When members of your sales team make first contact with potential customers, do they follow up in a timely manner or move on to other prospects? If so, they (and, by extension, your business) may be losing out on value sales opportunities—mainly, the chance to close a deal and build a strong business-customer relationship that yields further dividends down the road.
If your sales team can use help with follow-up opportunities, keep these tips in mind:
Nothing beats a personalized “thank you” message to a prospect soon after the initial contact. This can encompass everything from a simple thank you to including “contact details and the name of a person who can be reached in case the client has an issue or question,” notes BDC. “Ideally, that person should be the account manager or salesperson” who made that first contact.
Some prospects are more open to “staying in touch” than others. Whatever the case, it’s good to request their consent before embarking on follow-up communications. If the answer is favorable, begin the process of sending materials tailored to their individual needs and challenges. This can include how-to articles, industry-specific webinars, and other value-added content.
A friendly follow-up phone call to a prospect indicates your willingness to provide sales assistance whenever necessary. Close, a sales software company, advises keeping notes of each call, “and always set clear steps for the next touchpoint before you hang up.” If you are unable to do more than leave voicemail, be prepared to use “follow-up voicemail scripts so you’re not grasping for words when they don’t pick up.”
Alternately, sending a text isn’t unusual these days. Just don’t go overboard. All texts should be brief and to the point, and only after the intended recipients opt-in to receive your messages—and have a user-friendly unsubscribe option if they choose to no longer hear from you.
Never call or send a follow-up text or email that feels generic or lacking in substance. Prospects who get value from every interaction with your sales team will come to anticipate further value and remain open to fresh sales opportunities.
As Memory Blue, a sales and lead generation company, notes, “Each follow-up should offer something beneficial … whether it’s insightful information, helpful resources, or answers to their queries.” Rather than plaguing prospects with “repetitive follow-up sales pitches,” it’s better to “focus on how each interaction can bring value to their business or address their specific needs.”
When your sales team’s follow-up actions meet with success, make sure salespeople don’t just move on to the next prospects. Every new customer should receive some or all of the following, depending on their needs:
If a user’s experience with your products or services falls short in some respect, have a support line that’s flexible enough to accommodate different customers. “For instance, older customers frequently prefer to call a sales support line and talk to a real human,” notes Zen Desk, while “DIY-type customers may seek out troubleshooting guides on your website” to deal with any problem that comes up.
It's vital to follow-up on all sales opportunities. Not only does this help build trust, but these actions also pave the way for potentially long-term relationships with valued customers.
Want to learn more? Check out “Closing Techniques that Help Build Sales.”