Why powncing and selling should not be uttered in the same sentence
I was reading with not a little bit of amazement the other day an article on Jill Konrath’s blog “Web Leads: Pounce, Pause, Nurture or Wait?”
This question was put to her (and 6 others) by Mike Damphousse, who sought various perspectives on what he should do after discovering that a prospect had apparently visited Mike’s web site.
This situation is similar to what sales professionals everywhere encounter in some form or another. “What do I do next?”
Regarding the prospect that visited his site, Mike asked
How aggressively do I go after them? Do I pounce immediately? Do I pause and call shortly thereafter? Do I just nurture them? Do I wait a couple days then call?
(You can read the responses the various sales and marketing authorities offered, as well as Mike’s assessment and final analysis by clicking this link.)
For her part, Jill Konrath said that this was a great question. I, however, believe it is entirely the wrong question.
It unfortunately comes out of an old “I got a live one!” mentality, rather than authentically considering what the potential client might want or be looking for.
(“Do I pounce immediately?” Good Grief! Pouncing and Selling should not be uttered in the same context. Neither should the word “aggressively,” in my opinion.)
A better question is based on what I know now, how can I engage the prospect in a conversation and/or add more value to their experience so that I better understand their needs, wants, and desires?
I think the technology that tracks what a web visitor is doing, what they are clicking on, and how long they remain on the site is great. We should be looking at these behaviors in order to enhance the visitor’s experience, to magnetically attract them rather than cause them to feel they are being targeted or hunted or pounced upon.
I am no web guru by any stretch of the imagination (I don’t think they make elastic that stretchy!), but I do know that there is much in the way of interactivity that can be added to a site, based on individual web visitor behavior.
Examples might include strategically-placed polls or surveys, live or semi-automated chats, invitations to interact further on a blog or twitter, or even a page that pops under after the page is closed asking for feedback on what drew them to the website and what would encourage them to visit again (or an offer to receive a newsletter or white paper or some other information product).
It seems to me if a company is already tracking web visits in real time and analyzing behaviors, it should also be thinking about how it is going to serve those visitors.
Remember the choose-your-own-adventure books? When my sister was a kid, reading was not her favorite pastime, but she LOVE the choose-your-own-adventure books.
Why?
Because they gave a sense of interactivity and choice.
Our prospects likewise want to choose their own experiences with our product and service, based on how it makes them feel.
We facilitate this not by pouncing, but engaging.
To his credit, Mike did note in his article that his intuition told him to engage the prospect by nurturing the relationship rather than pouncing.
Moral of the story? If we desire to magnetically attract perfect clients, asking ourselves questions based in a how-can-I-serve foundational framework will yield the best, most productive answers.
After all, selling should not be merely transactional. Instead, at its best, selling is about creating a valuable, long-term, magnetically attractive relationship.
