How pushy to be?

[Brown and Boris]

This is going to sound naive I know but....



I am by nature not a sales person but of late I have had to try and generate interest in a project I am runing which is very much akin to sales in terms of finding out who the decisons maker is, getting to speak with them and then keeping them interested/hooked until we get an agreement (in this case to participate in a research project). They have responded quite quickly, seem sold on the idea but have then gone quiet.

I am struggling with how hard I should push it; too little and their fledgling interest could wane if they are busy, too much and again if they are busy I might be come a pain in their arse.

So, I email and get a response from four people who all seem interested, one calls and three email to say they are out of the office but will call me Monday/Tuesday ( I only have an email for two of them but could get a phone number with some effort). No calls. I sent them a polite email yesterday morning saying I was out of the office Thursday morning but would be back by 2pm and then in Friday. No calls to date. They are all in the marketing or sales analysis/tracking fields.

I could just move on and try elsewhere but want to keep these poeple sweet in case we can sell the project outcome to them at a later date as they are big players (which is why I chose them) and they felt very much like an open door in terms of trying out the idea the project has.

Were they just being polite, are they just busy and I am down he list of jobs, or do I need to keep after them?

[JustinP1]

Well,

I am not a big player, personally, yet I do not have much time during the workday for enquiry calls. What I *do* know is that if they ring and I am available at that second then that is the best chance of getting to speak to me.

Some of this comes down to sales technique but how applicable that is depends on the 'product'. If it is a tangible product your target is to get them to agree in principle and place the order whilst on the phone. If your product is not something you could do that with, then either change the product so you can, or you are looking to be able to talk to the same person 3, 4, or 5 times which as you are finding out is a nightmare...

[Mick429]

I would be looking for alternative sponsors while waiting for them to come back to me.

If said party thinks that you need them more than they need you, you will probably end up with less than you hoped for out of the deal

[dr matt uk]

Brown and Boris said:

Were they just being polite, are they just busy and I am down he list of jobs, or do I need to keep after them?

I would suggest persistance with politeness and empathy.

The last bit of your post is the key bit you need to understand.

Does this interest them, but it is not a priority right now? Does this not interest them but they find it easier to say "call next week", in the hope that you go away?

All situations are different, but IMHO a good quality conversation (which you will have to be a bit pushy to instigate and hold) for you both to understand each others position will be more effective than lots of "call backs".

I would also ensure that you have a good pitch which sounds natrual and that you are passionate about. I know it sounds a bit cheesy, but you will need to remind them what you do, what makes you better than the others and most importantly whats in it for them. In my experince there is simply nothing worse than someone who calls and then can't simply give me the essence of what they do and what the benefit is to me if we do business.

I would ask all of the questions I needed answers to and also give them an insight into your situation as well. That way you can both understand "are we ready to do business".

Good luck with it!

[Brown and Boris]

One of them came back today seeking a meeting date, so good news.

I will politely ring next week and just check they received the documents/emails.