Follow Up Effectively Every Time
You’ve just had a great call with a potential client and you’re looking forward to closing the deal and winning some hard-earned new business. Next step - summarize that great meeting you had and provide the perfect follow-up to seal the deal. Then the office calls and there’s an emergency and you’re needed on the other side of town within the hour. That follow-up will have to wait until this evening, or tomorrow morning before the next client meeting.
We’ve all been there before, the adrenaline-fueled surge of excitement knowing that a big contract is within reach, but the day just got out of hand and the drudgery of the critical follow-up seems suddenly like a distant headache.
Here’s the reality though, your company needs customers to survive. Without them you will suffer, never mind how many leads you can generate. You need your customers to come back, be your advocates in their communities, share how great you are with their friends and write high-value testimonials on social media.
This is the time to take a step back and be focused - making sure your customer and their needs - are your primary motivation. So how do you do that? Here’s a short list of critical customer activities that will make the difference. If you apply them every time they will become second nature and make a difference to your company’s bottom line. Your goal is to add value and build on what you already know about the customer’s needs, communicating clearly and concisely without turning them away.
Follow-up is not a one-stop shop
Most sales calls today require at least 5 follow-ups after the first call, yet almost half of all sales reps give up after 1 follow-up after the first meeting (or worse yet don’t even bother). At the other end, bombarding prospects with emails and calls won’t work, and are likely to push your prospective client away. It is critical to find the right balance.
You can’t be too pushy, especially in new relationships. And this is what you need to understand while following up with your sales prospects. Here are a few ways to approach sales follow-ups that are effective, and customer-focused.
Reference your meeting clearly and ask for the best way to follow up
What’s fresh in your mind is not necessarily what your prospect recalls. Make sure your email includes a summary of your meeting - what did you discuss and what details can you provide to remind them of your conversation? For example, you promised to send them swatches or catalogs to help them narrow down their options before meeting again. Ask them also how they would like to hear from you. After all, what’s the point in sending multiple emails if they prefer to hear from you by phone? Ask them how & when they’d like to hear from you. They will appreciate that focus!
Add value with every call
Many follow-up approaches fail because they don’t offer anything new, so what’s your hook going to be? If you’re sending an email to a prospect, share something with them that they might want to learn about. Provide some new information that might make their decision easier, tell them about a neighbor who you worked with recently, or even tell them something that entertains them - the goal is to add interest and to get them to make a connection with you.
Get in Touch on the Same Day & Be Clear on Next Steps
By getting in touch on the same day as your meeting you keep your company top of their mind. A short thank you email with key action items sets a clear goal - establish your action items with your prospect, always try to find a way to stay in touch. This could be a follow-up with pricing, more detailed specs on the job, addressing critical questions, and most certainly with an approximate schedule in place. By communicating your summary of the meeting, you keep the momentum moving, remind them what your company can do and how you can address their concerns. This also serves to clarify any misunderstandings early on, which is where you want them, not at a later stage. You’re building confidence, establishing trust and addressing their questions and not simply selling your solution. You’re working to find the solution that they want.
Keep it Short and Sweet
As mentioned above, clarity is key. Don’t ramble, get to the point quickly. Your prospect is just like the rest of us and likely swimming in emails. Keep your follow-up email to 5 sentences max, and expand when your prospect replies to you.
Always include a Call to Action
Also known as the CTA, the Call to Action reflects your goal. What do you want them to do? Read a proposal, an estimate, or watch a video testimonial? Whatever it is, ask them to do it. Don’t be shy in asking for a specific action, it’s more likely to move your prospect along compared to “It was a pleasure to meet you today...”
Follow-Up More than Once
80% of business deals need about 5 touches before the deal is closed. Your biggest mistake is to give up if you don’t get a response. Remember your initial meeting, think of another critical piece of information the prospect referenced. Build out your contact with them with more than one email, but allow time for your prospect to breathe and don’t bombard them every day. It needs to be valuable for them and make sense for you. Your sequence could look like this:
Thank you email with action items & deadlines
Follow-up email before the next action item deadline. Preferably 24 hours before the deadline and make sure you ask for an acknowledgement.
Phone or text to confirm receipt of action items and thoughts on next steps.
Wait a few days, send a follow-up email inquiring about a specific action item that the prospect did not respond to.
Send a final goodbye. It’s time to move on for both parties. Be clear that this will be the last time you plan to contact them. Perhaps unsurprisingly, these emails can have huge success and may be what closes the deal. Knowing that your prospect might miss out on the best Pro with the best service may be too much to bear, and they may very well reach out to you.
Always Focus on the Value you Bring
This is about building trust and delivering value. Focus on them and not your product and they will want to talk to you every time. You know your business, what works and what doesn’t - be confident in that and be the solution to their needs. Share testimonials, provide new ideas, different solutions, but keep it clear and focused on what will make a difference to them. Know also that if it doesn’t work out, your professionalism will likely be rewarded. They may turn to you in the future for another project or recommend you to a neighbor, family or friend.
Following up with your prospects is certainly not a one-stop shop! Multiple elements can make a difference, but success can be measured by establishing trust and knowing your customers. Avoid constant phone calls and boring emails that say the same thing and deliver nothing, instead focus on addressing your prospect's concerns by finding solutions specifically for them.
Use these best practices and you will make your follow-ups more effective and create happy customers who will turn to you again and again.