I’ll take a quickie!

Over my past years in marketing, I have worked to create plethora sales campaigns: lead gen, demand gen, ABM… the LOT!  The one, single thing they all have in common is the aim… at the end of the day is to get a sale: Get someone to SAY YES!

Yes to a meeting. Yes to a demo. Yes to the service or product. Yes to the contract… Yes to the subscription renewal…… YESssss! In lieu of that…

I’ll take a quick, but gentle ‘No’ or I’d push that as far as to say ‘No thank you…’. And I’ll take that, if I can’t have the YES!

A quickie ‘no’ is the second best answer a girl can ask for.

When was the last time you knew you weren’t interested in something, had the opportunity to say no, but didn’t?  I imagine it happens most days right?  LinkedIn connect request anyone, anyone!?…

Why is saying no so hard for us? 

Do we not say no because there is not a ‘no option’ in the comms you receive?  Have a look, do your comms have a ‘thanks, but no thanks’ other than the fatal unsubscribe?  What choice do you offer your prospects?
If we all got offered it as an option would people, you included, be more likely to say no?

Some of the time we don’t say no,  it is down to not wanting to offend someone I think, especially if it has been a personal out-reach. It can be hard to say no to an ex-colleague or an acquaintance, but in the long-run it is a kindness. They can focus their attention on other folks who are genuinely interested and not waste yours or their time.

If we did offer a no option, would the leads that progress decrease in quantity but increase in quality? So why not try it? Ah, because lead-scoring and nurture flows are so sophisticated these days, we want to keep people in the loop as long as possible because maybe it is the next one that will spark their interest and get that YES, maybe we’ll get a sniff of a yes and add another 1 point to a lead, edging ever closer to an SQL… But at what cost to quality?

Other than that, it is time, or lack of it! We don’t always have time to fully read or engage with the communications to make a judgement at that exact moment, I can take the attitude of  ‘I’ll wait for the next email’ or ‘I’ll read that later’… resting assuredly there’ll be another one along in a few days as nurture flows are never going to stop at just one so we’ll focus on the next one, or the next…

Moving prospects to customers to get those YESes is about getting the audience, time, method and message right. On time and on budget. It is sometimes a fine needle to thread. It takes more than one go usually and can be frustrating and upsetting when you just hit a brick wall when you genuinely think you can help but it is also frustrating to get sent a lot of comms that just aren’t of interest at the moment, maybe I don’t have the budget, time or inclination. I don’t want to unsubscribe, but this line of communication is not of interest…

Is it time we give our prospects more control?

Brick walls hurt! Be kind. Give us a quickie!  Better still, gimme a YES!

Thoughts?…