our control and a really powerful tool we can use to leverage trying to get in touch with customers who aren't necessarily picking up the phone to us. Second one is prior to calling. Right. I love this one. Actually learnt this from one of our customers, is to send them an SMS with your full name at the bottom. Hi, it's Ben here from Stronger Sales Teams. I'm going to be getting in touch with you tomorrow. We haven't been able to make contact for a couple of weeks. Hopefully that's okay. I'll give you a call in the afternoon. Right. Then you sign it off. Ben. Right. What happens from there is that, particularly in smartphones, and I know it certainly works on iPhones, is that when you make that call. Right. You'll often see and picture yourself you're picking up that phone and I don't know if you've seen that warning, suspicious activity come up when a customer calls. Right. How iPhones also work is that when they've been able to establish a link between an SMS or another form of contact on that number, it will often say something like maybe Ben Wright calling. And the numbers say when you see a name on a phone that's looking to call, you are more likely to answer that. Right. So we're signposting by SMS that we're going to call. Hopefully it means the customer's ready to take the call. Hopefully it also means that we're able to put in there that our name's in there and then when they see that rolling through, they're a little bit more likely to answer the call. SMS messages with video would be the next one I'd be looking at. So I've spoken a lot about using programs like Loom to be able to contact our customers to record videos and send across. It can even be done just through a FaceTime video. Right. If you want to make it really simple. But I like Loom because it tracks, opens, we do that video, simply grab the link, embed it into an SMS message and then a customer Gets a short and sharp little video message from us. Really, really like it. Same goes for SMS audio messages. That's simply pulling up your phone, clicking on the area you need to write your text. There's often options there. On an iPhone, again, you click on the plus sign and it comes up with audio. Bang, away you go, you record that audio message. Different way of contacting a customer rather than a phone call, much easier to listen to than a voicemail. And ways that you can try and get in touch. When we talk about video and creating videos, embedding them into emails. Right. Even social media, when you can take those videos and throw them across as an embedded either link or even better, an embedded image into the email with a message there for your customer. Same on social media, rolling out that video. Right. What we're trying to do is break the pattern around how people will engage with us. And when you're using something like a loom, it then allows you to see when that video's been opened as well. Right. So there's a few ways there already. There's probably five or six different ways we can try. None of these are going to work every time. But the idea here is that we have in our toolbox lots of different ways that we can contact customers because some of them will work some of the time. And if we can break that link of no contact of silence and get things rolling again, often, they can move really quickly. Okay. Another one I like is having your leader, right. Call in just to do a quality check. Hey, I see you've been dealing with Ben. I just want to make sure that you're getting everything you want from him. Right. If that doesn't work, we can certainly have our leaders. Right. Change the angle of contact with our customers. Right. So we go for a top to top or a same level discussion. So for a salesperson, we can get our state manager or our team leader or our sales manager or our sales director. Right. For a sales leader, we can get our COO or our CEO or our GM or whoever it may be to try and make those calls. Right. And just connect and engage to say, hey, A, he's been looking after you, but B, at a more senior level within a business, what do we need to achieve? What are some of those priorities and some of those outcomes that we can start to focus on? Right. I love it when we're not able to get in touch with customers that we sometimes send that, and I hate the name breakup message, but essentially that's what it is and it's signposting that it's the last time you're going to contact a customer. Now, I'd always recommend this one is done right at the very end, when you really are at the end of your tether and wanting to contact customers. Because whilst you can certainly roll them onto nurturing campaigns, I think when you say it's the last time you're going to contact them and then you don't, you continue to contact, you lose a lot of credibility there. But if you're at that point sending that message that says, hey, it's the last time we get in touch, I've absolutely seen that work multiple times with sales teams that I work with, because it springs the customer interaction to say, hey, I actually do want to speak to you, right? I better pick up or I better reach out and make sure we're getting in touch. So I like the old breakup message. Video calls. Something that I've seen used really powerfully is, yeah, it's bold, but particularly if you've met a customer before is to simply hit them with a video call, right? It breaks the pattern. It can allow customers to look at and go, oh, my God, I've got, you know, there's a video call coming in. Who is this guy? Right? But you answer it, you're curious, right? And you certainly need to make sure you've got some good things to say when you answer that video call. Or you might be standing in front of your product and you're there to give them a demo. There's a whole lot of ways you can do that. And again, signposting that, hey, I'm about to give you a FaceTime call. I'm in front of this fantastic piece of equipment that you're going to be buying