Are You Hearing “Crickets” From Your Clients or Prospects? Try This…

By Steve Cain | Sales & Business Development Leader | LTCI Partners | @SteveCainLTC

You probably have a client or prospect right now that has stopped responding to your communications regarding Long-Term Care planning. You had a productive meeting or discussion, they expressed an interest, you’ve shared a proposal and then “poof” – they’ve disappeared. Gone. You’ve been “ghosted.”

The truth is, most people don’t like to tell you “no.” Instead, they go silent and avoid confrontation. It’s easier for them to create distance and hope that you give up. From their perspective, it’s less confrontational. But this silence doesn’t always mean that they don’t want to do business with you. Maybe the proposal or coverage was unclear. Maybe they have a life event holding them back. Regardless, your objective is to re-open the conversation and uncover their reality.

How Many Times Should You Follow Up with a Prospect? We follow a ‘rule of three’ when it comes to following up with prospects who have been silent. After all, this is high-level affluent sales. You aren’t trying to pressure anyone into doing business with you, and it’s important that you are viewed as a successful professional, not begging for business. After three follow-ups, we recommend one of the strategies below.

Strategy 1: Shoulder the Blame

With this message, you apologize to your prospect and request their insight. When you display vulnerability by assuming you’ve dropped the ball, your prospect often opens up and is forthright with the truth. Here’s an example, “Hi Kathy, I just wanted to reach out and apologize. Since we haven’t been able to connect, I feel like maybe I’ve missed something along the way or I didn’t fully understand your needs. I’m assuming you’ve gone in another direction and that’s okay, but I’d value any feedback from you on what I can do better.”

Strategy 2: Take it Away

With this message, you let your prospect know the ball is in their court. This strategy incorporates a bit of reverse psychology by telling the prospect you aren’t going to track them down.

“Just a final message here to say that I know you’re busy and I really think we can help with respect to our Long-Term Care conversations. But I’m going to leave the ball in your court to get back to me at your convenience. I wish you the best.”

Strategy 3: Time is Money

The next message is a bit more brazen and should only be used with prospects who have a dominant personality style. Essentially, you are calling them out for dragging their feet. “Hi Kathy, hope all is well. I don’t want to keep bugging you if this isn’t a priority right now. In my experience, I’ve noticed people have a tendency to procrastinate when it comes to planning for Long-Term Care, and it can cost them big financially. If this planning makes it back to the top of your to-do list, please reach out to me directly.”

Keep in mind; you have to customize each approach for the specific situation with each prospect. Also, when responding to the “silent treatment,” you need to select the mode of communication in which the prospect is most likely to respond. We typically recommend leaving a voicemail or email vs. text.

For some, these strategies will prompt a response and give you more insight into their reality. For others that still aren’t responsive, this will be your last communication with them and provide closure in the sales process.

Steve Cain, CLTC^®, Director

Sales & Business Development Leader

LTCI PARTNERS

Mobile: (818) 645-9894

Twitter: @SteveCainLTC