Why It’s Worth Staying in Touch with Your Prospects 

Why just 8% of Sellers win 60% of the orders 

Michael LeBouef in his book ‘How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life’’ offers an eye-opener regarding people’s buying behaviour that will shock many salespeople and sales managers too. 

He reveals statistics that show that when it comes to following up and securing an order, the vast majority of salespeople and businesses STOP asking for the business long before the buyer is ready to buy. 

How can this be? 

It’s down to a chronic misunderstanding of how buyers like to buy, and a misconception by the sellers about how the salesperson will be perceived. 

Let’s dive into this… 

First the numbers from Michael’s book, then the reasons.  

The numbers in the graphics below show that while a significant majority of buyers say no at least 5 times before they buy, when it comes to following up and asking for an order, the vast majority of sellers QUIT way before the buyer is ready to decide. 

In fact, sellers stop communicating at an alarming rate… 

After just 4 no’s, 92% of sellers have quit! 

All that may sound perfectly reasonable, after all if the prospective buyer isn’t budging or moving forward, and your attempts to secure an order or even to get positive engagement are being pushed back or ignored, then it seems perfectly reasonable to think ‘we don’t want to be pushy’, or ‘they aren’t interested’ or ‘I don’t want to get into the hard-sell’. 

However, when we understand that MOST buyers are ‘slow buyers’ (they like to take the time to make decisions, collect information, consider their options) and most salespeople and companies are by nature ‘fast buyers’ then we see why these misconceptions can form.

That’s understandable, except those misconceptions affect behaviour, which is why sellers stop trying way too soon. 

The sellers think – I’ve been in touch 4 times over X amount of time with email, voice mail and I even spoke to them at the beginning, if they aren’t responding now then they’re not interested. 

Next new lead please! 

Sellers are stopping when they think it’s right, not based on the facts that buyers will buy on their timetable, not ours. 

So when you consider that 60% of people say no five times before they say ‘yes’ when dealing with sellers you can see why 92% of salespeople and businesses have stopped asking for the order BEFORE the customer is ready to buy.

Source: How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life – Michael LeBoeuf, Ph.D. 

Which is why just 8% of sellers (salespeople and businesses) who have the patience, skill and understanding to gently, professionally, helpfully and thoughtfully stay in touch – are still engaged when 60% of buyers are ready to buy. 

In fact, evidence from our own clients shows that eight steps or more are often required to get a prospect to a ‘yes’. And that usually involves combining all types of contact mediums including email, messaging, phone, direct mail and face to face. 

So no matter what your sales process and follow up process, be prepared to develop and systemise multi-step strategies. Or be prepared to have someone else take the sales you should have earned.