from us, right? I've got one here. It's rare. I'd like to show it to you. Hopefully you can pick up an answer, right? And when they can't, often we can get some engagement coming back there. Social media outreach, one I've seen work really well, right. Can be a direct message to someone in the team. Doesn't have to be the person you're dealing with. It can be colleagues, it can be other influencers, it can be more senior decision makers liking commenting around posts, right? Simply connecting with them. Nice way to break, right? Break the mold, break the impasse and get people talking to you. So really like social media as an outreach point of view. And this is probably where I'd throw in a segue that says, for me, ghosting happens more frequently when you have Only one contact within a customer organization. Right. To really work past that, I guess the downside of being ghosted or the risks of being ghosted, we need to make sure we've got multiple contacts within a business so that we can reach out to different people when different things happen. So I really like the social media piece, a mutual reintroduction. So when you've been introduced by someone in the first place, or you know someone who knows this person, getting them to make that call, to send that message to try and help you get engaged, really, really powerful way to try and start things moving forward. Again, loving mutual introduction. See it used very, very regularly in businesses aiming for a different part of the organization. So trying to get through to that your contact. Right. Through a service department. Right. Or even better, calling a service department and perhaps asking them for their opinions around some things that you're trying to move into that business. Yes, it's cheeky. But certainly when you're dealing with a product that needs to get serviced and you can ring that service department and ask them, hey, what are some of the key challenges you're having with other products or with our product or opportunities that you have to solve? Getting some value and then getting that across to your contact. Right. So essentially what we're doing is changing the value paradigm for them. Nice way to try and open up those communication channels again. Now I know I'm moving pretty quickly through these. I'll go back and give a really quick summary around a handful of those at the end, but I'm hopeful that as you're picking these up, you're going, yep, I do remember that one. Oh wow, I used to use that and I haven't anymore. Or, or this is brand new, right. And maybe it's time I can roll one out. Okay, so one of my all time favorites is being able to solve an unrelated problem for a customer. And I've told the example in this podcast before about when I was dealing with a customer who needed a whole lot of equipment. It was lighting product for their stores. Right. They were reluctant to talk to us because it was a price game, but solved an unrelated problem around the energy cost for them. That moved me from perhaps just a salesperson to someone that actually had proven that I had their best interest at heart. And the reality is I did. I was happy to help that person outside of just what they needed. But by doing it and doing it with some genuine care, we ended up building a multimillion dollar relationship that went for a number of years. And I think if that Person still reached out, needing some help. Now I would absolutely do that for them because I was very grateful for the business that they generated for us. Right. So solving unrelated problems and what this really comes down to is creating that value for them. Right. When you can create that value, it's worth having those conversations. Okay, so we're going to turn back the clock back to the future here. Doesn't happen a lot anymore. But sending a gift, sending just something small or nominal out to that customer. I've seen people send bottles of wine with a key that, you know they're in a box that says, you know, I'll come across with the key when you have a meeting with me. I'm not a huge fan of that, but what I do like is just sending something across that's small that says thank you for your time so far. I think everyone who knows me knows that chocolate is a big part of what I do. Right. But something that's either going to show you you have an understanding of them, their business or even their family. Right. Sending people something for their kids, particularly people who work long hours in difficult jobs and don't get to spend the time they want to with their kids. Right. There are plenty of us out there and we all have it at varying times during our lives. But when you're not getting to do that, giving them something that can help them make their kids happy and their kids lives a little bit better I think is really powerful. Now I do want to just caution this around bribery versus showing you care. And for me, where the line normally comes here is when we go really big on gifts, I think that can form into or move into that bribery type of area. And where it doesn't happen is when we're sending something small but thoughtful that says I care. Okay. Doing the old drop by. Right. You can even drop by with a gift. Right. But just turning up on site, don't see enough salespeople do that anymore. Certainly see some that do it. But nothing wrong with a drive by or a drop in, right. The worst that can happen is someone says no. Right. Particularly when they're not contacting you. Posting something. I've spoken about giving gifts, but even things like a thank you card, brochures, tech specs, Right. Something that is really relevant and can help them be moved along their decision making process or simply remind them that you're there is a nice way to do it. Right. For me, a lot of people say thank you cards. That's old school and I don't even know how to write anymore. But I think that's why it works, right? Because it can break that pattern of communications. And after all, that's what we're trying to do here is to just simply break that pattern. Inviting them to events, webinars, upcoming points of interest. Right? This is a little bit different to socializing with customers. I certainly don't see huge results from entertainment with new customers anymore, definitely with existing customers. But I think. I think people live really busy lives, right? We're all overwhelmed. We all have screen times that are the length of a full feature movie, Right. For the average one of us. I just had mine come through this morning. 