The Embarrassment Factor

About 10 years ago I had some discussions with the owner of a company interested in learning more about Proforma.

After a few conversations, he decided to maintain the status quo and not move forward.

Fast forward 10 years. I get an email from a consultant telling me that the owner of that company has a renewed interest in selling his company and asking if I wanted to talk with him again. I told the consultant that of course I was interested in talking again and I asked why he didn’t just reach out.

The consultant told me that the owner did not feel comfortable reaching back out 10 years later because he felt embarrassed about not doing something together 10 years ago.

Wow.

That’s the embarrassment factor.

The bottom line is a great reminder to build the embarrassment factor into your sales process. There is a difference between marketing to cold prospects vs. old prospects that did not move forward. Old prospects that did not move forward in the past need a different touch. A reminder that you would love to talk with them again. Otherwise, you may lose a perfectly qualified and interested prospect due to the embarrassment factor.