Salespeople are often faced with unresolved deals in their pipeline that they normally give up on or persist beyond any reasonable hope. There is a middle ground that is appropriate when you have reached the point of no return, your prospect is stringing you along in that they are taking you down the primrose path, and is not returning your repeated phone calls or emails.
The strategy is called close the file. It is used as a last ditch effort to get closure. The idea is to save you and your prospect any further hassles and time by dragging matters beyond a tolerable and reasonable time frame. To effectively execute this strategy, you will need to be nurturing, respectful and it is helpful to take full responsibility for your current situation.
Closing the file is liberating because activity that lacks closure can be very emotionally debilitating for salespeople. There is a lot of freedom in taking the position of “yes” or “no”, but no long drawn out think-it-overs.
Closing the file is an empowering and liberating sales strategy. The idea is to email or leave a voice mail with a prospect who is no longer responding to you. Closing the file allows you to see if the prospect has any further interest. If you don’t hear back from them shortly, you will assume they have no further interest and you will graciously close the file and move on.
Prospects respect salespeople who respect their own time. It is important that you let your prospects know that you respect their decision to not get back to you, but on the same hand you can no longer follow up with them any longer and you will cease your efforts. The most demeaning and debilitating aspect of sales is not receiving closure of your deals. A “yes” is great. A “no” is acceptable. However, any stall or long drawn out think-it-overs is a total time and resource killer.
Most salespeople avoid “no” at all costs. They don’t know that their job isn’t to sell or just receive affirmative responses. Their job is to help people to make decisions. Once you adopt this non-selling posture or change agent attitude, you take the pressure off your prospects and yourself. However, you are going to have to learn to let go. This is hard for salespeople. As long as you believe that a good salesperson never quits, you will continue to have full pipelines of prospects who have a genuine, sincere interest in your product, but a passive and casual interest to act upon it. Good salespeople know where they can sell and when to quit. There are always two winners in a sales transaction. The first is the one who was awarded the contract. The second is the one who lost early, easily and effortlessly.
Closing the file allows you to preserve your self-dignity by receiving closure and gaining respect from prospects because you are willing to walk away.
Here are the key points and principles to be aware of and utilize when formulating your emails and voice mails when closing the file:
- Tonality should be neutral, non-enthusiastic, warm and considerate
- If they are really interested they will not let you leave
- The more you make “no” available to your prospects, the easier it is for them not to have to use it: You essentially take the pressure off them
- By honoring their position and allowing them to come to their own conclusions, independent of your own agenda and influence, you build a future platform of trust and respect
- Take 100% responsibility for the lack of responsiveness of your prospects. Either you railroaded them into agreeing to be interested when they weren’t or you were never on the right track to be privy to their priorities and their corresponding competing initiatives
A word of caution: don’t have unrealistic expectations of prospects flocking to their computers or phones to return your call or email. Typically by the time you place the close the file message, your chances of revival have typically diminished tremendously. A return message of 10%-20% is average and can be expected in most industries.
The following are examples that you can snail mail, email, fax or leave as a voice mail:
- “I’ve exhausted my repertoire of follow-up options. I sense that any more contact attempts on my part will be a nuisance to you, if it hasn’t already. So, I don’t want to waste any more of your time and patience. Could you give me the courtesy of leaving a message on my voice mail or email me as to what the status is? Thank you for your attention and consideration. If I don’t hear back from you I’ll assume you have no further interest and I’ll respectfully close your file. If you are still interested, I can be reached at 888-888-8888.”
- “I’ve been trying to reach you to no avail. I am afraid I’ve put us both in a position that we don’t want to be in and I may be wasting your time. Since I haven’t heard from you, I sense this is not going to move any further. Is it done and shall I close the file… or have things been hectic and you haven’t had the chance to get back to me? If that is the case, give me a call and we can talk further. In all fairness to you and to respect your time, if I don’t hear from you I am going to assume it is over, that you want me to close the file, that you’ve lost interest or you don’t have the time or inclination to pursue this any further. Thanks for your professional courtesy. P.S.: If it would be easier, just put a check here ____ to close the file and email this back to me or call me at 888-888-8888.”
- “I’ve been trying to reach you for the past couple of weeks to no avail. I can safely assume you are busy and juggling many priorities. I know you are under no obligation to get back to me, but if you could send me an email as to where you stand on our proposal, I’d very much appreciate it. If I don’t hear back from you I’ll assume it is a dead issue and I’ll take you off my active call list. Thank you for the courtesy.”
