First, this person may probably just be shopping around considering they don’t want to take the time to sit down with you and go through the whole thing. Or the prospect is just too busy. They don’t have much time and email is the only thing they think they can do to communicate with you.
What do you do?
- Set the rules before you play the game.
First things first. You have to set up a phone call for at least 10 minutes and make the prospect understand that the purpose of the call is to better understand what they’re looking for and to see exactly if both of you are fit or not or you wouldn’t want to otherwise waste each other’s time.
- Understand how big the client is.
How big is the client? How big is the company? How big is the opportunity? Do initial research online to check out their company and whether they have need for your product or service. If they really want to gain your product/service, they would take some time and effort to really want the details from you and communicate with you even if it is just a 10-15 min phone call. If they’re not willing to do this then it’s probably not that big of a deal to them.
- You can’t lose something that you didn’t have in the first place.
What’s the worst that can happen? Don’t even worry about it and don’t let this stress you out. Just be bold in the situation.
- Be willing to walk away from something.
If you think this is going to give you a headache and you might not really be able to help the prospect to progress then just let it go. It’s time to go after other prospects.
Strategies you can pull off if your prospect is just really busy to meet up with you:
- Send an email.
Explain to them that you understand they’re busy and you’re willing to work around their schedule and make sure to get at least 10 minutes to talk. And give them options as to what time will work for them.
Tool recommendation: assistant.to
This is a Gmail plugin that allows you to embed specific times they can get on a call with you. All they have to do is simply click on one of those times and then it gets embedded on their calendar and yours. Specify that the meeting will only be 15 minutes.
- Ask for another person on the team you can best speak with initially to make sure you understand if you’re a fit or not.
If it’s not a fit then you wouldn’t want both of your times to be wasted. If it’s a one-man team, go back to making sure you set up a time.
- Call them out.
You’re not a pushover. Ask boldly through email which of these options apply to them or the situation – whether (a) it’s not a big deal for them right now and not ready to move forward; (b) they’re not familiar with your company and don’t know if they want to waste their time talking to a sales rep, or; (c) they’re just really busy and don’t necessarily think they have time to take care of the project effectively right now.
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