2 hours and 13 minutes on average per day on my phone over the last week. It's a lot of screen time, right. So I don't necessarily think entertaining works as well, but inviting them to events that can help them do their job better, save them time, give them more time with their family, whatever. It may be really powerful. Right? So she's. We're up to about 17 or 18 now, a couple more to go. Tagging them into a social media post of your own, right? So letting them know you're still there by posting about a latest product, right? Adding them into the comments, right? Yeah. Also cheeky, but at the end of the day, when we're. We're trying to break that trap of being ghosted, sometimes you need to be prepared to just have a little bit of sizzle, a little bit of a glimmer in your eye and do something a little bit differently. Right. And last but not least is, and it was actually podcast episode from two ago, episode 130 is to get across a case study, right? Something that proves that we are to be trusted, that we've done this before and we've looked after customers along the journey, whether it's written, whether it's video, whether it's audio, getting case studies across the customers can be really powerful at simply reopening that point of contact and getting us talking to each other again. So, wow, there's a lot of pieces there. And I'll go through that summary again in a moment. But I think the main message I also have when it comes to being ghosted is to avoid it happening in the future is to really focus on sensitive setting up exactly what a customer wants from working with you. Because when we get that outcome really clear and we can really visibly show to a customer the benefits they're going to get from working with us, that's for me, when we get really powerful relationships because customers know that we're working together towards an outcome, right. Rather than it being something that they can't quantify. And when we can quantify something in general, most people will move, albeit at different paces, towards making those type of outcomes happen. So let's just quickly recap some of those who have spoken about phone calls, the different types of days, SMS messages before a phone call, SMS audio messages, SMS video messages, emails being embedded with images or videos, you know, think loom, right. To get some opens from that. We've spoken about your manager calling to check in, right. Or simply raising the the level of conversation with different angles. So implementing a top to top type of discussion. We've spoken about a breakup message, right? Only if you mean it. This is the last time I'm going to contact you. Video calls, even text messages before those video calls saying, hey, I'm going to get in touch. I'm in front of this product with this fantastic new feature for you, right. Or something you're going to really like, right? I'm going to give you a buzz. Spoken about social media, liking, connecting, commenting, posting, tagging them in, connecting with other people across the businesses. Right. And a very similar level here, mutual kind of reintroductions or introductions, getting someone who you know to introduce you into those customers, solving a problem for them, particularly an unrelated one. Right. Show them your care. Absolutely super powerful. Start to drop by their site sometimes take a gift with you. Simply do the drop in, post a gift, send a thank you card, send brochures, 10 tech specs, invite people to events, right. Webinars, certain things you're holding that will add value to them, getting them out to site to see their customers. Right. Thank you card, as I just said. And last but not least is getting across case studies or testimonials or something that will give them some confidence that you can deliver what you say you're going to deliver. All right, well, I'm out of breath because that was really fast. We went through lots of ways to help you avoid being ghosted. My request out of today, if you want to get something from this, is to find one or two things that you can roll out straight away. All right. Because once you do that, we talk about the power of small 1% gains, right? We keep 1% gains moving forward and very quickly they become habits. So before I leave, I haven't done in a couple of weeks, you know, a health and fitness tip, something I'm focusing on in my journey. And at the moment it's those 1 percenters, it's making sure that whenever I get an opportunity to improve 1%, to do that little bit extra swimming in the pool, to run that little bit more, to just do five or ten minutes of extra gym work, right? To say no to chocolate on a Monday and then hopefully stretch it into a Tuesday to not have a drink on a certain night. Right? All those little things that help build habits. That's what I'm focusing on at the moment because I know that when I get them right, I'm generally a lot happier, healthier, more rested and better at everything I do. So thank you everyone. Happy talking with your customers. I hope that today has helped you have at least one customer come back to you who wasn't talking to you previously. And also solve for the future so that you're going to get ghosted less. But for now, keep living in a world of possibility and you'll be amazed by what you can achieve. Bye for now.

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