Why Your Client Didn’t Call You Back

Ok – so you’ve had the first call and you’re pretty certain it all went well – the client responded well and promised they’d get back to you… and you waited, and waited, and then waited some more… and like a love-struck teenager pontificated over whether they’d lost your number, met someone else or suffered some unforeseen tragedy thus preventing them from calling you at the allotted time. Then you pontificate some more… should you prompt their memory.. drop them a line… pretend you lost your diary and thought it was you who was meant to call?

Oh the stress, why oh why, can people just not call when they say will? Or… maybe… just perhaps… it’s not them, it’s YOU?

Below are the top 7 reasons our clients (or rather not-clients!) choose to ignore your calls or ‘forget’ to call us back:

1 – Your offering didn’t occur as an opportunity

They may have liked you, liked your product or services even, but despite thinking everything was ‘great’ it just didn’t land for them as an OPPORTUNITY. They ‘get it’ but they don’t get it FOR THEM. To prevent this from happening you have to make your offering personal and relevant to the client – right here, right now, benefit, benefit, benefit… can’t live without it benefit!

According to Impact Communications 70% of people make purchasing decisions to solve problems – and the remaining 30% make decisions  to gain something… either way, what is the opportunity you’re making available for them?

2 – You didn’t excite them

Maybe your client DID understand your offering as an opportunity but they may still relate to it as a ‘meh’ type of offering! Did your own excitement levels and passion for the opportunity leave them gasping for more? Or did they hang up the phone and go about the business of picking grub from their fingernails?? If they haven’t called you back you may want to reconsider!

3 – There was no direct call to action

Ambivalent requests breed ambivalent responses – and we are so bombarded by advertising and marketing every second of our busy lives that unless you’ve DIRECTLY asked for the sale or next step in your sales cycle then don’t expect them to know that’s what was on the cards. A woolly arrangement to ‘chat again next week’ means nothing. And will yield nothing.

4 – You left an impression on them – the wrong impression!

In every interaction that we have with a fellow human being we leave our mark. For better or for worse! It takes less than 6 seconds for someone to form an unconscious judgement of another. Your client is no different, and you have no idea what stereotype they created of you UNCONSCIOUSLY – and whether that served you or not. Have they put you in the camp of ‘slimy salesperson’ or ‘jargon laden geek’? have a think about who they are – and therefore what assumptions they might have made about you without realising.

5 – You didn’t add any value

We all  know that we’re in the business of adding value to our clients and what this can do for our sales results – but seldom do we take this on from the very moment we start interacting with a client. That first interaction should have got their old grey matter buzzing with new ideas and curiosity – because you made it so! And to really go the extra mile – follow up with an email jam packed with interesting video links or articles that pick up on the themes you discussed. If you don’t do this then you are just another caller. Goodbye.

6 – You made it all about YOU

I’ll be blunt on this one: Those clients out there care not a jot about your PhD, your 20 years experience or the sheer brilliance of your latest new fangled shiny object. They only care about what you will have done for them – AFTER YOU’VE GONE! Shift your focus from me, me, me and be all about them and their amazing results and then see how quickly the phone starts ringing.

7 – It’s not the right time

And sometimes, you may have done a brilliant job at covering off all of the above – thrilled them, excited them and got them all juiced up – BUT! There’s the but. Sometimes, it’s just the wrong time. The budget is spent, they’ve just signed a year contract with your competitor, or it isn’t in this years business plan. Fair enough – this is not the time to start ‘handling their objections’ you will soon become that ‘slimy salesperson’ stereotype mentioned above – this is the time to get the diary and schedule your next call for the RIGHT MOMENT – book it in now, formalise with an outlook reminder and then keep adding value with great helpful emails between now and then.

Hopefully you’ll recognise some of the above and have some food for thought. Have a think about your own behaviours – what can you sharpen up on to reduce those missing in action moments?

And according to The Marketing Donut – 80% of sales require 5 follow up calls after the initial contact – and 44% of salespeople give up after just 1 follow up – so whatever happens DON’T GIVE UP!

Good Luck!