Recently I had an opportunity to follow my own advice. After a very important phone call to sell myself, I provided follow-up in the form of a greeting card to express appreciation for the time given to me. Besides being basic good manners, it is an opportunity to promote your name / company one more time.
The high speed world is providing more and more instant communication, some of which is lost or deemed insignificant simply because of that volume. By using the post office as a follow-up resource, you can increase the chance to raise your visability. Virtually everybody will open a piece of mail that looks like a personal card.
Quality cards for business use are difficult to find. Basic "Thank You " cards are ok, especially with a hand-written note. http://www.successories.com/ has a wonderful variety of cards for business and I have used them for years but be prepared to spend a little money.
Follow-up. It is a selling imperative that should not be ignored but unfortunately, frequently is.
Showing posts with label follow up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label follow up. Show all posts
Wednesday, June 17, 2009
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
Follow-up Sucess Story
A winning story about follow-up;
Back in the mid-nineties I was selling to a billion dollar corporation that had 300+ branches around the country. This company had every possible item in its' cart to sell but frequently was not well respected by customers or competitors. Lack of product knowledge bothered the customers and selling on price bothered the competitors.
I happened to be in a district managers' office towards the end of their fiscal year. He was extremely pleased because his territory had increased their sales significantly. Upon asking what the secret was for his teams' success he admitted it was almost all follow-up. It seems the previous year they only followed up on about 25% of their quotations. The hit rate was the industry standard of 20ish % . However, during that current year a new policy was instituted that all quotes over X$ would be followed up. The success rate moved to a phenominal 38% !
Follow-up is a winning habit. Do it in all points of the sales cycle not just after a quote is issued. But make a concentrated effort to follow up anything that has the $ sign.
Back in the mid-nineties I was selling to a billion dollar corporation that had 300+ branches around the country. This company had every possible item in its' cart to sell but frequently was not well respected by customers or competitors. Lack of product knowledge bothered the customers and selling on price bothered the competitors.
I happened to be in a district managers' office towards the end of their fiscal year. He was extremely pleased because his territory had increased their sales significantly. Upon asking what the secret was for his teams' success he admitted it was almost all follow-up. It seems the previous year they only followed up on about 25% of their quotations. The hit rate was the industry standard of 20ish % . However, during that current year a new policy was instituted that all quotes over X$ would be followed up. The success rate moved to a phenominal 38% !
Follow-up is a winning habit. Do it in all points of the sales cycle not just after a quote is issued. But make a concentrated effort to follow up anything that has the $ sign.
Thursday, May 21, 2009
Imperative - Follow-up
Last night at church, some friends and I were talking about life in general when one of them mentioned having had some landscaping done. He was impressed with the work done AND that the salesman followed-up after the job was finished. We then spent at least, oh, 30 seconds talking about how rare that is at anytime in the sales process these days.
A few years ago the decision was made to purchase a new vehicle for business use. Since I was a road warrior, each car lot that I passed within a three hour drive of my home became a stop for me. At each dealership, the salesman was given my business card and told that within three weeks a purchase would be made. Twenty-seven dealerships were visited. I had to find a salesman at 12 of them to talk to AND only one (1!) bothered to follow-up. He did get my business.
This sad story is true in many professions but for some reason, it really seems to be a part of the automotive sales process but I'm not sure why. Customers want to know that you "love" them and appreciate them. It is imperative to follow up.
A few years ago the decision was made to purchase a new vehicle for business use. Since I was a road warrior, each car lot that I passed within a three hour drive of my home became a stop for me. At each dealership, the salesman was given my business card and told that within three weeks a purchase would be made. Twenty-seven dealerships were visited. I had to find a salesman at 12 of them to talk to AND only one (1!) bothered to follow-up. He did get my business.
This sad story is true in many professions but for some reason, it really seems to be a part of the automotive sales process but I'm not sure why. Customers want to know that you "love" them and appreciate them. It is imperative to follow up.
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