How often do you pitch your product or service and hear an automatic “YES”?
If you’re like many entrepreneurs, the answer is something like 1 out of 10 times. Your odds are pretty slim, but if you’re a regular around these parts, then you know that NO never just means NO. It often means, “not right now.”
When you hear those NO’s do you ever go back to the customer and follow-up with them?
My hope is that you said YES, but if you’re new to the entrepreneurial, 24/7 sales job world, I’m sharing some great tips and strategies for ensuring that your follow-up is a success!
You Aren’t Pushy
I’ve heard this a lot, “If I reach out too frequently, I feel like I’m being pushy.” Or, they worry about coming across as pushy and losing the sale.
If you’re following-up daily, sure you could be viewed as pushy, but most individuals aren’t pushing too hard. So, I want to put an end to that thought process!
Reaching back out and following-up is NOT being pushy.
The first thing you want to do is determine how frequently someone in your industry should be follow-up with. What’s the industry standard? Some industries call for weekly or monthly check-ins, others, like our guest Julie Busha (the creator of Slawsa), requires quarterly check-ins. A lot of this depends on the type of product or service you are selling.
She and her team want to impress upon their customers how aggressive they are at promoting their brand, so quarterly they create a short PowerPoint listing. Just something easy and quick that can show their customer what kinds of things they’ve been working on. Doing this has helped turn many of her NO’s to YES’s.
Be persistent! Do not be afraid of checking back.
You’ve Never Been Taught
Another reason so many entrepreneurs don’t follow-up with prospects is because they were never taught that they needed to do so. I know this may seem shocking, but it’s true, and if I’m being 100% honest, it’s a pretty simple thing to do.
All you need to do is let your customer know that you’ll be reaching back out to them on a specific day, and then enter that information into your calendar and set a reminder so you don’t forget to do it. Then, obviously, DO IT!
Remembering to follow-up when you told a customer you would is pretty important. It shows them that you are very interested in their business and that you have integrity. In other words, you do what you say you’re going to do.
If you do happen to forget, it’s okay. It doesn’t mean this is the end of the road for your relationship with this customer. Go ahead and reach out to them and explain what happened, and then also follow-up on your original offer. Most business owners, especially other entrepreneurs, understand the struggle of being busy and a reminder slipping by.
Most will be happy to be reconnecting.
Share Your Accomplishments
I am not saying go all out and start bragging about everything that you’ve done since the last follow-up, but you want to share what your business has been up to.
Julie shared what she typically does when following up with a prospect. “I share the promotions that we’ve been running. The social media thing that we did with this country music star and we the big thrill giveaway we did. I’ll share some of the media that we got, maybe being on the Today show or whatever else, in the last quarter.”
It’s important to keep buyers abreast of what you’re doing because a lot of buyers will only hear from someone once. The buyers tell the salesperson NO and then hear nothing. If YOU continue to follow-up, you’ll stand out from the crowd and they’ll know that you’re not going away.
When you share those accomplishments, and you continue to follow-up it speaks volumes. They’ll see your continued interest in their company and they’ll see some of the big things you’re doing to keep your brand growing.
One other important note, keep yourself up to date with their accomplishments, too. Nothing shows your dedication to their company more than a short congratulatory note for something amazing that happened to their company.
In Conclusion
You’ve got to follow-up! Two, three, maybe even four times. Maybe five times!
Life gets in the way, people are busy and there are times that your opportunity isn’t in the forefront of their minds. Your business is the most important thing to you, but you’ve got to remember that, for them, it might not be. So, follow-up and make it important to them… and, then, secure that sale!
