You will be able to close out a lost deal so that coming back to the buyer later feels natural.
Farah, a buyer at a food distributor (an invented example), chose another provider in lesson 7.1. Hafiz, the seller (also invented), has lost the deal, and the way he ends things with her now decides how easily she could come back to him later.
Buyers who say no are not gone for good. They come back because their situation changes, because the option they chose disappoints them, or because a new problem appears that you are well placed to solve. Whether they come back to you depends a great deal on how you left things.
Think of a service you switched away from and later went back to, such as a gym, a phone plan, a tuition centre for your kids or an accountant. The new option looked better at first and then let you down. Maybe the gym was always crowded, or the new accountant never answered emails. You probably went back because the old provider had left on good terms and was easy to reach.
In lesson 7.1, "Hear no without burning the relationship", you thanked the buyer and asked the reason for the no. After that, ask one more question: can you check in later, and when would make sense?
Let the buyer choose when. They know their own cycles: when the new system will have run long enough to judge, when the next budget opens, when a contract comes up for renewal. A check-in at a time the buyer chose is welcome. A check-in at a time you picked at random is a sales call.
Farah told Hafiz that her firm's new system goes live in March and that the firm reviews all its suppliers in September. Hafiz asked if he could get in touch after the September review, and she agreed.
Some buyers will tell you there is no need to check in. Accept that gracefully. You can still send the closing note and leave the door open from your side.
Buyers usually return for one of four reasons:
The option they chose disappoints: setup takes longer than promised, support is slow, or a feature does not work as expected. Their situation changes: the business grows, a new manager joins, a regulation shifts, a family has a child or buys a home. The decision maker changes, and the new person sees things differently. The problem you discussed gets worse, and what they chose is not keeping up.
You cannot predict or cause any of these, and you should not try. What you can do is be someone the buyer remembers well and can reach easily when one of them happens. Sales foundations lesson 6.3, "Knowing when to stop and how to leave the door open", made the same point about follow-ups that go unanswered. The same applies after a clear no.
A closing note is a short message that confirms you are stepping back and tells the buyer how to reach you. It carries no pitch. It does three things. It confirms the check-in timing the buyer agreed to. It makes clear you will not chase them in the meantime. It gives them an easy way to contact you without searching for your details.
Keep it to three or four sentences. Leave out any last argument for your product and any hint that the buyer made the wrong choice.
Hafiz's note to Farah thanked her for letting him know and wished her luck with the March rollout. It said he would step back and check in after the September review, as agreed, and that she could reach him by phone or email before then.
Once the note is sent, set a dated reminder in your calendar or CRM straight away, for the time the buyer agreed. Add a line about what was said so the context is still clear six months later. Hafiz's reminder read, in substance: Farah, food distributor, chose a competitor, the driver app was the reason, agreed to check in after the September supplier review.
When the date comes, send something useful and leave the pitch out. That might be an article about a regulation change that affects their industry, or a question about how the rollout went. It could also be a short note about a new feature that addresses the reason they said no, if such a feature exists.
Before you send it, apply the check-in test: would this message be worth reading even if the buyer has no intention of switching back?
In September, Hafiz asked Farah how the first six months had gone. He mentioned that he had seen another firm in the same industry struggle with overtime during a busy period. Farah replied that the new system was fine for scheduling, but the overtime calculations were giving them trouble. They agreed to talk.
It won't always go this well. Still, a buyer who left on good terms and hears something useful from you is far more likely to reply than one who left after an argument, or one who has not heard from you since.
Before the activity, pick a recent deal of yours that ended in a no, and think about when that buyer's situation might next change.
Write the closing note for a lost deal, then put a dated check-in reminder in your calendar or CRM.
Junxiong-WFG Organisation is an authorised representative of AIA Financial Advisers Private Limited (Reg. No. 201715016G).