When a prospect doesn’t say NO but can’t say YES right now

I was having an interesting conversation with a sales development rep and something came up that turned into a bit of a project.

What’s the plan when the prospect doesn’t say NO but they can’t say YES right now.

There is a crazy balance that comes into play as you create your follow-up plan.

> you don’t want to become a sales stalker YET don’t want to miss the opportunity for the prospect to say yes

> as the SDR you want to set an appointment BUT don’t want the relationship to be only with you and not the salesperson

> want to build credibility with the prospect WHILE worrying about wasting your time

Now that you know what you are balancing, determine:
1. do I know why they can’t say YES right now?
2. what about our conversation was interesting enough that the prospect didn’t say NO?
3. do I have an idea of when they’ll be able to say YES (or consider it)?
4. what information could I share between now and when they can say YES that will be valuable to them?

The goal is to have a follow-up plan that will make them say YES when the time is right.

Oh, just in case you didn’t remember this part; you first need to determine if they were just being polite yet meant no or didn’t want to hurt your feelings by saying no.

PLUS, if you are an inside salesperson who is responsible for the entire sales process, not only setting appointments for someone else… you need to be doing this for yourself!