If you think your prospective client wakes up thinking about buying from you, then go back to sleep! Or you can take control and finally fix your follow-up failure.
Take a look at your leads – now – from your email promotions, from your networking in person or online, from referrals, or anywhere.
With so many options to stay in touch these days – email, telephone, greeting cards, postcards, mobile text, fax (yes that is still around) – you have little excuse why you can’t help your customer with their decision to buy or not.
First, recognize your follow-up faux pas and start fixing what is your fault anyway.
You don’t follow-up
This has got to be the most egregious instance of follow-up failure. You are either arrogant or living in a dream world if you think that needing to get back in touch with you is what keeps your prospective clients awake at night. Oh sure, every once in a while, your timing and presentation were spot on. The prospect’s pain was so unbearable that you are there at the right time and they wake up thinking about calling you to get going with your offer.
It’s just that this isn’t the norm. It’s up to you to make the next move. Stop thinking you are on the top of their mind because you’re not. Start listening to them so you can plan everything about your follow-up practices so you will be.
You don’t want to bother people
If I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it hundreds of times. What I think is at the heart of this belief is a focus on ourselves instead of the prospect.
Because we often focus on getting the sale, we give second seat to working with a prospective client to make a decision about solving a problem.
When someone doesn’t return our call or email, the self-talk we engage in like, “Gosh, they didn’t call back so I guess they’re not interested.” “They’re probably talking with someone else now,” kills our motivation to follow-up.
Instead of thinking, “I want this sale,” perhaps consider whether or not your product/service will provide a solution to their problem. How can you feel like you are bothering someone when you are thinking about helping him or her?
You only follow-up saying, “So are you ready now?”
Make me gag. Actually, don’t even bother with follow-up if the only thing you can say, with the greatest reluctance, is “Are you ready to buy?”
Recently, a specialist in crawl space waterproofing showed me my own formula for follow-up in the way he stayed in touch. He picked up on clues that I liked email and so that was his main form of checking in with me – this shows personal attention. Check.
He knew I was going to research things further on my own and his first follow-up suggested a website for a non-partisan comparison report – this added value. Check.
His third email was a call to action but not that weak kind of sales “Are you ready yet?” Instead he asked, “When would be a good time for you to talk again to ask about your findings and where we stand?” Getting a decision. Check.
That’s a follow-up formula that gets sales results.
You don’t understand what follow-up means to your business
Whether it’s a prospect or a new sale, follow-up is the easiest thing you can do so that your competition is left in your dust.
When you add value to follow-up you are building a relationship, building trust and helping a prospective client make a decision. It might be the introvert in me but most of the time I follow-up purposefully and systematically. No; I’m not perfect at it but it sure does get better results. Hey, even an introvert is human! My point is it’s worth my time to deepen a relationship. It gives more opportunities to ask relevant questions, listen, then refine a strategy and all the while building trust.
The fact is that people buy when they are ready, not because you need a sale. A good deal of research shows that 80% of people buy on or after the 5th call and yet, 80% of people who sell give up on the 2nd call! When you have a purposeful approach beyond, “get the sale,” follow-up becomes easier.
Besides leaving the warmed up prospect ready to fall into the arms of your competitor, you piqued someone’s interest and reminded them of their problem. But because you don’t follow-up, you leave them stuck. Who knows, they may even be talking badly about them having reminded them of their wound and not helping it mend.
Alex Volkov
http://blog.salescrunch.com/
Take a look at your leads – now – from your email promotions, from your networking in person or online, from referrals, or anywhere.
With so many options to stay in touch these days – email, telephone, greeting cards, postcards, mobile text, fax (yes that is still around) – you have little excuse why you can’t help your customer with their decision to buy or not.
First, recognize your follow-up faux pas and start fixing what is your fault anyway.
You don’t follow-up
This has got to be the most egregious instance of follow-up failure. You are either arrogant or living in a dream world if you think that needing to get back in touch with you is what keeps your prospective clients awake at night. Oh sure, every once in a while, your timing and presentation were spot on. The prospect’s pain was so unbearable that you are there at the right time and they wake up thinking about calling you to get going with your offer.
It’s just that this isn’t the norm. It’s up to you to make the next move. Stop thinking you are on the top of their mind because you’re not. Start listening to them so you can plan everything about your follow-up practices so you will be.
You don’t want to bother people
If I’ve heard this once, I’ve heard it hundreds of times. What I think is at the heart of this belief is a focus on ourselves instead of the prospect.
Because we often focus on getting the sale, we give second seat to working with a prospective client to make a decision about solving a problem.
When someone doesn’t return our call or email, the self-talk we engage in like, “Gosh, they didn’t call back so I guess they’re not interested.” “They’re probably talking with someone else now,” kills our motivation to follow-up.
Instead of thinking, “I want this sale,” perhaps consider whether or not your product/service will provide a solution to their problem. How can you feel like you are bothering someone when you are thinking about helping him or her?
You only follow-up saying, “So are you ready now?”
Make me gag. Actually, don’t even bother with follow-up if the only thing you can say, with the greatest reluctance, is “Are you ready to buy?”
Recently, a specialist in crawl space waterproofing showed me my own formula for follow-up in the way he stayed in touch. He picked up on clues that I liked email and so that was his main form of checking in with me – this shows personal attention. Check.
He knew I was going to research things further on my own and his first follow-up suggested a website for a non-partisan comparison report – this added value. Check.
His third email was a call to action but not that weak kind of sales “Are you ready yet?” Instead he asked, “When would be a good time for you to talk again to ask about your findings and where we stand?” Getting a decision. Check.
That’s a follow-up formula that gets sales results.
You don’t understand what follow-up means to your business
Whether it’s a prospect or a new sale, follow-up is the easiest thing you can do so that your competition is left in your dust.
When you add value to follow-up you are building a relationship, building trust and helping a prospective client make a decision. It might be the introvert in me but most of the time I follow-up purposefully and systematically. No; I’m not perfect at it but it sure does get better results. Hey, even an introvert is human! My point is it’s worth my time to deepen a relationship. It gives more opportunities to ask relevant questions, listen, then refine a strategy and all the while building trust.
The fact is that people buy when they are ready, not because you need a sale. A good deal of research shows that 80% of people buy on or after the 5th call and yet, 80% of people who sell give up on the 2nd call! When you have a purposeful approach beyond, “get the sale,” follow-up becomes easier.
Besides leaving the warmed up prospect ready to fall into the arms of your competitor, you piqued someone’s interest and reminded them of their problem. But because you don’t follow-up, you leave them stuck. Who knows, they may even be talking badly about them having reminded them of their wound and not helping it mend.
Alex Volkov
http://blog.salescrunch.com/
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