It’s bound to happen at some point – someone that a speaker is trying to contact will stop talking to them. This happens for a variety of reasons. Here are some we have heard:
Maternity leave.
Stepping into another event they’re been planning for.
Stopped having events altogether.
But more often than not – it’s because they just don’t care about the speaker. It’s harsh, but true – until someone knows how you can solve their problems, you will be ignored. And your hard-sourced prospects will go to waste.
Where I grew up, logging camps used to be a major industry. Loggers would fell trees and roll them to rivers to float to sawmills. When the trees got stuck, they would use dynamite to blow the logjam. Could that damage some of the logs?
Sure.
But is it worth taking some risk to avoid all of the logs rotting in the water? Yep.
Here are ways we’ve discovered – over more than 5,000 calls – to eliminate logjams and ensure that our buyers continue to speak to us, so we can speak for them:
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Peer-To-Peer Testimonials
If a speaker is gathering testimonial videos after they get off stage, they’re likely grabbing a random audience member who looks nice and getting their thoughts. That testimonial video will work great if random audience members are your buyers. However, the chances are high that they’re not. Instead of getting random audience members to rave about your talk, why not get the decision maker to do so?
(After dozens and dozens of talks where we’ve asked decision makers to give us a few seconds on video, only one has refused.)
That video can be leveraged in a peer-to-peer introduction so that you can offer to ‘introduce’ the decision maker who raved about you to the decision maker who’s begun ignoring you. This is an especially useful tactic if a meeting planner has begun ignoring your requests for a chat – send it to their boss, the person on the level of the person in your video. Works like a charm.
Call Them Out In A Way They Can’t Ignore
If a salesperson believes, without a doubt, that their product or service can make a positive difference in the lives of a prospect, then that salesperson has an ethical responsibility to do everything in their power to cut through the noise in the prospect’s life and get their attention.
Think about it this way: You’re the CEO of a business and you have a massive problem that you’ve delegated to one of your execs to handle. The exec is busy and doesn’t understand that this is an issue you need solved yesterday. A salesperson offering a solution to this massive problem tried multiple times and through multiple methods to contact your exec, and is ignored.
If it’s a big enough problem for me as the CEO, I want that solution at least considered! That’s the strategy with the infamous Goodbye Letter.
This is a simple letter that we send to the top person in the organization if we’ve been ignored long enough, and it’s a simple business-format letter that says, “We’ve tried multiple times to get ahold of your employee to discuss this solution, but we haven’t heard back at all. Is there someone else in your organization responsible for handling this issue we should be in touch with?”
Does this method take cajones? Absolutely.
Have our Goodbye Letters been hand-walked, by the CEO, to a meeting planner who’s been too busy to respond to us? Absolutely.
We Educate Folks With Our Communication
If you’re only sending emails, you’re leaving money on the table – and allowing your prospects a way to ignore you.
Instead, use omni-channel marketing to let folks know that you do care about their challenges, want to help them, and want to have a conversation. You can speak to 3,000 people from stage, take the time to have a 1:1 conversation with folks that can pay you for your expertise. To do that, use multiple methods of communication to ensure you get a decision maker’s attention – and the conversation.
Do This Now:
-Leverage video testimonials from decision makers to drive conversations with other decision makers.
-Don’t be afraid to call folks out to their bosses with a goodbye letter. If you’re convinced your solution is the real deal, don’t rest until you give other people the chance to be convinced as well.
-Use multiple channels of communication. If someone who doesn’t understand your value gets used to deleting your emails and email is the only way you communicate, good luck with that sale. If you use every form of communication available and don’t let up – your passion will be communicated and get you the conversation you’re after.
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