What I find most perplexing is when I contact a small
business owner for some type of service or product and never hear back from
them! Follow up is very important to building the customer relationship and
increasing your opportunity for sales. Not only when a customer is initially calling
you, but when you are following up with a new or existing customer about your
product or service.
Here is an example of how follow up can result in building a
relationship or closing a sale. You contact a potential customer and they are
busy, not interested, just purchased, etc. Your initial reaction may be to just
move on to the next customer and forget about them. What I propose is asking
the customer permission to get back in touch with them... “Could I give you a
call back in two weeks to see if you had a chance to look over my
proposal/brochure/etc?” If the customer says yes, make a note of it and be sure
to call them back. When you contact them again after the wait, start your conversation
by saying… “ I recall when we spoke two weeks ago you were in the process of
selecting a product/service to…” This restarts the conversation and puts your
business right back in front of them. What should you do if a customer says
they are not interested? Ask them when it would be a good time to follow up
with them, say in a month or next quarter. By asking permission to follow up,
and then doing so, you are starting to build their trust in you and develop a
relationship.
Statistics have shown that you need to contact a customer 7
to 8 times for them to try your product or service. Using follow up, you are
more likely to contact them when they are ready to make a purchase decision. It
is also important that when you are contacting a customer to try to find out
what their current needs are and fulfill those needs with your product/service.
If it is not an area you can help them with, refer them to someone that can.
Building relationships and sales are based on trust, reliability and a great
product/service that meets the customer’s needs.
I suggest combing through your existing customer database
and reaching out to your previous customers. Has it been awhile since you have
contacted them? Call them, send a thank you card, email or postcard letting your
customers know you appreciate their business. Get the conversation going again
and remind them that you are there to help with their needs. Follow up is a
great way to build relationships, cement those deals and grow your revenues.
Good luck!
Questions, comments or concerns…leave me a post & let’s chat!
Questions, comments or concerns…leave me a post & let’s chat!
