Having a rep call your leads or prospects that DIDN'T BUY right away and finding out why they didn't buy is one of the best ways to increase sales and properly do market research. If you aren't using this strategy now, you'll be shocked at how effective it is when implemented consistently.

There's an old adage that says, "a closed mouth doesn't get fed." Well, the same principle applies here. In fact, you won't believe the amount of information you or someone on your team can find out by talking to your prospects that didn't buy.

When I was in college I was the "rep of the year" for Time Life, which taught me a lot about following up with prospects. We used to have a lead file called, "File B". This file had all the prospects that were no longer interested or did not pay for our products with a credit card. After speaking to thousands of these prospects, I was able to know EXACTLY why these prospects DID NOT buy or DIDN'T WANT TO buy anymore.

Example: The biggest issue prospects would share with me was the fact that they didn't want to be billed monthly or didn't like that their credit card was billed monthly after their trial. It's not uncommon for prospects or previous customers to complain if you call them, but really paying attention to these complaints is what made me "Rep of The Year".

The average rep, when hearing these complaints, would respond by saying "they understand", then proceed with the script and pitching them on another music or book collection. I was able to double the number of sales that an average rep made by using a slightly different approach.

My response would be a little bit more nuanced and "caring". I would explain to them how I've been hearing that from quite a few customers, and as our way of “saying thank you”, we would give them a special box set of music at a discount, with no monthly charges attached. I would sell about 10% of all the prospects that were no longer buying from us by simply addressing, empathizing, and finding a product that could fit their needs. I really cared about the frustrations these prospects had and they could hear it in my voice, THIS IS WHY phone sales are so important, the human voice is a powerful thing IF used properly.