Making strong inroads with your new business has been and will always be down to timing. Whilst there is a continuous flow of ad-hoc projects the real opportunities are timed according to sector nuances, typical review times for clients and similar.
The failure to make significant new business gains does not necessarily come from lack of contact but from not making a note when timing might be better for a call. We would say 90% of calls made where the timing is out gets the response call me back in 1 month, 2 months, 3 months etc. How many of these calls are actually made? Near to none. We never fail to get the detail, make a note and follow up.
Bear in mind the majority of new business activity should be intelligence led timing should be less of an issue. But if time is at a premium, and the initial pre-work can’t be done in terms of the intelligence gathering, their needs to be due diligence when noting the timing of follow-up calls - and they need to be made.
Whilst a small percentage of these typical timing responses may well be a palm off, as in go away, the majority will be factual. If you actually specifically ask for a typical timetable of reviews 9 out of 10 times you’ll get the detail. Why? Because the prospect is trying to engineer one less call within the intervening period and, if you work to this regime, you’ll make more friends than lost prospects. You’re also likely to get more active opportunities and the all important healthy pipeline.
On a last point, deduct two weeks for the timed call back – this avoids the dreaded “you’re too late” scenario. Remember their timing might be the start, middle or end of a pitch process. Call slightly earlier and you’ll avoid the disappointment of such a response.
Thanks, as always, for reading.
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