It’s a known fact that salespeople who consistently follow up generate higher sales than their colleagues who don’t. However, mastering the art of effective sales follow up is challenging.
We have all encountered prospects who expressed interest in our product, service or offering. But after that initial conversation that person has gone AWOL. We leave a few voicemail messages and send a couple of emails but get no response. We don’t want to be perceived as a pest so we give up and move on to other opportunities.
First, let’s examine why people don’t return your calls and emails.
They are simply too busy. That’s right. Decision makers are extremely busy; the average corporate executive has at least 40 hours of unfinished work on their desk at any given time so they seldom respond to anything that isn’t urgent or important.
Here are five strategies you can use to improve your follow up process and increase the likelihood of reconnecting with your prospect.
1. Deal with the right person.
First and foremost, you must deal with the right person. That means talking to the key person(s) who are responsible for making that buying decision. If you are discussing the purchase with anyone other than the person who controls the budget or who owns that buying decision you are wasting your time.
2. Pre-arrange the follow-up.
One powerful strategy is to pre-arrange the follow-up during every conversation. During an initial call you need to establish a day and time for a subsequent conversation. You can do this simply by saying, “It seems like we need to talk again. Does next Tuesday morning at 9:15 work for you?” Pinpointing a specific day and time is critical but most sales people say something like, “I’ll call you next Tuesday.”
This approach leaves the door open and forces the other person to actually look at their calendar and consider your request. Once you nail down a day and time, tell them that you will send them an Outlook invite and then send it…immediately after your call.
When you call at the determined time you may get their voice mail so hang up and call back in a few minutes. If you still get voicemail, leave a message: “Mr. Jones, Kelley Robertson calling as promised. I suspect you got called away so I’ll give you a shout at 11:45.” In many cases, the other person will either return your call shortly or he or she will be available the second time you call.
3. Develop a plan.
You can’t simply keep calling a prospect and say, “Hi, it’s Kelley following up to see if you have made a decision yet.” That approach will get you nowhere…FAST! The key is to find ways to keep your name on your prospect’s radar. Here’s why. Many buying decisions go into a holding pattern while your contact deals with internal politics, approval processes, and other projects on their plates. Although the buying decision may be a priority today, it can be pushed the bottom of the list tomorrow when your contact has a more pressing issue to deal with.
That mean you need a well-thought-out plan of attack. Invest time to create a “keep-in-touch” campaign. Use a range of approaches and methods and you will increase the opportunity of connecting with your prospect.
4. Use a variety of methods. You can’t rely only on email or telephone to connect with busy prospects.
You need to use a variety of tactics and methods, including texting and sending direct messages from social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter and even Facebook.
Snail mail and courier are two methods that are underused in today’s technology-driven world and you can often connect with high-value prospects at industry conferences or networking events.
5. Become a resource for that person.
For example, if you know that your prospect struggles with employee turnover, look for information that addresses this issue. You don’t have to be the expert; in fact, you will earn even more credibility if you aren’t because this demonstrates that you are in touch with their business challenges. If you’re going to call, make sure that each message adds some type of value.
How much is too much?
One of the most frequently asked questions I get when discussing follow-up strategies with clients and sales people is, “How much is too much?” or “How many calls should I make?”
There is no clear or definitive answer; however, here is my guiding rule. The larger the sales opportunity, the more follow up calls or contact points you need to make and you have to determine what a high-value sales opportunity is for your particular business.
In my own sales training business, I will seldom try to reconnect with a prospect more than once or twice if the value of the sale is less than $500. However, I will make several attempts for sales that are worth several thousand dollars and I will be relentless in my follow up for a sales opportunity that has the potential to generate a five figure result.
Great follow up requires thought, effort and energy. However, the more consistent and effective you are at executing this, the more you will increase your sales.
