In case you missed my Instagram story yesterday (it’s linked as the first highlight called “Calls Blocked”, also be sure to give me a follow on IG if you haven’t), I talked about a super-common frustration among the engagement teams we coach:
Prospects who don’t answer their phones.
To recap the story:
I coach most of my kids’ sports teams. Unless I just know nothing about a sport (soccer), it’s important to me I’m out there coaching, spending the time with my kids and serving other families in our community. It’s a passion of mine.
Here in Aledo – where our football team has won 10 state championships (most of any school in the Texas, the country’s most hardcore high school football state) – sports are competitive.
Not just high school sports. Not just select teams. All sports of all ages.
Enter baseball season. We help the draft for our Competitive League on Weds night. Which means yesterday was “Call my new team parents” day.
Here’s the thing – Most of these parents knew when the draft would be. And since only 90 out of 220 kids are chosen for the “competitive league” (the rest play in the recreational league), parents are interested to find out which team their kids made.
They also know coaches call the day after the draft.
I say all this to say these parents had several reasons to be on the lookout for a phone call yesterday.
How’d it pan out for me…?
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We teach booking teams how to fill their practices’ consult schedules. A big part of that is first GETTING A HOLD OF your leads.
I know how tough it can be to get someone on the phone when they don’t know your number (or sometimes even when they do!). So going into this, I made a prediction:
Even though many of these parents are eager to hear the news and know they should be expecting a phone call…
I predicted the majority of the people I dialed would NOT answer the phone. My prediction – while correct – was also an understatement.
Out of 9 people I called, only 2 of them answered.
4 of them sent me directly to voicemail (most phones now have a setting where you can send unknown numbers to voicemail, so I’m guessing that was some of it). And the other 3 rang a few times and went to voicemail.
I share this example because it’s a challenge your phone team faces on a daily basis. Now let’s go through a short list of ways to address it…
It’s Tactics Time! 👇
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7 tactics I used yesterday with these parents, which are exactly what we coach our clients to do in these same situations…
1. Don’t get discouraged. Ignoring unknown numbers is the most natural thing in the world to do. You do it, I do it. Don’t get mad your prospects do it too.
2. Don’t give up. “Well, they didn’t answer, so I guess they aren’t interested.” I hear this way too often. It’s an assumption, and it’s a lie. People are interested. They’re just busy OR they don’t know you and don’t answer OR both. Practices leave tens of thousands of dollars on the table every day by giving up on leads too quickly.
3. Leverage voicemail. Leave a voicemail with a purpose. What do you want the prospect to think when they hear your VM? I want those parents checking the voicemail and thinking, “This Coach Troy guy sure is excited to have my son on the team!” And I left a message conveying precisely that (through my words AND my tone).
4. Take responsibility for action. Don’t just say “Call us back if you’d like to set up a consult.” It’s what 95% of practices do, and it’s a waste of time and energy. Take responsibility for the next action. “I’ll try you again later this afternoon,” “I’ll shoot you a text and follow up tomorrow”, etc. (For my baseball parents, I told them in the Voicemail that I would add them to our GroupMe messaging app, and to be on the lookout for the invite.)
5. Use multiple channels for contact. Don’t just call. Don’t just text. Don’t just email. Use them all. (I used phone calls, then GroupMe, and for the 1-2 who didn’t immediately respond to the GroupMe invite, I texted).
6. Call back quickly. This is one thing working against me in my situation – I was calling all these parents several days after the tryouts. But when you can contact your leads in under 5 minutes, you have a 5x higher chance of connecting than when you wait 10 minutes or longer.
7. Practice managing your biology and your mind. Your team needs to know how to keep their energy up and positive, even on days that are extra busy or multiple ignored call-backs.
These calls did not affect my mood, my energy or my resolve. I had a plan, I executed the plan, and now we’re all in the GroupMe chat and everyone’s excited for the season.
Was talking to the admin for a prospective client this week about energy and mindset. He has a team member who is frustrated, having trouble connecting with leads. I shared the importance of managing feelings/energy around this situation.
This admin said, “We’re fine in that area, it’s not something we need to work on.” Obviously you do need to work on it, because your people are feeling about their leads. No need to feel about them.
Feelings are choices. Mindsets can be trained. And energy can be managed. (Which is why we have entire modules dedicated to this in our Bootcamps…)
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In summary, help your team get their heads right about leads in 2022. Don’t get discouraged; DO get assertive and purposeful in your outreach.
And if you’re hearing defeatist comments like “These leads are bad” or “These people just don’t want help,” then nip that attitude in the bud.
It’s the job of the Marketing Department to bring in the leads, and it’s Sales Dept job to convert them. Both depts should work daily to improve their performance, which means generating better leads (marketing) and being more clever and tenacious with booking processes (sales).
Everyone work. Everyone get better. Everyone benefit.
Team on 3…
1… 2…. 3…. TEAM.
– Coach Troy
PS – We had the option to choose from a selection of minor league team names this year, so I chose the Mighty Mussels. I had never heard of it before (team outta Fort Myers FL), but between the TCU purple and the steroid-stacked mollusk logo, I was sold from the moment I saw it. (Check it out here)
PPS – “Troy – Do practices ever hire you just to pump up their sales teams?” Yes, they just don’t realize it. Most admins think their sales folks need a bunch of tactics (which they do, and we make sure they have them). But an even bigger benefit comes when we teach their teams how to think and feel about what they do. Imagine a team of people who are as excited and confident about your practice as you are? Unstoppable.