It’s super annoying when you call someone and they don’t call you back. Or how about when you send a text message and you see that they have read it, but then they don’t respond? Again, you’ve done your part by doing the follow up, but they’re not following through. It’s even worse when it’s a potential client or business partner! When you don’t get a response in a situation like this, it could make you think that they don’t want to do business with you.
If you don’t like it when this happens to you, make sure you’re not doing the same thing to your customer.
There’s a story that goes something like this:
A boy meets a very attractive woman, but she won’t have anything to do with him. After the initial meeting, he sends her a rose every day for 21 days. (Can you even imagine what that must have cost him?!?) Because he was persistent, she finally agreed to date him. That first date they had was the initial contact. It’s been 25 years and they are still married! Now, that’s persistence and it all paid off because he was willing to do the Follow Up.
Business is all about the follow up as well. You have a potential client and how you follow up with that potential client determines if they stay as a potential or if they become a client. When your follow up is great, you don’t have to worry about the competition because you’re building a relationship, not just a sale. These types of relationships will last for years!
How You DO the Follow Up Determines Your Business
How is the Follow Up going for you in your business? Are you connecting with them after each and every transaction? Is it all about the sale and then you don’t connect with them again? How would that make you feel if it was you? Anyone can make a sale, but it’s a true business owner who can build a life-long relationship with their customer.
If you’d like to stop selling and start building here are some tips on how to get that done:
- Be Consistent in the Follow Up.
- Create a Plan of Action or Timetable on when to Follow Up – 24 to 48 Hours
- Make sure you’re sticking to your plan – explain why you cannot
- Your word is your bond – make sure you follow through on your promises.
When you’re an ITEX member, follow up with ALL your ITEX connections and contacts. Because of your consistency, the other business members and customers will send more referrals your way and this means business. When you treat your clientele the way you would like to be treated, they’ll tell their business network. Eventually that will trickle down to mean more business for you.
Communicate with Everyone.