I figured out this week that I’ve had a handy feature for automating sales and marketing tasks. Sometimes the most simple solution is the best one. Check out this video for a quick tutorial on a feature you can use right now to make your life much easier while you increase sales!
 

When should I follow up?  How often?  What do I say?  If you’ve ever been a business owner, in sales, or otherwise responsible for nurturing business relationships, you have grappled with this issue.  How often is “just right?”

Just like Goldilocks and Papa Bear’s porridge, you’ve probably been burned a few times when your follow-up approach was too frequent or pushy – “don’t call me, I’ll call you” (or some more polite version of the same).

And just like Goldilocks and Mama Bear’s porridge, you’ve probably encountered a chill when your follow-up was too slow or soft – “we already made our purchase, we’ll keep you in mind for next time.”

So how can you avoid these two extremes?  How can you follow up in a way that is just right?

I gave a presentation to a group of business owners last week and the topic of proper follow-up extended from that seminar into a private meeting this week with one of the attendees.  So I thought I would share how our discussion went and the “rules” that emerged. 

See below – please share your thoughts too!

1)      Follow up starts during the current conversation.  I have coached several clients through this.  If in the current conversation you commit to delivering a proposal or other document that will require their review, establish a meeting to discuss it and answer their questions right then and there.  Sample script:

“Great Jim.  So I’ll be putting a proposal together.  You’ll have that in your inbox by Tuesday.  I’d like to give you a day or so to review it, but I also want to make sure that I address any questions you may have.  What’s your calendar like on Wednesday or Thursday?  Let’s go ahead and schedule that next meeting.”

2)      Follow up on the heels of offering value.  This is where your web and social media efforts weave together with your follow up practices.  Especially for each blog post, email piece, or article that your company produces, identify people who would find the information helpful and send them a copy with an individualized email.  Now you’ve set the stage for a follow up call:

“I hope you’re doing well… I wanted to make sure you noticed the article I sent you.  When I saw it I thought of you…”

This approach assumes that there is no active opportunity, but you have an interest in nurturing the relationship.  One of these kinds of personalized messages per quarter is a good starting point for frequency.  Check out this post for further ideas Sales Venture Capital Style. 

3)      Sometimes it’s o.k. to just “check in.”  If you are concerned about being a nuisance, don’t worry as much about the frequency as the content of your messages or conversations.  If you always have a self-serving agenda – like you want to meet or get names of others you should call or find out where they are in their budgeting process – then your prospects will find you annoying and avoid your calls.  Whenever you can, have something valuable to offer, as described in 2) above.  Whatever you do, don’t base your reason for calling on YOUR needs:

“If we get your order this week, we’ll make our quarterly goal” – I hate this tactic when I am in a buying position. 

If timing is an issue for THEM, you have something useful:

“I know you wanted to get this project launched by [X date], I want to support you in meeting that objective.  What steps are left before you would be ready to get started?”

Having “flawless follow-up” (the FF piece of the Profit Generating Machine) is critical to your business success.  There are 5 more critical pieces, so if you have not yet claimed your free copy of The Profit Generating Machine, request yours to the right.

In a 1/2 day workshop I conducted earlier this year, one of the things that most intrigued the participants was how I manage my email.  Since this skill is CRITICAL for effective follow up (and therefore more sales) I decided to pull together a video and share it with you.

Link to “Getting Things Done” by David Allen

In the last post we covered the first element of what it takes to capture more of the sales that you deserve – a mindset of delivering profits. Think like the prize patrol and you’ll feel a lot less self-conscious about the following up with your prospects.

One more mindset comment before I move on to the other three essential elements: behave as though a sale to the prospect yours to lose. Think about it, you and your competitors have equal chance to win the business (and be the one to deliver the benefits) once a prospect has “raised a hand.” Follow up better than the others, and all the business that you deserve will be yours. For those opportunities that aren’t a fit, at least you had the chance to determine one way or the other.

O.k., so how do you follow up better than your competitors? Keep in mind just 3 key points: irresistible, immediate, and persistent.

