Are Your Prospects More Dead Than Alive

September 20, 2009 at 8:54 pm | Posted in Adrian Miller Sales Training, Adrian's Network, entrepreneurship, sales, Sales Training, small business | Leave a comment

Do you hold on to old leads and prospects that are extremely aged, however not more viable or qualified.

Why is that?

Sales reps are loathe to shed old leads.  They hold on for what it’s worth to contacts and leads that have not shown any progress or positive indications for months and even years.

Still, these names remain in the pipeline just waiting for the day that they, well, resurrect themselves. Sometimes we even kid ourselves and believe that they have more life than they truly have. And sometimes they even keep us from being more aggressive and prospecting for brand new leads. We continue to kick these old tires while our sales results keep falling lower and lower.

Assuming that you’ve done all that you can to convert these prospects into folks that are truly interested in your product or service, then it is time to clean them out and put them into their own separate category.

I mean if you’ve screened and qualified, presented value and benefits and have been persistent and it has all been for naught, it is time to let go and move on to other names with more potential. Spend your time planting new seeds for these old, and apparently disinterested leads, are not going to move forward.

Clogging up a sales pipeline with prospects that are going nowhere is self-destructive. Be honest with yourself. Continually assess who is in your pipeline and ask yourself: what is the percentage likelihood that this prospect will close AND within what time frame.

By doing this you will have better control over your flow of prospects and their conversion to new business.

And isn’t that what you want?

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