The Real Goal of Your Initial Inquiry Response
The response you give to an initial inquiry is one of the most crucial parts of the sales process. Get it right and you’ll keep the prospect interested. Blow it and you’ll never hear from them again. We’ve already discussed what’s happening when you get ghosted. Let’s take a break from what not to do, and devote a bit of space to what you should be doing.
The primary goal of the initial response to an inquiry for your product or service is to get them on the phone. That’s the next step of real importance. We know the buyer’s journey is not completed in a few stages. It’s made up of dozens of micro-commitments you must get them to make frequently.
Everything you do in your first response is aimed at getting them on the phone. All your persuasive techniques should be directed at moving the potential client to a discussion that allows you to start the most important part of the sales process: discovery.
To be clear, you are not trying to sell the inquiry on your services. You don’t know enough about what they want to offer anything meaningful, and if you merely provide generic packages for their unique needs you just might scare them away.
In fact, they may not even know what they need at this point in the process. One of the main goals during the early stages of the sales process is to get them to identify (or learn) what they want. They will likely need you to show them through guided discovery.
So, forgetting all instincts and urges to sell, sell, sell on the initial response, you’re left to focus on one thing: moving them to a phone call. You’ve heard the saying, “The main thing is to keep the main thing the main thing.”? In this case, if it doesn’t go toward getting the prospect on the phone, it doesn’t belong in your response.
When your next inquiry comes to your inbox, stay focused on the critical path and make all calls to action oriented around what you want.
Next week, we’ll dive into the essential criteria to use if you want to get them on the phone.
