Wednesday, November 25, 2009

The Power of Having a Follow Up System

By Wilkinson Fox

To some salespeople, follow-up means a call or two after the sale has been closed. It may come as a shock, but most don't even do that much! Consider this: if salespeople stop at one post sale follow-up call, they are throwing away future business. Successful sales professionals and experts consistently tell us that not keeping in touch with your clients after the sale can have serious negative consequences.

The Eighty-Twenty Rule in sales usually signified 20% of the sales people did 80% of the business. This could also represent 80% of your business comes from 20% of your client resources. In other words, following up with your clients could generate 80% of your sales. This is true for repeat clients or referrals from these particular clients.

Let's look at the real estate industry for a minute. Over 80% of real estate agents clients do not remember the name of the agent that represented them in a buying or selling transaction. By being proactive in periodic follow up would more than cut that percentage in half. Clients usually won't bother you with minor problems, but them knowing you are there for them if they need you is powerful. Continually putting your name in front of them has very positive results and will show in your sales figures.

In any sales industry, no matter how small or large, following up after the sale is an absolute must. If one client knows 3 people, who know 3 people and so on, just imagine how important touching base with your sphere of influence could result in huge future profits. Take a step back and count the number of sales people who followed up with you after you purchased their product or service.

With computers, technology and the Internet, we have vast resources at our disposal for following up with our clients. Use these tools to your advantage to touch base with your sphere of influence. Postal or electronic emails for Christmas cards, thank you cards, birthday cards or a "Just wanted to say hi" cards are a few of several choices you have.

With today's innovative ideas we can easily try to escape the phone call approach. This is probably more powerful than any other follow up technique and should not be forgotten. If it is available to you, then I would highly recommend incorporating this method in your follow up procedures. A few minutes of conversation will reconnect the rapport with your client.

We tend to get busy and lose focus on how crucial our past clients can keep our pipeline filled. There is something to be said for "follow up" if 80% of our business is generated from 20% of past clients and referrals.

Continual follow up with our sphere of influence will no doubt, increase our sale production. This in turn will help pave the road to success and financial freedom.

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