The curious case of the disappearing prospect

When you’re working hard on building a relationship with a high-value corporate prospect, it may seem like a disaster if your key contact suddenly leaves the company.

As a result of The Great Resignation that everyone is talking about, you may find yourself saying “Dude, where’s my prospect?” more often in 2022.

Here’s the good news: all those months of relationship building and solutions development don’t count for nothing.

In fact, the curious case of the disappearing prospect could actually work in your favour.  

To get the lowdown on how to turn one seemingly lost opportunity into two (or more!) deals, listen to episode 74 of CRE Success: The Podcast.

Episode transcript:

Dude, where is my prospect?

Have you ever contacted somebody who you've been trying to do business with, and then they're no longer there, like they've literally left the company?

That's what I want to talk to you about today; how to deal with somebody who literally disappears.

Hello, and welcome to episode 74 of the show. My name is Darren Krakowiak. And I'm here to help commercial real estate professionals save time earn more, and be top performers in their market.

Wonderful to have your company for another week.

If you're wondering why I wouldn't be referencing a movie that is more than 20 years old, of course, it's 'Dude, Where's My Car?' is the movie I'm referencing.

Firstly, I did actually have a look on YouTube at some of the clips of 'Dude, Where's My Car?’ and no, the movie does not stand up, well, 20 years later.

I looked at a couple of the seeds. I'm not going to tell you which of the ones so you don't exactly know which type of juvenile humor still excites me.

But overall, I thought no, that movie does not stand up the time.

But it is a good little hook, 'Dude, where's my prospect?'

And I read a book recently called, 'Hook Point', which is by Brendan Kane.

It's talking about how you can stand out in a three second world because people are bombarded by 1000s and 1000s of messages every day.

So, we've got to try and grab people's attention. And then once we've got it, we've got to try and hold it in a way that is meaningful that provides value.

And this book talks about not only how to create snappy titles for social media and for podcast episodes, but also how to think about what is unique to you.

So why would somebody want to have a conversation with you? What is unique about you? What are the things that people will be interested in? And then how can you keep them interested?

So, I thought it was an interesting book to share, actually listened to the audiobook. I've been listening to some audio books recently.

So, Dude, 'Where's my prospect?' is what we're talking about today.

And referencing an episode from a couple of weeks ago, where we talked about consistent, persistent and proactive prospecting.

One thing I do want to let you know is that sometimes your prospect could be out with COVID.

And they might not have COVID. Personally, they could be a close contact, they could be taken care of somebody who has COVID.

So, we don't just want to assume that because we've tried to contact someone and they don't get back to us, that they do not want to speak to us, they may not be able to get back to us.

Don't assume the worst. And perhaps assume that if you haven't done anything that would make somebody not want to speak to you again, then assume they do want to speak to you, but perhaps they might just have COVID.

It's a sort of an argument for being a little bit patient and not giving up after one or even two attempts.

Now, putting that aside, I just thought it was a timely reminder, given all the COVID that is still going around at the moment, I want to talk to you about today, actually, when you have figured out that somebody has left the company.

So, you've been progressing an opportunity and you've got two main contacts, someone who's an advocate, perhaps inside the organization, and they've left the company.

And I think sometimes we assume that that's a bad thing. Because we think, "Oh, my relationship was with this person. And that means that the opportunity within that organization is not as good as perhaps it was when I had that person inside the organization."

Well, I want to put to you that it's not necessarily a bad thing, when somebody does leave a company.

Because for all we know, they could have been the reason why we hadn't advanced the opportunity further.

Because after all, we are talking about prospects, we're not talking about clients.

Now, if somebody is a really good prospect who you have a good relationship with, I think they probably would have told you that they were going to leave the organization.

So, if the first that you hear of somebody leaving an organization is when you send an email and you get that reply that comes back and says, 'So and so has left the organization", or you call up the switchboard and you're told that that person no longer works there.

Then, not always, but sometimes that could mean that maybe your relationship wasn't as strong as he thought it was.

And that could mean that you could build a strong relationship with somebody who is inside that organization.

Now, if you did have a good relationship with somebody, and they did tell you that they were leaving, then that's also a welcome phone call, I think.

Because you've got the opportunity to ask them who's going to be replacing them, to get some probably more frank information from them about how you've been going so far in terms of what it is that you've been presenting, what you're offering could resonate more with stakeholders inside the organization, you can ask for a warm introduction.

But also, you could ask that person who's leaving the company, "Where are you going? And would it be okay, if I give you a call once you've settled in?"

So, you can actually create more opportunities when somebody leaves an organization than if they had stayed because at least there's also an opportunity to or wherever it is that they're going.

