Sales Follow Up is When Most Drop the Ball
Relationship selling is about building trust and rapport with your customer. The term relationship means more than one contact. Sales follow up is a natural part of the relationship selling process. It begins at that first meeting. How often have you done a presentation which didn’t result in a sale? If you stop now you are leaving money on the table.
Timing is everything. Your customer may not be ready to make a purchase or they may want more information.The phrase always be closing, does not mean pushing for the sale. It means moving your client to the next step in the sales process.
You need to plant the seeds for following up. Otherwise your meeting was a waste of time. Get to know your client. This entails asking open-ended questions. Find areas of mutual interest. You want to be on their side. Together you are seeking a solution to their needs. In this way you build trust and rapport.
Always book a meeting at the meeting. Telephone tag is not only a waste of time; the person will feel chased. Even if the person was interested if you don’t get back to them in a timely fashion they will forget what was of interest to them.
You need to have a follow up system in place. This can be combination of phone calls, email and direct mail pieces. Offline follow-up with online tools is a great way to leverage your time. Using multiple methods to stay in touch will be better received than continually picking up the phone.
There are many tools that can be used for more offline sales. An auto-responder is a must have. In this day and age people are drowning in emails and you want to have a back up system in place. Send business thank you cards. Postcard mailing can be an inexpensive way to keep yourself in front of your customer in a non obtrusive way.
This way if your email us followed up with by a card in the mail with your picture, contact information and your desire to help them; your customer would be far more likely to read your e-mail or pick up the phone the next time you call.
Relationship selling can also be called consultative selling. You position yourself as more of a consultant than a sales person. Sales follow up begins during your first consultation. Instead of sitting across the table; you are sitting on the same side with your arm around their shoulder (not literally); and together you are finding the best solution to their needs. Hopefully your product is the solution but not necessarily. When you build rapport with your customer in that first meeting; even if what you have isn’t for them they will be far more likely to do business with you in the future and to recommend you to others. whereas if you try to push your agenda you not only won’t get that sale but you will have burned that bridge as well.
Its all about creating customer value and doing proper sales follow up. Remember the follow up starts at the first meeting.
Tags: consultative selling, creating customer value, relationship selling, sales follow up, sales objections, small business owners