Last week, I talked about the importance of follow-up. If you want more business, you have to commit to the idea of following up with clients and prospects. If you want to be the best salesperson you can be, then you must be dedicated to following-up at least five times.
However, following-up alone isn’t enough. The first thing you must do when following-up is you must be purposeful. Your follow-up shouldn’t be lackadaisical. Here is what it means to be purposeful with your follow-up:
1. It means you have an objective. If you can’t answer “why” you’re following up with a specific client, then you need to first answer that question. Otherwise, you’re only shooting in the dark. For example, is it just to touch base? Is it to close a sale? It is to check on a quote or estimate that you have in the works? Is it to create top of mind awareness? Is it to thank them? Whatever it may be, you need to know your objective.
2. It means you are bringing value to the prospect. There is nothing wrong in asking for the sale. In fact, you need to be asking for the sale. But if your follow-up always only includes the question, “Are you ready to buy?” then you are being sloppy with your follow-up and you aren’t providing any value to your client.
Bringing value to your client can be done by asking them what their calendar looks like so you can stay on top of their needs so they don’t have to worry about forgetting to order. It can also mean sending them articles or pieces of information that can help them in their industry. It can mean sending them a gift card or thank you letter to show them you appreciate them. It might mean educating them on ways you can help them. It can mean a variety of things. Just make sure your follow-up is bringing value to the client.
3. It means you’re taking good notes and listening to the prospect. There is nothing worse than when a prospect gives you golden information and you don’t pay attention to it or you forget to write it down. Then, when you do the follow-up with the prospect, they say something to the effect of, “I told you a few weeks ago that I’ll need your services next month. Why are you asking me again?” This will actually do you more harm than good. It shows them you aren’t paying attention. To avoid this, make sure you’re taking notes and listening to what the prospect is telling you so you can supersede their expectations.
There are many other points that could be made, but what I hope you take away in this article is the importance of purposeful follow-up. I encourage you to take the time to look at these three points and begin to develop a purposeful follow-up plan. What is your objective? What kind of value can you bring by following-up? Do you have a good CRM? Are you taking good notes?
Please, take some time to think about these things and answer the questions for yourself. You’ll be glad you did. Next week, we will continue this series about following-up by dealing with the consistency (or lack thereof) of following-up.
- Kevin Pendergrass