I am in an inside sales/BDR type function for a parts distribution company. For one reason or another we closed out leads in our crm pipeline. Management likes to constantly recycle closed deals and place them back to prospect stage. Folks who have told us no for many years and many times have existing relationships with competitors and are happy with the arrangement. We have a large number new leads to chase that we cant get to due to this behavior. I do understand the concept of hearing many no's to get a yes. How much of this is common in sales orgs vs management obsession with taking down competitors?
This sounds like management preference in action. But question to follow up, are they asking you to check with these Closed Lost deals with any particular updates or success stories that would make sense to share, tied into ways your company might help them even more? Or “just checking in”?
IMHO, management is doing exactly the right thing...unless you have an overfull pipeline of better qualified leads, but few businesses really have that luxurious problem. This practice is great CRM and business hygiene. Closed/Lost deals getting recycled keeps all the pipeline metrics squeaky clean and accurate while hitting your ICP until the moment a competitor does a stupid and then suddenly you are calling at exactly the right time. The more interesting question is if all those competitor displacement leads were truly disqualified, what could you and your fellow BDRs be doing instead? I bet if you could come up with a prospecting strategy with a faster sales cycle, you could get away from the annual "No thanks, we're good" calls and earn more commission.
Im inclined to say if this feels like wasted time, it's probably because (as Ben B. mentioned) you don't actually have a strong sales pitch/ offer to get leads away from your competitors. Maybe you could push back and ask for more compelling offer ideas for these hold outs? I would also argue for (if you don't have them already) agreed upon criteria for these recycled leads. What "no" reasons should be contacted in 6 months, a year, never again etc. if you can get the management team to clearly outline this, maybe it will help you focus more on the right leads to be recycled.