1. Irresistible: if you take a cold, hard look at what you offer as a “next step” to a prospect who’s indicated interest in what you provide, is it truly irresistible? If it is not something of obvious benefit to them, you have room for improvement.
2. Immediate: a prospect who has stepped out of anonymity to contact you is likely at a peak point in their need. Letting their interest cool off serves no one – except your competitor who might be able to engage the prospect before you have a chance.
3. Persistent: remember, you’re the prize patrol. You are doing your prospects a disservice by not persistently pursuing the chance to see if the value you can deliver is a match for their needs.

I’ll be providing specific tips in upcoming posts to help you capture more of the sales that are yours to lose. For now, I encourage you to think about how well you do the above in your current follow up process. Any obvious areas of improvement?

You know about the Publisher’s Clearing House Prize Patrol, I imagine.  They get to go around and give out big checks to sweepstakes winners.  Kinda cheesy I know, but I want you to think about one aspect of that job – do you think the prize patrol folks ever worry about intruding on the winners?

If your job were to go around giving away money or simply assisting those in need, would it ever occur to you that your help may be unwanted? Sounds silly, right?  If you were clearly out to deliver a benefit, you wouldn’t stop to wonder if you were imposing.

As a business owner or sales person, we often do feel like we’re imposing when we follow up with a prospect.  Why?  Because we’re only thinking about our side of the equation – the benefit (profit) we receive on each sale to a customer.

But wait, what is the customer’s side of the equation? Think about it as a consumer. Do you ever buy something that is worth less than the money you spend on it?  Hmm.  Probably not.

I know it can be hard to “calculate” the benefit of a good meal, a new laptop, or a freshly steam-cleaned carpet, but wouldn’t you agree that we’re always comparing the price of something to the benefit we’d receive?  If the price seems too high, we hold onto our money.  If the price seems lower than the value of what we’ll get in return, we spend.

For a customer to buy, the benefit must be greater than the price. 

Value flows from the seller to the customer.

We, as sellers, deliver a benefit, just like the prize patrol.

There’s one more lesson to be learned from the prize patrol – Sally Smith doesn’t get Jim Johnson’s check.  Not everyone is a winner.  Not every prospect you meet is interested in, or capable of receiving, the value you provide.  Following up diligently with a process that allows both you and your prospect to determine if there is a fit is critical.

Not sure if you have a good follow up process in place?  Be sure to request your free copy of The Profit Generating Machine by simply providing your name and email address to the right.

How often is someone in your target audience grappling with the very problems you can help solve?

My wife was recently introduced to a website with information about nutrition, exercise, and healthy living. When she signed up for their e-mail list she began receiving one or two messages per day. At first we were surprised, but it occurred to me that their expertise is something people could benefit from each and every day — we are all constantly dealing with choices about how we manage our health. I am sure that they get a fair amount of “unsubscribes” because they communicate to their list very frequently. However, I am also sure they successfully become the primary source of information for many people in their target audience. They simply behave as though they exist to provide ALL of the guidance their followers crave in the area of their expertise. 

For comparison, I am not constantly faced with problems or issues related to my auto insurance. Receiving a tip every day would seem ridiculous. Once per month or so might be a better fit.

“Where” do you intend to communicate with your audience?

If you feel your clients and prospects are best reached through direct mail, monthly or quarterly frequency is more common. Via e-mail, a higher frequency may be welcomed (assuming the answer to question #1 is a higher frequency).  Through social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, frequencies of weekly, daily, and even multiple times per day are not uncommon.

You may already be familiar with the idea that sometimes e-mail newsletters, blog posts, and social media updates can work in conjunction with one another. This post does not deal with that complexity, but your answers to the above questions will give you a starting point for how often your clients and other contacts would value hearing from you.

Not only can inspiring your customers to buy from you more often reward you with higher profits, it can also translate to more predictable income.  Here are just a few tips for compelling your clients or customers to come back more frequently.

