When do you go around an unresponsive or unreliable prospect

As a new outbound sales rep, one thing I struggle with is going around a prospect who has gone unresponsive after the demo stage, presumably because they were the wrong contact or they couldn’t get any traction with leadership behind the scenes.


Going around could be reaching out directly to their boss or another department that was supposed to be brought in at some point in the process, according to the prospect. Whether this is rational or not, it still feels uncomfortable because it feels like I’m going behind the prospects back or making them look bad.


My questions are:

1) how can I get more people involved early on in the discovery process so I don’t have a single point of failure (the unresponsive prospect)?


2) when is it appropriate to go around an unresponsive or unreliable contact?


3) when would you not go around them?


Thanks!

👑 Sales Strategy
🧠 Advice
7
CharmingSalesGal
Politicker
1
Account Executive
One thing I've been doing with first and second calls especially, is NOT going over the allotted half an hour I have set aside for the call. When we have about 7 minutes left, I'll make a comment like "I know we're coming up on time but I do want to show you XYZ, who else would care about that for our next call?"

I think it's pretty hard to go around an unresponsive contact when you don't gather some information like that on initial calls. If you do have a contact that is talking about their boss and naming them throughout the entire call, after about a week of silence, I'd connect with the boss on LinkedIn and send an email saying "I was working with X and haven't heard back, have you all had a chance to talk about Y?" Keep it short & sweet and good luck!
friendlyginge
Politicker
1
Account Executive
Love the LinkedIn approach. It’s personal but still a softer touch 
CuriousFox
WR Officer
1
🦊
Qualify your account before the demo. Go deeper. Look at the hierarchy. When booking the meeting include everyone.

Set your agenda and share with the contact so they can see the kind of questions you'll be asking. This should help guide them in telling you who all needs to be included on the meeting invite.
friendlyginge
Politicker
1
Account Executive
Cool this is helpful. I’ve never thought of setting the agenda beforehand. 
CuriousFox
WR Officer
1
🦊
Happy to help 🦊
Blackwargreymon
Politicker
1
MDR
Qualify your account before the demo. Go deeper. Look at the hierarchy. When booking the meeting include everyone.
Rupert_Pupkin
Contributor
0
Account Executive
1. "The last time you brought in a tool like this, who else was involved in the process in addition to yourself? We typically look to get them involved at XYZ stage". Gotta set the tone up front.

2. Usually never, but typically when it's later in the process and they've started to go dark. If you've brought a leadership resource to the call and then they go dark, I think it's ok to have that resource go around your contact.

3. Don't do it too early out of desperation, or if you think the opp is likely dead anyway
friendlyginge
Politicker
0
Account Executive
Thanks this is helpful, great question in number one. I feel the same way about 2 or 3 but my manager insists on always going around the contact to keep things moving, even if it doesn’t make sense
Error32
Politicker
0
ISR
Qualify your account before the demo. Go deeper. Look at the hierarchy. When booking the meeting include everyone.
Clashingsoulsspell
Politicker
0
ISR
Qualify your account before the demo. Go deeper. Look at the hierarchy. When booking the meeting include everyone.
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