"I called all my leads!"

“I called all my leads.”

This is an expression that makes sales managers and directors cringe. Reps making hundreds of phone calls per day fishing at the top of the pond for the one guy who’s available at 3:37 pm on a Tuesday. Who’s out of work. And loves your team. But can’t afford tickets right now.

The flip side of this coin? We forget that these leads are amazing. A lead of someone who’s purchased your product and paid too much money? That’s what’s known as a ‘hot lead’ in any other industry on the planet. Yet, when we don’t reach these people on the first call we discard and move on. Or when we have a good conversation but that person just can’t purchase right now…we forget about them and move on to the sea of other leads.

There are team branding problems with this, customer service issues with this, lead categorization issues with this, etc…but those are all on the macro level. For a sales rep, there are two huge problems with the above. Here’s each’s due:

1. The Lead Burn Issue: The definition of burning leads is racing through them and moving on. This is fine for cold leads, but not the ‘hot leads’ we get of ticket buyers. People have incredibly busy lives…especially the ones with means. Thinking you can get them on the first call, or that they’ll return your first call is fooling yourself…but it doesn’t mean they aren’t interested. You also have no clue which leads these people are, or how anyone on this list prefers to communicate. My advice is to take about 150 of these leads each week and focus on three touchpoints with them. Calls Monday and Friday and an email on Wednesday, and make sure you have a value message for each touchpoint (‘I’m saving fans like you hundreds every season they root for the club, and I’d love to tell you how.’). The rest of your time can be spent on self-prospecting, B2B, follow-up, etc. Fishing with a net (burning leads) will only make you as many sales as the person sitting next to you. Being organized and fishing with a net and a spear will differentiate you from the person sitting next to you.

2. The Long-Term Service Issue: Short memories are important for sales people. Making sales next month are also important for sales people. Too many great conversations for people who ‘just can’t do it right now’ fall out of a rep’s pipeline as fast as the next phone call is made. Don’t let them! When someone decides not to buy from you, or says now is not the time, ask them when a good follow up would be and document that in your CRM. Make those follow-up calls when you both agreed and you’ll be shocked by the result. People want to do business with people who are thoughtful and diligent. Those that know me know that I am not always the most organized person on the planet, but I will always catch a good conversation, keep it on my radar long-term, and consistently follow-up with them. We have so few good conversations, don’t lose them because the sale didn’t happen today.

Being detailed in your approach to ticket buyer leads and being organized in your follow-up to good conversations that come from them are tremendous ways to differentiate yourself from your peers. Every other approach is a different form of lucky. These approaches are organized, thoughtful, and can’t help but produce more success on ticket buyer leads. Do these, find success, and laugh at your peers the next time you hear them say, ‘I called all my leads.’