1. A time-limited incentive — ever get a pizza delivered? What is attached to the box? Usually, you will find both a menu and a coupon to buy your NEXT pizza.  The coupon, of course, isn’t valid forever — they put an expiration date on it. So you haven’t even eaten the pizza you just ordered, and they are already planting the seed for your next purchase! How can you apply this idea to your business?
2. A loyalty program — the above strategy works great for many types of businesses (you will have to put your own twist on it) but your client is probably inundated with offers from your competitors as well. How should our pizza shop combat coupon overload? Reward loyalty. In its simplest form all they would have to do is offer a free pizza for every X number ordered (“buy 9 and the 10th is free!”).  Now when holding coupons from two different pizza places, our shop owner’s clients are likely to come back again and again because their loyalty is rewarded.
3. Verify the benefit of the last purchase — you probably hear it all the time, the key is in the follow up.  But how can you call again without being a nuisance? Well your first follow up call should be to verify that your client is truly receiving the benefit of your product or service.  Delivering the computer or painting someone’s living room is not the end.  WHY did they want your product or service? After some time has passed, pick up the phone and find out if they got what they wanted.  Are they now more productive with the faster computer? Do they feel better about inviting guests to their home because of their great-looking living room? Follow up to make sure your clients are truly realizing the benefits of their purchase, and you’ll likely stir up more sales.
4. Subscription or membership — would your clients benefit from an ongoing service from your business? What if you could stop chasing them to make additional sales and instead have regular revenue on a monthly or quarterly basis that you could count on? List the kinds of ways your product or service could be used regularly, then look around you for subscription ideas.  They are everywhere: wine clubs, retainer-based consulting services, maintenance services, product replenishment, etc.

These are just a few ideas to get you started. The goal? Strengthening your relationships with your best clients, while delivering more value and receiving more business in the process.  Additional ideas?  Please share!

What did we do?  We created a simple, but valuable, promotion that we plan to send out via email.  I signed up my client with Constant Contact so we can do it quickly, make it attractive looking, and monitor our results (how many people opened the email, how many clicked through to visit the web site, etc.).  Once that email goes out, the sales representative on my client’s team will have a reason to call — just to follow up on the promotion their customers should have all seen in their emails.

It may seem like such a simple concept — a little mundane, in fact, in this age of complex marketing programs.  All she will do is call each of the people who received the promotion via email to:

1. Make sure they noticed it (it’s easy to overlook emails these days isn’t it?)
2. Ask them to either open it up, or send them another copy if they can’t find it
3. Explain a few details and ask if they have any questions

Who knows where the conversation will go from there, but this little two-step plan accomplishes a few things:

1. It communicates that my client doesn’t just blast messages at their clients and prospects.  By simply following up, they are making it clear that the messages they send have useful information.  They wouldn’t be calling to confirm receipt if they didn’t feel so!
2. Increases the likelihood that future messages will be noticed.  It’s so easy to become numb to the emails you receive!  Once the receiver makes the stronger connection between the message and who the sender really is, future emails will get more attention.  Even when my client merely leaves a voice mail that is never returned, the exercise will be worth it.
3. Oh ya, it will increase immediate results.  If you’ve created a good offer in the first place, you’ll get more people to pay attention and take advantage if you follow up with a call.

I urge you to not overlook the simple things when designing your next “system” for increasing profits through more effective marketing and selling. 

More information about Constant Contact

As a business partner, I offer business owners who sign up through me (simply by using either link in this post) the same price as available by signing up directly.  I ALSO provide a free 2-hour email marketing strategy consultation.  If you’ve been kicking around the idea of email marketing, it may be time to take action!  Let me help you get started.

Well here is a thought to help you strike the right balance.  First say this to yourself — “my time is valuable and my [product or service] is valuable too.”  This, of course, assumes that the prospect you are talking with is a good fit for realizing the value you promise.  Okay, hold onto that mindset.  You’ll need that in the front of your mind as you take this uncomfortable path…

1. When you get that reaction — “I’ll have to think about it” – ask your prospect if they need any more information to make a decision.  Anything at all.  Have you educated them sufficiently about how you could help, or what your product is capable of doing?  Have you helped them understand their problem more thoroughly, so as to determine the importance of fixing it?
2. If they raise any issues, then there is your task.  Fill in any blanks, answer any questions, schedule the next meeting to include the additional players that will participate — all so they are fully armed to make a decision. 
3. When you’ve reached the end of that process, and they still need time to think about it, let them know that you will not be following up to check on their progress.  Because either they are not interested, and they are just trying to be polite, or they truly need some time to ponder their options to come to a conclusion.  Either way, your job is done.  You will save yourself a whole lot of time worrying, wondering, checking on their progress — and you will avoid becoming a nuisance.