- “You have asked me to do some work on your behalf and I have followed through on that request. I have left you numerous messages to provide you with that information and I would be greatly indebted to you for the courtesy of a return call. If I don’t hear back, I will assume it is a dead issue and I will close your file. Thanks.”
- “I want to hold up my end of the bargain by following up with you in good faith one last time. When we last met I believe I may have cornered you into agreeing to move forward, without giving you the option to do otherwise. I have been in the business long enough to know that when someone hasn’t returned phone calls it is for a good reason. Could you extend me the professional courtesy as to where you stand? That way I can respect your time. If you are no longer interested, please give me a call to that effect. If I don’t hear back from you by next week I’ll graciously close your file.“
- “If my sincere efforts are hopeless and non-productive or better spent elsewhere would you let me know? Otherwise, if I don’t hear back from you, I’ll assume you are still interested and you want to be followed up with in earnest and with diligence.”
- “I throw myself on your mercy. You were so gracious to originally agree to get back to me as to your interest in attending our sales conference. Could you grant clemency this one time and call me or return this email? Your action will absolve you of any further nuisance on my part. Our upcoming briefing will be centered around companies who are experiencing, to some degree, problems in the following areas:
- Reduced margins
- Longer selling cycles
- Decreased ease of differentiating themselves from their competition
- Shrinking market
- Lower sales volume
- Increased cost of sales
- Heightened competition
- Rampant discounting
- “If these areas hold marginal concern for you, then it won’t be necessary for you to attend. If I don’t hear from you I’ll assume that your sales situation is more than satisfactory and I’ll close the file and take your name off my prospect list. Thanks again for your consideration.”
Choices:
- No, I have no further interest. Please close the file.
- Yes, I’d like to attend your sales conference. See attached invite.
- “I have been unable to reach you after following up with you in good faith. Please let me know what, if any, the next steps are:
- Yes, I want to move forward.
- I’ve been too busy. Please be patient. Continue to follow up.
- I am not sure. I need more information to specifically address my sales problems.
- No, thank you for your interest and please close the file and don’t follow up anymore.
“Thank you for your consideration. Please email back your response at your earliest convenience, or call me at 888-888-8888.”
- “I’m not so naive not to recognize a client’s agenda, priorities and time constraints shuffles. So, if there is no further interest, please grant me clemency and call me at 888-888-8888 to update me as to your status? That way I won’t waste any more of your valuable time and patience. Thank you for your courtesy and consideration. If I don’t hear from you, I’ll assume you have no further interest and I’ll graciously close your file.”
- “I’m not in the habit of pestering clients. When we originally talked, you had a problem. Now I’m afraid you have a second problem, which is how to get rid of me. Can you please call or email me as to tell me where we stand? That would be much appreciated. Thanks for your professional courtesy. If I don’t hear back from you by next week, I’ll assume it is a dead issue and I’ll graciously close your file. “
The following is additional verbiage you can use to add or replace from the proceeding examples. Guilt and shame are a subtle pretext that is imbedded in these examples. However, don’t lay it on too thick or it will backfire:
- “I wanted to hold up my end of the bargain by contacting you one last time.”
- “I wanted to try to appeal to your sense of fair play and ask if you could give me closure, so that I don’t overextend my welcome here.”
- “In the spirit of fair play I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt and call you one last time.”
- “While it would be nice to do business with you, I’ll respect your decision either way.”
- “After many repeated attempts to reach you, you are still at large. So that I don’t become a stalker and risk being slapped with a 100-foot restraining order, I’m going to graciously close your file if I don’t hear back from you this week. Thanks again for your time and consideration.”
- “Any further calling on my part risks being a breach of professional conduct. If I don’t hear back from you this week, I’ll assume this is a dead deal and I’ll cease any further efforts to contact you. If by chance you are still interested, don’t hesitate to call me or email me. “
Closing the file and getting resolution is critical for you to preserve your dignity and to save your time. In sales it is crucial to realize that your job has more to do with getting people to make decisions and receiving resolution than it does in convincing and persuading. Therefore, you shouldn’t feel apprehensive in getting prospects to give you a negative response. Getting closure allows you to emotionally move on and not be tied down with a pipeline of deals that are united by false hope.
Getting closure is a great strategy to keep your head in the game. By forcing the issue to get decisions or to make decisions for your prospects, you’ll save yourself a lot of time and potential hassles. In sales there are always two winners; the one who was awarded the deal and the one who lost quickly, easily and with minimal expenditure of time, effort and resources.
