Once you’ve completed a sales session with your customer, whether or not you sold them a service or product, you should follow up with them. If you don’t, then your valuable time was all but wasted. Every step of the sales process is equally important, from the initial contact, to the presention of the product or service, to closing the deal, and finally to the follow up.
For some people, the follow-up process may be nothing more than an afterthought. But it’s an important part of the sales process for many key reasons. Here are just a few:
Customers don’t want to be thought of as a statistic. When they walk through your door, or call you on the phone, they want to be treated as though they are your only customer.
When you follow up after the initial contact, it shows your customers how serious you are about doing business with them. Your phone call will be appreciated, and they will see it as a clear message that they were much more than just another sale on your way to reaching your goal or quota.
Another reason you should follow up with your customers is to find out how they are doing, and how their new product or service is benefiting them.
Be sure to ask questions about the product or service, and the experience they had with you and your company.
It is always good to get feedback, whether good or bad. That way you can correct anything your customer was unhappy with, learn from your mistakes, and be sure not to let it happen again with your next customer.
If their feedback is negative or they just aren’t happy with the product or service, find out why, be empathetic, and try to resolve the problem as best as you can.
After your initial meeting with your customer, one of two things happened. Either you got the sale, or you didn’t.
If you clinched the sale, following up with your customer is important for the reasons stated above; furthermore, you now have an opportunity to up-sell, down-sell, or cross-sell. While you have them on the phone, ask them if you can go over some of your other products or services you think they may be interested in.
One final point…. Before your customers leave your office or hang up the phone, make sure they are aware of your intentions to follow up with them. If everything went well, they shouldn’t have a problem with that.
The more you stay in contact with your customers, the stronger your relationship with them becomes. The stronger the relationship, the more business and referrals you can expect from them. So ALWAYS follow up!
