NFIB

Following Up With a Customer
04/ 11/ 2002


How many times have you started sales negotiations with a customer and found that, after a week or so, the sales momentum lags? In today's Workshop, Jeffrey Moses suggests how to keep a customer interested.

First of all, never let more than a week go by without speaking to a potential customer, unless he or she has made it clear that no buying decisions will be made for a month or two. Even then, you should keep in touch every few weeks in a non-invasive way, asking if they have had any thoughts or questions in the meantime.

When it seems that you have absolutely nothing to say to a potential customer after not speaking with them for a week or more, go back to your notes of previous conversations.

Find some particular point that they mentioned -- some need or important thought that they had -- and do a little research on it so that you have "new information" to give to the customer. Maybe you could call a technical expert in the field and ask a question, or go online and see if the Internet has anything informative to say about the subject. Get some new tidbit of interest, then call the customer and say, "I was thinking about something you mentioned during our last talk, and I've done some research on it. This may be of interest to you." This approach gives you a valid reason to initiate a phone call, and your sales efforts can proceed from that point.

If it's possible to calculate any direct financial benefits that the customer may receive from purchasing your product, a phone call is warranted. If you have received enough financial data about the company, you might be able to project how long it would take for use of the product to pay for the cost of purchase. Or you could project savings that would be gained over a one, two or three year period. These figures are what makes a purchase an investment.

If any new developments have occurred from your side(the company is offering a sale, longer warranty service, new comparable equipment), use this information as the reason for your call.

If a sale or discounted price is coming to an end, be sure to inform the customer about it. This is basic service, and should be appreciated by the customer even if he or she decides not to buy. Don't, for example, tell a customer that the25% off that they were offered is ending, then immediately start another 25% off sale the following week. This destroys customer confidence, and retards your marketing efforts.

The more accurately and uniquely you can address a customer's specific needs, the more powerful your follow-up phone call will be. This is the essence of sales, and will enable you to move forward toward closing the sale in a powerful yet very natural way.

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