How Effectively Do You Follow-Up?

One of the greatest cause of lost sales is due to one fatal flaw in the sales process: poor follow-up. Three reasons sales people don’t follow up effectively include poor timing, technique and organization.

Let me explain how you can double your sales by following up.

One of the most difficult decisions a sales person makes is deciding when to follow up.

The story is told of a salesperson that, after the first meeting with a decision maker was told to follow up in three weeks. At that time the decision maker would decide whether or not to buy. The sales person obediently followed the decision maker’s request and followed up precisely in three weeks, only to be told the business had already made the purchase from another sales person several weeks earlier. The decision maker mentioned that he vaguely remembered talking to the sales person, but when the competitor presented his solution it seemed compelling so he made the purchase.

Confused and disappointed, the sales person promised himself to never make that mistake again and determined that he would follow up much sooner next time. That very day, the sales person met with another decision maker who also told the sales person to follow up in a few weeks. The sales person, now much savvier than before, thought to himself, “I will follow up next week so I won’t lose the sale to anyone else.” Sure enough, the next week the sales person was standing in front of a somewhat bewildered decision maker who said, “What are you doing here! I thought I told you to follow up with me in a few weeks. I haven’t made up my mind yet, and please quit bothering me!” Now the sales person was really confused. It seemed regardless of what approach he took to following up with the sale he was wrong.

As sales people we want to know two things from the decision maker:

1) do you have any questions and

2) have you made up your mind yet?

Asking those questions can be aggravating. We want to know the answers but we don’t want to seem pushy. The solution is not to ask, but to create an environment where the answers will be given. To do this we must have a reason to be in front of the decision maker and that reason should be to present them with something valuable that will help them in the decision-making process. At the Business Performance Group, we call this something a “romance piece.” It is any information in a tangible form, designed to be left with the decision maker, which will provide a reason to be in front of them and to also give the decision maker additional information to make the correct buying decision. If the decision to purchase is going to take place within 30 days, the sales person can follow-up as often as a couple of times per week using a romance piece.

Romancing the sale solves the problem of when to follow-up and provides a successful technique for being in front of the decision maker. This powerful technique will build rapport while at the same time providing useful information. Don’t leave the decision maker to make the buying decision without your frequent input. Romance the sales and watch them increase.