The Sale You Thought You’d Lost May Not Be Lost at All

Hold that thought. 82% of sales take place after the seventh touch.

If that figure is even broadly accurate, it raises an interesting question about the way we follow up with potential clients. How many people who showed genuine interest have we quietly written off simply because they didn’t buy when we first spoke?

There is a tendency to treat a failed conversion as a definitive outcome. Someone makes an enquiry, asks for a quotation or has a conversation with us, and when nothing happens, we move on. Yet not buying isn’t necessarily the same as saying no. The timing may have been wrong, circumstances may have changed, or they may simply have needed longer to reach a decision.

This matters because businesses are often much better at generating new leads than they are at following up with the ones they’ve already generated.

Look again at the people you’ve already found

Every person who has enquired about your business has already done something valuable: they’ve identified themselves as having a potential need. You’ve got their attention and, in many cases, you’ve already begun a relationship.

So before spending more time and money looking for another hundred prospects, it is worth looking at the people already sitting in your database. How many asked for information, requested a quotation, discussed working with you or showed interest, but never quite got to the point of buying?

Some will have moved on, of course. But others may still have exactly the same requirement.

The challenge is finding out which is which.

One remarkably simple way of doing that is the so-called nine-word email. Instead of sending another carefully constructed marketing message, go back to the people who previously showed an interest and simply reopen the conversation.

Hey Josh, are you still looking to rebuild your company website?

That’s the whole email.

The point isn’t to sell

The temptation is to add something. We want to explain why we’re getting in touch, remind them what we do, tell them about an offer, include a link and give them some reason to respond.

But the simplicity is precisely what makes this approach interesting. You’re not trying to close the sale; you’re trying to discover whether there is still a conversation to be had.

If Josh replies, “Yes, actually, we are,” you have something valuable. You know the requirement is still there, and you can now find out what has changed, what is holding him back and what he needs to know before making a decision.

The email has done its job.

There is also something important about leaving the question open. You’re not assuming that Josh is ready to buy and you’re not trying to solve the problem before he has even replied. You’re simply asking whether he’s still looking to do something he previously told you he was interested in doing.

That makes follow-up feel very different from pressure.

Persistence isn’t pestering

Good follow-up isn’t about repeatedly asking someone whether they’re ready to buy. It’s about remaining relevant until they’re ready.

For many purchases, particularly those involving significant amounts of money or a degree of uncertainty, people need time. They may need more information, reassurance or simply the opportunity to think things through. Staying in contact and continuing to be useful is part of the selling process, not an interruption to it.

Which brings us back to the seventh touch.

If most sales really do require several interactions, then abandoning a prospect after one or two attempts doesn’t necessarily tell us that they weren’t interested. It may simply tell us that we stopped following up before they were ready.

There may be more life in your old leads than you think

The nine-word email is therefore more than a clever little email tactic. It highlights a broader opportunity that exists in almost every business: the people you’ve already attracted may contain considerably more value than you’re extracting from them.

Go back through your old enquiries, quotations, emails and conversations. Find the people who were interested but never bought and, rather than trying to sell to them again, ask whether the requirement is still there.

Hey Josh, are you still looking to rebuild your company website?

You may get a “no”. That’s fine. At least you know.

But you may also get the response that every business owner would like to receive: “Yes, actually. Funny you should get in touch…”

Because sometimes the next customer isn’t a new lead at all. It’s an old lead who has finally become ready.

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