Many salespeople are aware that closing a deal is where the money is at but they struggle to get enough hot leads to close. But what if you were losing a lot of your leads in the initial meeting and follow-up phase. What if you are giving up on your prospects before they have even had a chance to consider your product?
Research shows that after the third contact with a prospect about 80% of salespeople have given up. Therefore if you continue to follow-up with your customer you may be the one to land them as your next big fish. Here are four tips for nailing your follow-up.
TIP 1: Use their preferred method of communication
After you have made contact with your prospect, it is good to ask them how they would like you to follow-up with them. Some prospects prefer a phone call, others like e-mail and some may even prefer to get Whatsapp messages. Whichever form of communication your prospect prefers you should use it to remain in contact with them.
TIP 2: Be brief and clear
When you do contact your prospect, ensure your email or call is brief and clear. You should state what you have to offer and how it will help your clients with their respective problems. You must also put a clear call to action on what you want them to do next. You ought to always be polite and to the point. No one wants to read reams of fluff which has no value for them. Here are some examples of follow-up emails you could use.
TIP 3: Add value
To stand out amongst the many salespeople trying to get your prospect to buy from them you need to give them value. You need to ensure the content you share with your prospect is relevant to them. Does it help them with the problem which they are trying to solve? In today’s day and age, content that is customised to the client is expected and in recent studies, it has been noted that 73% of customers feel a company cares if they receive customised content. This content should also not contain a hard sell as this could potentially put your customer off your company. It should contribute to the overall conversation which you are developing with your prospect. You could also put your client’s company name on Google alerts and when they get a mention in the media you will be able to use this information in your follow-up with them.
TIP 4: Create a follow-up plan
Without a plan, you may be leaving some of your best prospects on the table. It is important to time your follow-ups well. Every industry may have different timelines when it comes to following up but here is a basic plan. You should leave about 48 hours between each time you contact your prospect unless you have agreed on another appropriate time. If you are cold calling a contact, you should contact them about three times before sending a break-up email which states that this will be the last time you will contact them. This email normally gets the most attention as many times clients are busy and may have put your previous emails off until now. If you have had contact with your client then you can be persistent until you get the sale. It is always important to follow-up according to what the client has agreed upon. You should also keep notes of what you have spoken about so that you can refer back to them during your follow-up this will help you to show that you care about the customer and not just the potential work you may get from them.
By following these four tips you will be well on your way to creating more opportunities to close more sales.
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