Why No One Wants to Talk to Me: The Problem of Time-Starved Prospective Clients
As a B2B sales professional, you’ve likely experienced firsthand the challenge of getting your prospective clients to talk to you. While they may be interested in your product or service, their lack of response to emails or phone calls likely has more to do with the lack of available time they have to dedicate to the pursuit. In other words, your prospective clients avoid phone calls and emails because they are time-starved and must reserve their time for their priorities.
Recent research has increasingly confirmed this notion, suggesting that a majority of B2B prospects and customers are forced to reserve their time resources for tasks that are the most critical to their needs – at least those that do not include your business. In fact, in a survey conducted back in 2019, it was found that nearly 75% of B2B customers in the US and Europe – who were interviewed – reported that they were most likely to turn down sales pitches due to a lack of time. Another survey from 2020 found that nearly 60% of B2B customers in the US and Europe felt that time constraints significantly hampered their ability to engage in conversations with sales representatives.
What this all suggests is that it has become increasingly difficult over the years for B2B sales professionals to reach out to their prospects. This is because many of them are time-starved and are so busy with their own priorities that they simply don’t have the bandwidth to allocate to your sales pitch.
Making the Most of Your Time With Buyers
Given the current constraints of B2B customer attention, it is important for B2B sales professionals to be strategic in the way they reach out to their prospects. The first and most important step is to ensure that you have done your research. Taking the time to learn about your prospective customers – in terms of their needs and pain points – will give you a better understanding of how you can best help them.
Once you have this information, the next step is to make sure that your reach out attempts are timely and relevant. For example, instead of simply sending a generic email or making a cold call, try providing them with information that is tailored to their needs and potential solutions for their challenges. Doing this will demonstrate your understanding of their situation and might just be the trigger that gets them to engage with you.
In addition to providing information that is pertinent to your prospects, you should also focus on building relationships with them. By taking the time to learn more about them and their business, you can build trust and credibility that will help you develop a business relationship. This means proactively engaging in conversations with your prospective customers and taking the time to listen and understand their needs and preferences.
It is clear that B2B sales professionals today must do more than just send generic emails and make cold calls in order to reach out to their prospective customers. In an increasingly time-starved world, it is essential to get to know your prospects, provide tailored information and solutions to their challenges, and take the time to build relationships. By doing so, you can increase your chances of successful conversations with your prospective customers and maybe even turn them into regular customers.
