Do your questions scare your buyers away?

Rick Roberge
Jul 27, 2017 · 2 min read

I’ve used many ‘conversation starters’ over the years.

I’ve enticed people with gifts.

“Hi, I work with Cutco and we’re giving away free cookbooks to get people to look at a revolutionary new line of kitchen cutlery. Would you like one?”

I’ve told people what I do.

“Hi, I’m a bill collector and I help companies collect when their customers aren’t paying.”

I’ve tried to find or create pain.

“Hi, I work with CEOs who are struggling to grow sales and are worried that if they don’t make some changes, they’ll lose market share and eventually close up shop.

God! It’s a wonder that I made any money at all!


Lately, I’ve been coaching on three types of people.

  • Dead or old leads
  • Networked leads
  • Fresh leads

Here’s what I teach for each.


Dead or old leads -

Send them an email like this:

It looks like we had an exchange back in January of this year but it stopped. Do you remember what happened?

or like this:

It looks like you visited our website last spring. Did anyone from my company contact you?

Would you mind replying to let me know

  • if someone contacted you?
  • if you received everything you were looking for?
  • if it’s OK to remove you from our database?

Thank you in advance for your prompt reply.

When they reply, we coach our clients on how to reply without being sale-sy and scaring them away. If they don’t reply, we forward the original email with two more words: “No reply?”

Don’t laugh til you try it.


Networked leads -

First, develop your list of 200 MVP contacts (customers, evangelists, LinkedIn connections, Mom, Dad, etc.) and sort them ABC (like this). Don’t try to sell them. Don’t ask them for referrals. Share something with them. Maybe something like this:

I found this presentation on getting referrals and liked it. Thought I’d share it. Feel free to share it with anyone in your network that likes referrals.

or

I was surfing the internet and found this Sales Force Grader. Do you know anyone that might like to try it? Feel free to share.


Fresh leads - depends.

I hope that you enjoyed this article and that it helps you get rich. If you’d like to ask a question about another part of your sales process, use this.

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Learn more about how I think at http://www.rickroberge.com/contact-me

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