One of the key elements of making a sale in business is to make a follow-up call. Once you have made initial contact with a prospect, you’ll need to contact them again once they have had time to consider your proposals, and this is when most of the selling is done – it’s definitely when the closing is done. So, it’s vital that you make your follow-ups as good as possible to ensure you make and close as many sales as possible. Here are some of the ways you can improve your follow-up calls and get better results.
Schedule Your Calls
Everyone is incredibly busy; the 21st century seems to be one in which working as hard as possible for as long as possible every day is the norm. This means that if you are hoping to catch someone in the office when they aren’t busy so you can talk to them about their thoughts and feelings on your product or service and ideally get them to buy from you, it’s unlikely to happen. In fact, it’s much more likely you’ll find they are busy or that you are distracting them from something, and they either won’t want to talk to you at all, or they won’t really be focusing on what you’re saying. Either way, it’s a missed opportunity.
This is why it’s far better to schedule your calls. Although you might think this will give people the opportunity to deliberately screen you if they’ve already decided they don’t want to buy from you, even if this does happen, those who do answer will already be warm prospects. Let the potential customer know the day and time you’re planning to call and keep to the schedule; it’s polite and will ensure they are awaiting your call.
Don’t Call
Seeing as everyone is so busy – and that includes you – a follow-up call might not be the best use of your time. Instead of phoning, why not send an email or a text message instead? Emails can include plenty of information, and you can tailor them to each client, ensuring they feel understood and that you are taking them into consideration.
Text messages will contain less information, but they are more likely to gain the attention of the person you’re sending them to – emails can be read later, but if someone receives a text, they usually look at it right away. When you think of how a text message works, consider the political messages definition of getting attention, including a call to action and giving contact details. By doing this, you won’t be annoying anyone with a phone call, and you can spend your time on hot prospects while your warmer ones get in touch with you.
Ask Questions That Get Answers
It’s all too easy to fall into the trap of asking a question and receiving a yes or no answer in response. The problem with these answers is that there is nowhere to go from there; there is nothing to tag the next question onto. What you really want are questions that will give you a more detailed answer so you can tailor your sales pitch to the prospect and lead them in the direction you want them to go.
The main way to do this is to ask direct questions. Not only will you get an answer you can do something with, but the prospect will feel as though the conversation is moving swiftly and be less tempted to say they have to go because they have other things to do.
