An SDR Lost a Sale.

Here’s why and how to avoid this from happening to you.

I’m a warm lead.

I reached out to three different vendors and submitted a request to learn more.

One never responded. Another SDR sent email after email. And a third SDR called me multiple times, left a voicemail, and sent emails.

The company website I liked the most happened to be the one with the SDR that just kept emailing me (I judge a book by its cover – if your website is done right and gets my attention, you stand way ahead of the pack. I refuse to do business with companies that have an old or weak-looking website)

But the SDR who kept calling got me on the phone and interrupted my day to discuss my problem is the one I signed on with.

A day or so after signing the agreement, the SDR that kept emailing me (but never called) sent me another email asking to schedule a time to talk.

I replied that I had already signed on with their competitor, even though I was hoping to discuss doing business with them as I liked their website.

The message I got back was telling. To be fair, I think he responded the way most would: defensive.

One of the audiobooks I am currently listening to is Jocko Willink’s #ExtremeOwnership.

This book has quickly jumped into the top 5 of all-time favorites for me.

Without #ExtremeOwnership, we cannot reach our full potential.

Extreme Ownership, in this case, would have been for this SDR to learn from what caused him to lose the potential sale, rather than justify his position.

See for yourself. Here’s how he replied:

“It’s unfortunate you have already signed with another vendor. As for being more aggressive, I reached out right after your assessment request (as well as a couple of other times) and you opened my email 5 times… also, you clicked on my meetings link.”

For those of you reading this and do not see the problem, allow me to help.

Let’s start here:

“I reached out right after your assessment request (as well as a couple of other times)”

This is true. I was a warm lead that filled out a request form to be contacted. He emailed me.

The other company called me. Repeatedly. They got me on the phone, learned about my pain points, and showed me how they would solve them. I signed up.

Next up…

“and you opened my email 5 times…”

So you get notifications of when I’m reading your email, and the subject is top of mind for me, but you don’t pick up the phone to start a conversation in the exact moment that I am thinking about my pain points? And you’re mad at me for signing on with your competitor?

“also, you clicked on my meetings link.”

Again, another opportunity for you to reach out at the exact moment I am considering a solution, and you do nothing but hope I fill out the form? I could have gotten a call as I was filling out your “schedule a meeting form,” got sidetracked, and then got interrupted by a call from your competitor, who closed me over the phone.

Conclusion

I am all for SDR’s using email as a means to reach prospects, get on their radar, and schedule meetings. I do it often.

However, I would have to have a darn good reason to continually EMAIL a warm inbound lead that is asking to be contacted, rather than pick up the phone, or at the very least, use a hybrid of phone, voicemail, email approach.

Too many people that sucked at selling by phone have convinced SDR’s that it’s a bad thing to interrupt a prospects day, and if you’re an SDR, their bad sales advice is costing you money.

No matter if you are cold calling and or handling inbound (warm leads), if your intent is to see if you can HELP your prospect solve a problem, they won’t view your sales call as an interruption. They just might even thank you for calling them.