The Impact of Follow Up
It never ceases to amaze me how few sales people make the time
to follow-up after they have made initial contact with a
prospect or customer. In the last few months, I can think of at
least eight different situations in my own life (business &
personal) when a salesperson did not bother taking this
initiative. These included a landscaper who designed plans for
our property, two different people who spoke to me about
creating a promotional piece of literature for my business, a
sales rep for a pool company, and a men's fashion salesman who
was asked to send information. In each of these situations I was
very interested in the product or service offered by the vendor.
This got me wondering...why don't people follow-up? I think
there are several reasons. They don't want to appear pushy. It
may be true that following up too frequently will come across as
being pushy. However, very few salespeople ever come close to
crossing this line. In fact, one the few times, I left a
salesperson was pushy was more because of his tone, rather than
fact he actually followed up. As a sales professional, I believe
it is our responsibility to keep following up with our prospects
until we know for certain if they want to do business with us.
However, I also strongly believe that we can cross that line by
making too many calls in a short period of time. So where's the
happen balance? It depends on your business. A weekly call is
more than enough to keep in touch providing you make sure your
call is short and to the point. Don't waste your prospect's time
by droning on and on. Also, if possible, provide some additional
value during your follow-up call. This may give your prospect a
reason to choose you instead of a competitor. They forget. It's
easy to forget considering how busy we are. We may have every
intention of calling our prospect but we get caught up in our
business. Unexpected problems crop up, we find ourselves
spending more time in meetings ad stuck in traffic, and because
we didn't schedule the follow-up, it doesn't get done. This is a
common dilemma but one that can be avoided by considering the
follow-up like a scheduled appointment. They make false
assumptions. I once submitted a proposal to a company and told
them I would follow-up on a certain day and time. Unfortunately,
I was extremely sick that particular day and it was several days
before I recuperated. I then wrestled with whether or not I
should call him. I was concerned he would question why I didn't
call as scheduled. In the end, a simple apology was enough to
rectify the situation and move the sales process forward. When
someone doesn't immediately return our phone call or email
message, we usually assume the worst - even if this assumption
is not verified. I have learned from experience that a lack of
response can often be attributed to the fact that the other
person is just too busy to respond or does not have an answer
for you. They think that the customer or prospect will contact
them. I think this is one of the most common myths sales people
fall prey to. They think that if they do a good job the customer
will automatically call us back - we don't need to follow-up.
Unfortunately, we cannot rely on this if we want to achieve our
sales goals. People get busy, they forget or procrastinate and
the more time that slips by, the less important your product or
service may be to that prospective customer. They have never
been taught. Many people have never received formal sales
training and have not learned why they should follow-up and how
to make this happen. This is relatively easy to remedy. Start by
asking or telling your prospect that you will follow-up on a
specific day or time. Tell them how you will follow-up
(telephone, email, face-to-face) and record this in your day
planner or time management system. I use Outlook and now include
a reminder so I don't forget to follow-up. Follow-up should also
be completed after the sale is completed. A quick telephone call
after your product or service has been delivered confirms their
decision to buy from you. I make an effort to send every client
a handwritten thank-you card once the sale has been confirmed
and again when the services they requested have been delivered.
Here's the bottom line. You can easily differentiate yourself
from your competition by making the effort to follow-up with
your prospects and customers. Don't take it for granted that
they will call you. Be proactive and contact them.