by Will Rotondi
There are a lot of sales professionals who look at email prospecting and don’t get it.
I can hear them now: Why would I reach out to the same people repeatedly? If they don’t respond after 4-5 attempts, they obviously don’t want my business, and I should move on.
If you’d say the same thing, don’t worry – I feel your pain. It’s like when I post on Facebook and no one “likes” it, even something that I know is generally well-received like a kitten video. (Come on, people, validate how cool I am for doing that!)
Alas, my search for digital affirmations is much like yours for email replies. You would think that if you sent out messages to 8,000 people, at least someone would have a need and want to do business with you right this instant.
You would think.
The truth is, they don’t know you that well. They know of you, and they know what you’re looking for, but they may not have a need or an interest to strike up a conversation yet. Until you have that established relationship, you’ll have to put in a lot of persistent work to warm those cold prospects up to the idea that you’re a valuable partner.
Don’t assume prospects aren’t listening.
They may just be quiet, much like this well-camouflaged and adorable cat.
We’ve had prospects who took as long as 1-2 years to agree to a conversation. While that’s not generally the case, the point is that not everyone is ready to lean in to the content you’re pushing when you want them to be.
It has to be on their terms.
