{"id":2912,"date":"2018-07-12T17:55:27","date_gmt":"2018-07-12T17:55:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blog.qualaroo.com\/?p=2912"},"modified":"2024-05-29T19:23:54","modified_gmt":"2024-05-29T19:23:54","slug":"why-did-your-prospect-go-dark-just-ask","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/why-did-your-prospect-go-dark-just-ask\/","title":{"rendered":"Why did your prospect go dark? Just ask."},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>Written and contributed by&nbsp;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/curtismorris\/\">Curtis Morris<\/a>, CEO&nbsp;@ Qualaroo<\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Ever have an engaged prospect that all of sudden went \u201cdark?\u201d They went from replying to your emails, answering phone calls, showing interest in your product or service to shutting you out of their life. You\u2019re left wondering what went wrong. &nbsp;Perhaps it was something you said on that last call? Were they offended by the joke at the bottom of your last email? Maybe they found out you\u2019re a Houston Rockets fan, and because they\u2019re from California, they simply cannot bear the thought of doing business with you. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Even without knowing why you\u2019re getting the cold shoulder, a few things appear to be certain:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The deal no longer looks like it will close; <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The time and effort you\u2019ve invested into the prospect probably won\u2019t pay off; and<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Your sales &amp; marketing teams are going to have to work even harder to pick up the slack<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Understanding why deals have gone dark is important for the Qualaroo team to understand because: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It helps us build our product roadmap by learning what is missing from our product or service offering. <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">It helps optimize our marketing message because maybe the prospect came in thinking we offered something that we actually don\u2019t offer. &nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Gives our account executives &nbsp;peace of mind! (and our CEO) <\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Understanding_WHY_Deals_Go_Dark\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Understanding WHY Deals Go Dark <\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We\u2019ve implemented a process that has allowed us to capture reasons why deals have gone dark and it helps us shape the conversations we\u2019re having earlier in the sales funnel to prevent prospects from going dark. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">After a deal has been identified as \u201cgone dark\u201d by our sales team, I personally send out an email to the prospect to understand why they haven\u2019t got back to us. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The ask is simple &#8211; <strong>\u201cWhy is Qualaroo not the right solution for you?\u201d<\/strong> I asked this question directly in the email and the prospect as the option to reply to the email directly or click one of the pre-populated answers in the email. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">This is what my email looks like: <\/span><\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-2914\" src=\"https:\/\/qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/gone-dark-survey-blog-image-3.png\" alt=\"gone-dark-surve\" width=\"686\" height=\"173\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">For those that clicked on an answer, we implemented branching logic that sends them to a follow up question. Here\u2019s what the follow up process looked like: <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Q:<\/strong> I still plan to use Qualaroo. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Follow up:<\/strong> Great to hear! When would be a better time to touch base with you? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>CTA for Qualaroo:<\/strong> Add task to follow up with client at a later time. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Q:<\/strong> Qualaroo is too expensive. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Follow up:<\/strong> Thanks for your feedback. What is your budget?<\/span><\/p>\n<ol>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">$49-99<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">$100-$299<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">$300-$499<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">$500-$999<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">$1000-$1999<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>CTA for Qualaroo:<\/strong> Add a task to follow up with client regarding pricing and features. &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Q:<\/strong> Qualaroo is missing a feature I need. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Follow up:<\/strong> Thanks for feedback! What feature do you need? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>CTA for Qualaroo:<\/strong> Add a task to reply asking for mailing address so we can send a free gift as a thank you. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Q:<\/strong> Other Reason<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>Follow up:<\/strong> What is your reason on why you haven\u2019t chosen a plan yet? <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><strong>CTA for Qualaroo:<\/strong> Add a task to reply based on what the client replied with. It could be sending a feature comparison sheet or a case study. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When designing a survey like this one, it\u2019s important to think about what the ultimate goal is. In our case, these were the goals we had top of mind: <\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Learn WHY the prospect stopped working with us;<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Re-engage the deal &#8211; however, re-engagement would be secondary to finding out why we were being ignored; and <\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Personally reply to any and all feedback we received. &nbsp;<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Automating_the_Process\"><\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Automating the Process <\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone wp-image-2913\" src=\"https:\/\/qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/gone-dark-survey-blog-image-1.png\" alt=\"gone-dark-surve\" width=\"518\" height=\"271\"><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">When we implemented this feedback process, we immediately began receiving feedback ranging from feature requests to prospects letting me know they still want to work with Qualaroo. It has become a permanent part of our sales strategy. As volume picked up, it was getting difficult to keep up with the number of emails I needed to send each day. &nbsp;As a result, I wanted to automate the process of sending but keep the emails personalized. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">We use Hubspot as our CRM and Zapier for automating tasks so I wanted to create a process that used apps within our existing stack. We created a new deal stage in Hubspot as \u201cGone Dark.\u201d When an account executive marks a deal as \u201cGone Dark,\u201d Zapier will be alerted of this change and will automatically send a personalized email from me to the prospect. &nbsp;The email is being sent directly from my Qualaroo account and any replies were still going to me; however, the job of sending the email has been automated.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>What has your been your process for &#8220;Gone Dark&#8221; leads?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Written and contributed by&nbsp;Curtis Morris, CEO&nbsp;@ Qualaroo Ever have an engaged prospect that all of sudden went \u201cdark?\u201d They went from replying to your emails, answering phone calls, showing interest in your product or service to shutting you out of their life. You\u2019re left wondering what went wrong. &nbsp;Perhaps it was something you said on&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28,"featured_media":2915,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2912","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/28"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2912"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6841,"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2912\/revisions\/6841"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2912"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2912"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/web-staging.qualaroo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2912"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}