Most of the letters you send will not get a reply.
A few will get the result you are looking for – and it’s a great feeling when that happens.
A few more will get a ‘thanks-but-no-thanks’ reply. But I showed you how to deal with those last time.
What about all the others? What do you do with those?
Here’s what to do – step by step.
(The below is one of the follow ups I use for letters – emails are entirely different as my clients know).
After you’ve sent your letter, give them time to reply. If you don’t get anything after three of four days, you need to put a call in.
A call? How can you put a sales call in to CEO, or C-level exec, when they haven’t even replied to your letter?
You probably think I’m mad – but bear with me.
Well, firstly it’s not a sales call. You’re just sounding them out – and this is really important because everybody has a ‘to-deal-with-later-pile’.
You need to find out if you’re in that pile, and get bumped to the deal-with-it-now pile.
If you don’t believe me, let me demonstrate.
Have a look at your inbox and scroll back a week or two. I’ll wager there are countless emails in there that caught your attention and haven’t binned. You were going to look at them later.
But later is never. Point taken?
If you’re in the sinking sand of the deal-with-it-later pile, you need to get out and quick. This is where the call comes in.
It’s brazen – but it works a treat. And if you can’t do it with confidence, I suggest you don’t have the belief in your product or service.
Call your prospect’s switchboard and ask for the CEO’s office (use his or hers name).
So for example, just say: “Hi I’m calling for the number of John Doe’s office.”
Of course, they won’t give it you. They’ll ask who is calling or what’s it about.
Just say: “It’s [your name] from [your company]. I sent John Doe a letter on the [date] and I’m calling to if there is going to be a response.”
Then shut up. Don’t say another word.
Two things will happen. They’ll give you the number or put you through.
They do this because:
- It doesn’t sound like a sales call
- It sounds far too formal – even legal.
- They are busy and they know the CEO has two personal assists anyhow…
If they put you through, you just stick to the script:
“It’s [your name] from [your company]. I sent John Doe a letter on the [date] and I’m calling to if there is going to be a response.”
Here’s where it’s fun.
The CEOs personal assistant won’t panic, but again, it sounds formal enough for them to find the letter and tell you what’s what.
A lot of the time it’s delegated down and that person hasn’t done anything with it (Bingo! Get in touch mentioning the letter you sent to their CEO that they have not done anything about).
Sometimes the PA can’t remember getting your letter (it was binned), but now they want to see it because it all sounds rather formal.
Now you can very kindly email it to them. Then you have their name and email – so you’re set to mail or call them directly in a day or two and see which way the land lies.
That’s it.
Nothing more to it.
But doing the above will get you meetings with your prospects.
Are you up for it? I hope so – because it’s just another small thing that puts you on the map and makes things happen.
Never be one of those that just wait for replies. Life doesn’t work like that.
Yes, it’s time consuming, but don’t forget you are only doing this to prospects that would transform your sales.
So here’s another example to prove a point.
Best
Al