A guest article by Heba Hosny. You too can be part of this great knowledge sharing community. Take a look at our guest blogging guidelines.
Nothing is more frustrating than unpredictable or evasive prospects! Having you ever been so close to closing a sale, then your soon-to-become-a-customer vanished from the face of the earth?
I had been there! And it feels BITTER! Who would want to invest their time and effort in vain?
Lucky for us, social media came to rescue! If leveraged intelligently, your stubborn prospects can become loyal customers. Here is how…
Image: jscreationzs / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
1. Tweak Your Communication Channel(s)
Sometimes the problem may be as simple as fishing in the wrong sea! In other words, your prospect maybe very active on Twitter, while you keep wasting your time sending him Facebook messages or emails!
The solution is simple: fish where the fish are which brings us to the tip number 2…
2. Track Them Down!
Finding prospects and “eavesdropping” on them is easier than ever thanks to social media. By doing a simple Twitter and/or Facebook search, you can easily spot your prospect and see what s/he has been up to. This will help you plant your next move on a solid ground.
3. Be Subtle Yet Persistent!
Now that you know where your prospect hangs in the most, time to show up wearing the “subtle” hat! The last thing you want is that s/he realizes that you are hunting him/ her down to close a sale. That’s exactly what I mean by being subtle in your approach.
For example you can tweet about content that is interesting to your prospect and @Mention his/her Twitter name
(among others) to remind him/her of yourself in a soft, non-intrusive way.
Here is a good example of what I call subtle attention-grabbing tweets:
Hi @UserName1, @ProspectName, @UserName2 I know you will love this video! <Link comes here>.
4. Are You Making The Wrong Assumptions?
Many people fall into the deadly trap of generalizing: Couple of your customers may have liked certain features in your product. So, you go ahead and make a false assumption the rest of the world will love it for the same reasons!
The point I am making here is that prospects vary a great deal in their needs and expectations. So, you must grow bigger ears and master the art of empathic listening in order to present your product as a viable solution to their unique problems. If you do, closing a sale will be effortless. Again, thanks social media!
5. Offer Genuine Help
Let’s say that your evasive prospect tweeted about a problem/question that you can solve/answer. Go ahead! Do it and do it fast and, even more importantly, do it selflessly WITHOUT bringing up your past interactions.
You never know! Your kind gesture may refresh his/her memory. If not, your prospect will be grateful and may reward you in ways much greater than you expected.
What If Nothing Worked?
If all your sincere efforts didn’t pay off, do not despair and turn this unfortunate situation into a learning experience. Understand where you went wrong and how you can avoid it in the future and on to the next sales adventure.
Being in business is no smooth sailing: it requires a special breed of people who know how to smile in the face of obstacles and turn them into opportunities. I invite YOU to be one of them. Are you willing to accept my invitation? 
Turn “Evasive” Prospects Into Loyal Customers In 5 Easy Steps. Thanks Social Media! is a post from: Blog Godown