Ask them who they would recommend you should speak to.

And as I said, warm introduction, or maybe even a handover meeting, if you can get that now.

If you're not able to get the warm handover, I want you to have a think about who else it is in the organization that they have mentioned.

Go through those emails, have a think back through conversations, look at notes that you have kept about that opportunity.

And see if you can pick up the conversation with one of those people.

A great reason to call someone is when you're saying, "Hey, I understand so and so's left the organization. Can you let me know, who is the right person for me to continue this opportunity. And can you also let me know what it is that's important to you?"

Often, we don't need good reasons to give people a call, we just need some reason, a reason to connect with them.

And I think that person, if you didn't actually receive the warm handover from your previous contact, they may be the person who's willing to give you that warm introduction.

Now, if the opportunity with the organization didn't advance as quickly as you would have liked, because maybe your relationship with the previous contact wasn't as strong as it could have been.

Or maybe there was something that you did, that wasn't putting you in the best position from the start; you didn't understand the opportunity, or you're a little bit off, then it's a great opportunity, I think for a fresh start when somebody leaves.

You can reinvigorate a process that may have stalled a little bit. You can reset your message.

So, getting back to that book I mentioned at the start, 'Hook Points', maybe you can have a think about, "Well, what is something that's going to really grab people's attention in this organization and make what I've got to say, really relevant and stand out and show them that I understand them more than my competitors. Or perhaps if there's an incumbent more than the incumbent who's already in place."

And on the right-hand side of their profile unless they have turned this feature off, most people haven't done that, but some people do.

But if they haven't turned it off, you'll see people also viewed.

And sometimes the people also viewed list of profiles. And I think if you do it on desktop, it should give you about 20 names that will give you some clues of similar people.

Quite often people who work in that organization, who you can reach out to and say, "I understand someone so is left the organization. In fact, you might even not even say I understand you could say someone so left the organization."

Now, if you're really stuck for where to go in terms of finding the right person to speak to when somebody leaves an organization, I just want to give you a couple of ideas of some places you can look.

So, it looks like you're informed. I'd like to pick up the conversation with you about this. Or if you're not the right person, obviously, who would you recommend that I speak to.

One is have a look on LinkedIn, so you can look at the profile of the person who was your contact.

If that doesn't work, you could also try reception. So, you could just contact reception, or you could contact the person's boss and ask them who is the replacement.

And sometimes they will let you know who's taking care of those responsibilities on a temporary basis.

Or they'll let you know that the person will be employed from this start date or whatever it is, and you'll have somewhere else to go.

Now, I just want to make another comment about the person who's left.

Let's say they've left you with no indication that they were leaving, you just get that out of office email one day that says that this person has left the organization.

And you might say to yourself, "Oh, my relationship with them wasn't so great if they've done that."

And that could be the case, but I just want to offer another alternative point of view.

Sometimes people leave organizations and they leave very abruptly for whatever reason.

Sometimes people leave organizations, in fact, often they do because they're not very happy in that organization to start with.

And maybe, the fact that they're not happy in their current job was a reason why your opportunity wasn't getting advanced as quickly as you would have liked it to be.

It could be that they really liked you, but they just weren't that into whatever it is that they were doing.

So, having another opportunity to work with them, wherever they do turn up, might actually go better than the opportunity that you were previously pursuing with them in their past organization.

When you do reconnect with that person, and I recommend that you do don't start the conversation with, "Hey, how come you didn't tell me you were leaving?"

Keep it light, keep it positive, congratulate them on the new appointment, and see if you can pick up where they left off.

So, remember that the big lesson I think, from what I'm talking about is when somebody leaves the organization that you're trying to do business with, and they are your main contact, that is not necessarily a bad thing, it can create more opportunities, it can give you the opportunity to have a fresh start.

You can get connected with more stakeholders. Sometimes people who are actually more likely to be able to give you a yes then perhaps the person you were previously speaking to.

And of course, a person who has left well, often they turn up somebody somewhere else, which is also potentially a new opportunity for you.

There are a few different ways for you to think about prospecting as you go through a process with somebody who perhaps does disappear on you, back to 'Dude, where's my prospect?'

If you want some more ideas on prospecting, I do have the A to Z of commercial real estate prospecting.

If you're feeling like, you know, "My prospecting, I need some new fresh ideas, I need to spruce it up a little bit. I need to motivate myself to make my prospecting consistent, persistent and proactive."

There are 26 ideas inside this free document, you can grab it by going to cresuccess.co/abc. It's the A to Z of commercial real estate prospecting.

I'll also put that link in the show notes for you so you can grab that free resource.

Thank you so much for listening. I will speak to you soon.