How I Get Prospects to Show Up, Even When They Want to Ghost Me | Steven Schneider - 1906

I hope you enjoyed my funny intro, because it would be nice if you could call on Ghostbusters when prospects decide not to follow up with you. In the last few episodes, we've focused on strategies to ensure prospects attend scheduled meetings. 

I'm exploring this topic more with my guest, Steven Schneider, CEO & Co-founder of TrioSEO. He shares what he and his team are doing to keep clients from ghosting appointments.

Meet Steven Schneide

• Steven Schneider collaborated with two fellow sales experts to help scale multiple businesses into 6- to 8-figure enterprises by optimizing their SEO keywords on their websites.
• Even though he runs a multimillion-dollar SEO agency, he still struggles with clients who frequently fail to show up for appointments. He's sharing tactics that you can use in your sales approach.

How His Company Handles Ghosting Prospects

• No matter how much you prepare for the follow-up or how many reminders you send, sometimes prospects simply don't show up for the meeting. 
• I asked Steven how his team is handling this common sales problem. He says that people often ghost sellers because they're actually too busy to respond, or they're shopping around to find the right product.
• Steven shares that he keeps this in mind and realizes that he is low on their priority list.
• So, he tackles their pain points and dives deep into them to show prospects why they need his assistance or product.
• He also shares how he views each client as a unique case study if they're not following up. He goes to their website, sees why their traffic has dipped, and sends a screenshot of it. 
• Then, he shares his follow-up proposal with the prospect again. This is how he digs into the pain point and shows why working with him is valuable. Often, ghosting prospects will follow up with him after he sends this email.

During the Follow-Up Meeting

• After he successfully gets a ghosting prospect to attend the meeting, he begins by asking questions to help them uncover what they already know. 
• Then, he shows them the website mistakes that are causing them to lose potential leads and money.
• It's a strategy that works so well for him that he's able to close deals right then and there.

Handling First-Time Leads with No Prior Contact

• Steven has a unique method to help keep first-time leads, who are in the very beginning stages of the sales funnel, from ghosting. 
• He shares how his website provides a contact form with questions to filter out whether prospects are a good fit for his company's services. This lets him know who is serious and who isn't.
• Once they’re able to schedule a meeting, he sends an email sharing a little warning of why they must not forget to attend it. 

How Individual Sellers Can Help

• The first two examples focus on collaboration between the marketing and sales departments to tackle ghosting clients. But what can an individual seller do to help?
• Steven suggests it's a good idea to share a case study to illustrate what success will look like if prospects attend the meeting. He recommends including this in follow-up emails to confirm appointments and demonstrate the value of the service.

“Treat every client as a unique case study to learn something new.” - Steven Schneider. 

Resources

Connect with Steven on LinkedIn.

Learn more about TrioSEO here.

Sponsorship Offers

1. This episode is brought to you in part by Hubspot.

With HubSpot sales hubs, your data tools and teams join a single platform to close deals and turn prospects into pipelines. Try it for yourself at hubspot.com/sales.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by LinkedIn.

Are you tired of prospective clients not responding to your emails? Sign up for a free 60-day trial of LinkedIn Sales Navigator at linkedin.com/tse.

1. This episode is brought to you in part by the TSE Sales Foundation.

Improve your connection on LinkedIn and land three or five appointments with our LinkedIn prospecting course. Go to the salesevangelist.com/linkedin.

Credits

As one of our podcast listeners, we value your opinion and always want to improve the quality of our show. Complete our two-minute survey here: thesalesevangelist.com/survey. We’d love for you to join us for our next episodes by tuning in on Apple Podcast, Google Podcast, Stitcher, or Spotify. Audio provided by Free SFX, Soundstripe, and Bensound. Other songs used in the episodes are as follows: The Organ Grinder written by Bradley Jay Hill, performed by Bright Seed, and Produced by Brightseed and Hill.