20 Jun Follow up, Follow up, Follow up!
I found myself in an interesting position today questioning whether or not I believed the story a potential supplier gave me as to why I hadn’t received his quote (which I requested) 3 weeks earlier. What the story was doesn’t matter, but what DOES matter is that he said he sent it to me… and was WAITING for me to get back to him!
Seriously??
If I didn’t know the guy and had personally met him I would have jumped ship faster than a dry sailor pulling into harbour and gone and ordered my product somewhere else.
* He sent me his quote 3 WEEKS AGO, and never wondered why I hadn’t got back to him!
The answer to that was simple – I didn’t get it. So whether he sent it and it went AWOL or whether he didn’t send it,I don’t know, but… seriously…?
I read recently that nearly half of all salespeople never follow up on a prospect, 1 out of every 4 make at least one follow up contact and less than 1 out of 9 make a third follow up contact / call… yet over 80% of all business done by ‘customers’ happens between the 5th and 12 contact / follow up.
Which basically means if you’re not following up potential leads more than once, you’re missing out on nearly 90% of your potential revenue!
Here’s something important to remember – blind dumb luck doesn’t build a business. A business is built through careful planning, careful consideration, and constant follow up.
You’ve got to follow up more than once!
It doesn’t matter if it’s a phone call, an email, or a handshake. Follow up, follow up, follow up!If your site takes orders online then you need to have some kind of auto-responder in place; one that follows up both those who order and those that don’t!
If your website’s goal is to generate a lead (an email of a phone call) then you need to have some kind of CRM (customer relationship management) program. I use Salesforce. It keeps track of all my leads, my notes on them and their contact details – plus it gives me reminders of when to follow them up.
It’s not unusual for me to have as many as a dozen or so ‘contacts’ with a potential customer before they convert to a new Website job, an Analytics Consultation or SEO Marketing Plan.
But it doesn’t matter what system you use – just USE ONE.
Remember, THEY contact YOU. They WANT what YOU have to offer (if they didn’t,they wouldn’t have asked).
A few years back I recorded an audio series on Sales for Small Business, this week (and for 7 days ONLY) I’m going to make that complete series available to you at no cost.
No cost, no additional opt in etc etc. All I ask is that you DON’T share it.Please.
Here’s the link: (removed – sorry folks, this was for my newsletter subscribers only).
And enjoy 🙂
Paul
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