It was looking very promising.
Your prospect was keen and the evaluation was strong.
It seemed like the stars were aligned.
…But it all fell through!
Should you cut your losses and move on?
Too many SDRs give up at this point.
But that often means they miss out on some incredible opportunities. Just because a deal seems lost doesn't mean you can't win it back!
There are some real opportunities to be had in your closed-lost deals - and that’s what this cadence is all about.
Scroll 👇 to see the cadence in full!
Why have a closed-lost opps cadence?
A closed-lost opp is a situation where the sale didn’t happen.
So why try again?
Some of the best leads are already sitting in your database.
B2B sales deals can fall through for many reasons, but more often than not, timing is what scuppers them.
How you follow up is key!
Our closed-lost opps cadence enables you to check in with lost prospects and see how they’re progressing.
Some will tell you they’re happy they made the decision not to go ahead with you.
Others will be keen to give you a second look.
But the thing is - you won’t know unless you ask!
Press ▶️ for more Cognism tips on becoming a sales expert!
Closed-lost opps cadence timeline
This infographic highlights each step of the cadence 👇
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Day 1 - LinkedIn connection request, phone call and email
This triple touch on Day 1 maximises the chance of a response.
Here’s the email:
Hi (first name),
We haven’t spoken before, but you connected with one of my colleagues in the past. I’ll be your first point of call if you have any questions about Cognism.
Looking at your previous conversation, (look at closed-lost reason and add something here about how we might be more relevant now).
Is now a better time to reconnect?
Relevance helps you to stand out and be remembered.
Madison Yuille, Commercial Sales Development Representative at Cognism, explained:
“It helps a lot when you know their use case, their CRM and what tools they’re using. You should look back at your CRM for the closed-lost reason.”
“It’s helpful to see if they’ve answered the phone or not. You can see if they’re bad on the phone but they might be better with emails.”
Personnel can make a difference, too. Should you change to a different SDR from the first attempt?
If there’s a strong business opportunity, but they’re not moving forward, it could be that the prospect didn’t like the rep they were dealing with.
Switching up SDRs can be an effective tactic for getting them across the line.
Ryan Reisert, Subject Matter Expert at Cognism, said:
“Unfortunately we just don’t like some people. We can’t like everyone! They might like the opportunities in front of them, but not like the person.”
Day 4 - Phone call
The advantage of cold calling is that it gives you a lot of additional information.
They might tell you that things are fine. But what does that really mean?
It isn’t easy to pick up someone’s tone over email.
Calling gives you the chance to unpack that. And it allows you to adjust based on the response.
Without calling, you miss out on an extra layer of information.
The intent of the follow-up is to get information about where they’re at. Are they still on the market?
If there’s great information in the CRM, then you can be more personalised based on the information you gather.
Ryan Reisert told us:
“Continue to provide insights based on the pain-problem path that they were on. You should leverage the insight into what they cared about in the first place. Historical data is extremely helpful.”
The key here?
Understand what their pain points are and what they’re interested in. Build that info into your approach instead of being generic.
Day 6 - Phone call and email
Hey,
We've had some exciting new developments to our platform since we last spoke. From reviewing the notes of our previous engagements, I know they would be of real value to you.
Do you have time for a quick call so I can explain?
The truth is, in outbound sales, it’s difficult to qualify out a company unless you have very strict criteria.
Too many reps give up early. They’ll stop working an account because one person said no.
This is where multi-threading comes in.
What does that mean?
Multi-threading is building a relationship with several people in the same company. It allows you to create a buzz around your product by getting more than one person talking about it.
Multiple stakeholders within the organisation could evaluate your product. If you take a single-threaded approach, you might have qualified them out. A multi-threaded approach allows you to try to resurrect those deals.
Ryan explained further:
“So many reps rely on one individual’s decision to determine if there’s a fit or not. That individual may well be telling you the truth and it’s not going to be an opportunity. But, the why behind that is super important.”
“Top sales professionals do this all the time. Mediocre ones miss it. They’re not surrounding the target, getting consensus and making sure they have a buyer committee.”
Day 8 - Phone call
What’s so special about a phone call?
It’s a two-way conversation that opens up your ability to gather information.
You can get a whole range of responses that you couldn’t pick up over email.
Ryan said:
“Don’t allow someone to tell you no without the ability to understand it.”
The phone helps you understand if it’s a lead worth following up on. Or why you lost them in the first place.
Day 10 - LinkedIn message
Hi (first name),
Have things changed your end as you were very interested to pick things back up around this time?
It’s important not to forget the power of LinkedIn.
A text-based message isn’t your only option. Voice notes are changing the game in sales.
Madison told us:
“I’ve been very successful with voice notes. People like to hear a voice and with a profile picture, it’s like you’re talking to them in person.”
“If they check their LinkedIn most of the time they'll listen.”
Day 15 - Phone call and email
Hi (first name),
I wanted to show you a new feature of Cognism that might be relevant to you and most importantly of all show you my face!
(Hyperlink Vidyard)
New product changes can make all the difference.
Madison said:
“A prospect told me they didn’t want to waste their time. They’d already tried the product a year ago.”
“I went through all the product changes since then. Now they’re in negotiation for the signing. It’s definitely useful!”
Top tip:
Record a video of you running through the new features. Link to the video in your email.
Why do this? Madison explained:
“I tend to find prospects will reply, then they won't reply again. If I send a video and say, Here's my next nudge or something like that, then I'll get a reply.”
Day 17 - Phone Call
There’s potential gold in the CRM - it pays to keep your eyes open!
Ryan stressed:
“You should be looking back into your CRM every quarter. Especially if there was a strong evaluation.”
But, how persistent should you be?
It depends on the size of your total addressable market…
If 10,000 other companies are similar, it’s not worth it.
You need to calculate how long to spend on an account. In outbound sales, you have to be pragmatic.
Day 25 - Email
Hi (first name),
It seems like now is still not a good time? I’ll check back in again in a month or so.
Let me know if responsibilities have changed and if there would be someone else in the company that I’m better to reach out to?
If you don’t get a response from one person at the company, it’s not always a dead end.
Being proactive and trying to engage someone else can totally change the outcome.
Madison told us:
“There's the case of SDRs being lazy. They reach out to one person and then give up because that person's not responding.”
“You can reach out to another SDR at that company and get insights from them, then use that to prospect the decision-maker.”
Day 66 - Email
Hi (first name),
You are a difficult person to get a hold of, you really are putting my persistence to the test!
Have things changed from when we last spoke?
Note the big gap between Day 25 and Day 66.
Why would you leave a month in between emails?
It’s a cooling-off period for the prospect. If they haven’t replied by this point, it’s best to avoid them blocking you.
This email is short and sweet. There’s no need for an essay; the goal is to get a response.
Madison explained:
“Long emails are bound to get unread. Decision-makers have very little time in their day - they aren’t going to read an email if they don’t see any value in the first line.”
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