Just Follow Up!
Doyle Slayton | May 07, 2008 | Comments 9
Written by Keith Rosen, MCC – Author and Executive Sales Coach™
[Contributing Author]
My wife and I were about to undertake our last remodeling project. Being a consummate consumer, I wanted several qualified companies to bid on our next project. After calling ten contractors, I scheduled an appointment with the five that called back.
Following our meetings, one gave me a price on the spot and two never responded with an estimate. Two contractors mailed an estimate, and one of them followed up a week later.
Guess who got the job. Just by making a five-minute phone call! What fascinated me most was that only one contractor called back to discuss his proposal and ask for my business.
How can these salespeople afford not to follow up? Conducting my own research, each one said they needed more business, yet didn’t know the status of the majority of proposals they sent. I sensed that following up regarding their proposal was not their typical M.O. Instead, here’s what they said.
- I thought you were using someone else.
- I didn’t think you were ready to buy.
- I thought you felt the price was too high.
- I didn’t want to bother or pressure you.
While these contractors formulated their own conclusion, they never bothered to confirm if their assumptions were, in fact, true! They were operating under the costly assumption, “The prospect will call when they’re ready.”
I asked Bill, one of the contractors, “If you’re sacrificing valuable time to drive to an appointment, deliver a presentation, write a proposal and then don’t follow up and ask for a prospect’s business after taking all of the steps that earned you the opportunity to do so, who are you really helping?” Then it hit him between the eyes. “My competition!”
Bill realized something that only a select few have. While prospects need his remodeling knowledge and skills, they also need his help in making their purchasing decision.
Bill recently called me with some exciting results. After making thirty phone calls to past prospects, he spoke with ten prospects he had met with. Bill sold three more deals ($78,000) in one week that he never would have sold.
In many businesses, especially the ones that sell directly to consumers such as home remodeling, cold calling consumers via the phone is no longer an option to generate new leads. Aside from canvassing door to door, networking, asking for referrals, posting job signs or traditional (and sometimes costly) marketing/advertising campaigns, what else brings in more business? Follow up calls.
How many prospects are waiting for your phone call so they can send you a deposit? How many people are out there waiting to begin working with you?
Bill and I sat down to crunch the numbers. I shared this observation with him. “Consider that you can make about fifteen calls per hour (one hour per week). Assume that out of fifteen contacts, you make one more sale. (Average sale $10,000.) Four hours a month equates to four more sales. Over a year, that’s $480,000 in volume. This exceeds the yearly volume of most contractors just by making one hour of follow up calls each week!”
If you take a moment and look at your call back list, how much business does that equate to? Now ask yourself, “How much of it am I willing to give to my competition?”
Since your competitors aren’t paying you commission, here’s your opportunity to utilize a simple, efficient three-step follow up system that will bring in more (free) sales.
1. Get Permission. Whether you need to follow up after an initial conversation or once a prospect receives your proposal, tries out your product, speaks with references or needs to check their schedule before they meet with you a second time, it’s just good business sense to get permission before doing so. For instance, you inform the prospect they will be receiving your proposal next Friday. Before you leave the appointment ask, “May I follow up with you to discuss and answer any questions you have regarding my proposal?” Gaining permission to follow up eliminates your fear of appearing overly aggressive or pushy. Now, they’re expecting your call.
2. Schedule A Meeting. Now that you’ve gotten permission, schedule a time that you will be calling or meeting with them. Immediately put it in your planner or PDA. This eliminates the time consuming game of phone tag and having to hunt your prospect down in order to schedule yet another time to meet or review your proposal, reducing the number of calls you’ll have to make or respond to.
Tip from The Coach: There is an exception to this rule. If part of your selling strategy requires drafting a proposal for a prospect, rather than sending your proposal and then scheduling a time to meet after they’ve received it, if possible, it’s always better to schedule a time to hand deliver your proposal. This way, you can review it face to face (or computer to computer) with the prospect and immediately address any concerns or barriers to the sale. Reviewing the proposal upon delivery provides you with the luxury of handling all possible objections immediately so that you can then ask for the prospect’s business, thus reducing the chance of your proposal becoming another item on the prospect’s lengthy ‘to-do’ list. In many cases, the longer it takes to reconnect with a prospect, the closer your proposal gets to the bottom of their priority list.
3. Just Follow Up! Depending on the sheer number of prospects you connect with, start by putting aside at least one hour each week that’s strictly devoted to this practice. Considering your ROI, it’s time well invested. Otherwise, something else will always take precedent.
Instead of thinking about how many calls you need to make, consider how many sales you’ll be giving to your competition if you don’t. If something as simple as following up provides you with a competitive edge, then your next sale is just a phone call away.
Keith Rosen is the executive sales coach that top salespeople and managers call first. A best selling author, Keith has written several books including, Time Management for Sales Professionals, The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Cold Calling and Coaching Salespeople Into Sales Champions. For his work as a pioneer in the coaching profession, Inc. magazine and Fast Company named Keith one of the five most respected and influential executive coaches in the country. For more resources or to inquire about Keith’s coaching and training programs, visit Keith Rosen at www.ProfitBuilders.com, 516-771-1444 or email at info@profitbuilders.com.
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The problem with a lot of salespeople is that they like the sound of their own voice too much. Someone who is aiming to sell needs to attach more importance to the customer / prospect, not himself. In sales, listening skills are as important as presentation skills. The best way to sell is to have the buying decision come from the buyer, as if it was his/her idea in the first place. All people have egos and the sales person need to massage the prospect’s ego. Forcing your opinion on to the prospect will result in defensive behaviour and could cause the prospect to feel that he is being conned into buying into something he may regret. The idea is to ease the buyer into buying the product offered.
As many wise people before us have said- THE FORTUNE IS IN THE FOLLOW-UP! It doesn’t get any plainer than that!
Doyle, do you think the lack of follow up is a fear of rejection?
That’s a great question Shane! I think fear of rejection can be an issue for some sales reps. It may also be some form of thinking that they are “bothering” the prospect.
Most follow-up ability lies in the sales person’s ”Drive and determination” as well as their overall “Organization Skills.”
Sometimes it’s that simple… Is the sales person organized enough to have a strategic follow-up plan for every target? This concept is tied to building a pipeline. To get more on this concept… You can check out my article, “Want Long-term Success? Build Your Pipeline!”
Thanks for the information and thanks for the sharing I also sharing to my friend and a very nice blog thanks again
As a sales person, I sometimes (like all my clients) fall into bad habits of not following up enough, fast enough, or with enough good offers.
In these recessionary times, follow up is free! http://www.captureprofits.com/blog
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