Following Up Means Sales Are Up
The follow up call is one of the most important elements to any sale however we find more commonly than not that it is one of the most avoided or overlooked activities by business owners and sales personnel. I can almost guarantee if you implement and embrace the follow up process you will make more sales.
There are some key elements to the follow up process that when used correctly can improve the conversion rate of any business. The best way to follow up with your customers is by calling them however in some businesses I understand this may not be appropriate so adjust the elements to fit within a written follow up.
Position the follow up – Positioning that you are going to follow up with your prospects is key. This stops the feeling that you are trying to sell to them, in an ideal world you should position the date and time you are going to follow up with them. This should be within 7 days of your first meeting or call, if you can’t agree an exact time and date them agree with them that it would be OK to give them a call or drop them an email in a week or so if you have not heard back.
Follow up on time – One of the most important elements of selling to someone is building trust with them. If you have agreed to follow up with them on a specific date or within a certain time frame, make sure you follow through with this on time. If you don’t it can have the opposite effect and start to create distrust within the relationship.
People buy from people – The saying that people buy from people is as important today as it has ever been. Relationships can be key and they are not built on your product or service alone. When making a follow up call be sure to talk to them about some common ground or an event in their life they have previously spoken about. For example, if you know they have been on holiday ask them how it was and be interested, no one likes somebody asking them a question just for the sake of it.
Be helpful and sincere – When making the follow up call your prospect may have some questions about your product or service. Ask them upfront how they feel about it and if they have any questions you can help with. This allows you to overcome any objections or nerves they have about buying from you. Be truly helpful, they will be able to sense if you are just asking for the sake of it.
Be confident – If you have positioned you are going to give them a call be confident in calling them, after all they did agree to it. There should be no need to be nervous; as you have already spoken to them before and you are just checking in to see if there is any way you can help them in making the right decision.
Existing customer follow up – The follow up call doesn’t only apply to new prospects, don’t forget your current customers. Check back and find out how they are finding the product and service and if there is anything else you can help with. You never know they may be looking to buy another product and service you offer or referring you to a friend.
Remember test and measure the success of your follow up, track if the follow up is working and if the time allocated is worthwhile. If it is done correctly I can almost guarantee it will.