You’re wondering if you just read that right.  I recommended that you have a direct conversation with a prospect to let them know that you will not waste your time, nor theirs, with endless follow up and checking.  O.k., so they like you for that.  No one wants a pushy sales person.  Plus, you can tell when they agree to a date for a follow up call, it’s just a game, right?  “O.k., give me a try Thursday…ya, that will work.  Right, 1:30…perfect…”  Come on, admit it.  How many times out of 10 do they really want that follow up call…2?

O.k., so we like this strategy because you get to avoid being a nag.  So are you going to just clam up and hope for the phone to ring?  Of course not!!!  The fact that you want them to come to a decision, and the ball is in their court, is out there.  You don’t need to remind them — they know you want the sale.  Get busy earning it!  Use the law of reciprocity!  Instead of checking on them, help them accomplish something valuable.  Make introductions, shoot over some tips for increasing their business. 

You would have spent time checking on them anyway, use the same energy to truly add value.  You’ll get the sale and you’ll have a client for life.  Check out our last post for more inspiration Sales “Venture Capital” Style.

Next post, how to have that sales conversation so you get the “I’ll have to think about it” reaction less and less…

If you want to take your sales results to another level though, consider this notion. You’re not a sales person, you are a venture capitalist. I’m not suggesting that you impersonate a VC in the hopes that you can trick your prospect into talking with you. I mean you would benefit from taking on that philosophy.

A Closer Look
VCs (especially those involved with early-stage businesses) expect the majority of the companies they invest in to either fail completely or fall far short of expectations. Does this sound a little bit like your pipeline of business? If you expect MOST of your prospects to close, then you’ve got wishful thinking or an amazing close process that I need to learn about . Sales is based upon the assumption that only a fraction of the opportunities you pursue will succeed – just like the portfolio of companies that a VC selects.

O.k., so we’ve established one similarity between sales people and venture capitalists — each pursues an array of opportunities knowing full-well that only a fraction will result in “success.”  Scratch below the surface and we immediately find an important difference between how VCs and sales people operate.  VCs invest in the companies in their portfolio.  Not just money, but time and resources as well.  They join in the fight to make each company succeed.  In the end, they have to be shrewd and cut their losses, invest more in the “winners,” etc.  But along the way they are busy trying to help each company reach its goals.

How do you think they would do if all they did was call around to each company in their portfolio on a regular basis to ask “have you made us money yet, how is it going?”  Pretty weak, right.  So (as a sales person or business owner) how helpful are you when you call around to your active prospects and keep asking, “…have you made a decision yet?  Have you talked with your boss or gotten approval from your CFO yet?”  Pretty weak right.

So remember, I’m talking figuratively here.  I’m not proposing that you have to invest hard money in your prospects.  But how can you benefit from that perspective?  What would a venture capitalist do?  Well, he or she would treat the list of active opportunities as a rolling portfolio of “investments.” In each case he would determine what is needed to make them successful.  So stop there.  Note the *them*. 

Here is where sales people can lose sight.  Do you want business from your prospects?  INVEST in them to help them realize the benefits you know they want.  Can you introduce them to someone in your network to help them get further along in their project or important aspect of their business?  Can you point out a resource for promoting their business that they may not be familiar with?  Can you give them a taste of the service you provide with a focus on delivering tangible benefits? 

Reciprocity is a powerful force.  Sure giving your prospects a gift or treating them to box seats at the A’s game may be appropriate at times and make them feel indebted to you.  But invest your energies into helping them reach their business goals and you will set yourself apart, and create more winners in your “portfolio” in the process!