Follow up!
This is how I will term my last month at the workplace. Be it the follow up with the prospects or with that of my co-workers to get the issues resolved. I learned a lot, made some mistakes but finally got it right.
To follow up is an Art! How do you follow up in a way that encourages prospects to buy from you? Sometimes following up on prospective customers can be as nerve-racking as making that initial first demo. You know that you need to ask prospects to make a decision, but you don’t want to appear to be a pushy sales person. Most businesses do not follow up enough and the results are that many customers slip through their fingers. Finding the right medium is sometimes difficult.
When interacting for the first time, giving an effort to try and get an understanding of requirements and mapping them with the product will help you to indirectly help them in decision making. Well, this varies widely. Are they someone who make a decision quickly? Or will they need lots of information and encouragement? Perhaps you can plan you’re follow up tactics with each particular customer. Once you are done with the presentation based on your efforts you can ask them to make a decision. For example, I say it like this “ As you can see ERPNext fits in 80% of your business processes so efficiently, and remaining requirements can be handled by inbuilt customisation tools, I think you can go ahead with ERPNext”.
A week or two later you may send an email and suggest them the same along with asking for any further queries. In fact, sometimes you may need to follow up more than 2 or 3 times. But not every one of these follow-ups needs to an email. It could be a reminder about a fast action as the trial account is expiring, a newsletter with some client testimonials, an information sheet demonstrating the value that you offer. You can get creative in the way that you keep in contact with prospective customers and get them used to you contacting them. In the process, you will be building a relationship with them and demonstrating the value of your product to in their business.
Not every prospect reacts or replies to your follow up. Some customers will be ready to buy sooner than others. Need to use your discernment to match your follow up techniques to their buying behaviour. You cannot limit the number or types of follow-up methods you use. I aim not to give up just because I get a no on the first follow up call, it may be that the prospect just needs a little more encouragement or information to make their decision.
For myself I schedule with reminders that prompt you to follow up, I don’t rely on my own memory because when following up’s are less strategic they are often less effective. For now, I am focusing on building a genuine relationship with your prospective customers. When people trust you they will be more inclined to buy from you. Even if they don’t buy today, because they have a relationship with you when they are ready to buy you will naturally be their first choice. Happy Follow-up!
