Sales reps can’t spend all their time nurturing a prospect. It is difficult, however, to just decide to stop. In that case, you may ask, “How can I tell when it’s time to consider a prospect close-lost?”  Learn more in this episode.  A close-lost deal For Guil, a deal is never lost in the sense that once you start building a relationship with someone, you should keep that relationship alive for as long as it takes.  Some prospects need more work and time than others.  It’s not a closed deal when the prospect has been qualified after you’ve done your discovery call and you’ve seen that there’s a huge opportunity there. It may only mean that the prospect needs more time and push to get converted.  In this case, it means that as a sales leader, it’s your responsibility to take the lead.  Salespeople must be clear of their next steps. It’s not enough to hop on a call with a prospect and just bid them goodbye with a promised email sent to their inbox later on. You need to be clear of what you’re going to do next whether it’s scheduling an appointment with the prospect or others. Most salespeople make the mistake of not planning ahead and not putting a timeline to their plans.  Instead of deciding that a deal is dead, it’s better to put the prospect in a nurturing funnel where they get a monthly email from the company. It may be valuable content relevant to them or just actionable tips they can do.  It’s not advisable to put the prospect in an inbound machine when the deal is taking too long.  Don’t make the mistake of deciding that a prospect is dead when you haven’t done your research. In the end, you may be ending a deal without knowing that the person you were talking to wasn’t even a decision-maker in the company.  Focus on building relationships and focus on discovery.  Build your personal brand on LinkedIn and let people know what you do and what value you offer.  A deal can be lost for a specific moment but it might not be lost forever.  The end game is always building relationships and bringing in value.  When a salesperson loses faith in the relationship you’ve built with the prospect, then that can be a sign that deal is lost.  Remember, you don’t need to proverbially bend your knee or do what you wouldn’t do just for a deal to happen. Don’t waste your effort and time on prospects who don’t share and appreciate the value you bring to the table.  You don’t need disappointed customers. What you need are clients who are satisfied and happy with the services you offer and who would potentially refer your business to other people.  “Prospecting: How can I Tell When It’s Time to Consider a Prospect “Close-Lost?” episode resources Follow Guillaume Moubeche on LinkedIn. You can also check out the tool, lemlist. A tool that allows you to send effective cold emails that get attention.  Speak with Donald directly for more sales talks. Reach him via these channels: LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter, and Facebook about any sales concerns.  Try Pipedrive today for FREE! As a TSE listener, PipeDrive is offering you an EXTENDED trial beyond the typical 30 days + 25% off your first three months after trial. Try it today at  → https://pipedrive.live/tse use your code: pipedrivetse.  This episode is also partly brought to you by Wingman. Wingman uses AI-software to empower remote sales teams with conversation intelligence, actionable insights on successful playbooks, and delivers real-time coaching. Are you sick of crickets? The pain of sales reps continually reaching out with phone calls and emails and not receiving a response is real. 85% of people prefer text over email and phone calls because they want to engage in a conversation. All text messaging is not equal. Customers respond to people, NOT BOTS. Be more like people and start having conversations that end in conversions. Try Skipio at www.Skipio.com. This course is brought to you in part by TSE Certified Sales Training Program. It’s a course designed to help new and struggling selle