Entrepreneurs
3 Immediate Follow-Up Ideas to Close More Sales
If you are in sales then you know the follow-up is crucial to your business and the paycheck you are wanting to earn. The crazy thing here is that most simply stink at following up or don’t even follow up at all. Then these sames individuals are the ones living payday to payday or complaining about the lack of money they are making. Seeing the disconnect yet?
There are so many ways you can follow up but I wanted to take a moment and focus on three specific ways you can immediately follow up with a prospect to ensure the closure of more sales and opportunities to present your product or service.
1. Make The “In Advance” Call Back
Setting your calendar reminders are important. Don’t get me wrong here; however, what can be a more powerful tool to ensure your prospect shows up to the meeting scheduled than by placing another call back to them 24 hours in advance? How many of you are doing that? It’s simple you know you have a call scheduled for the next day.
While you should send a calendar reminder or email reminder, you should make the call and verify with that person on that meeting. One, this is personal and shows even more commitment and conviction on your end that the meeting is important. Two, it is another way to recap, reclose, and even refresh your prospect on what the meaning of the call is all about. Be the aggressor there.
“Most people think ‘selling’ is the same as ‘talking’. But the most effective salespeople know that listening is the most important part of their job.” – Roy Bartell
2. Send A Video Message
This is key personal touch that very few do. Prospects or potential customers like to be engaged. They are used to phone calls, emails, and even mailers. However, what they aren’t used to is when they are done talking with someone who is offering them a product or service sends them a personal video message. This message could be something simple as a “thank you” or even to confirm another meeting that was set at the initial conversation.
What will make this even more impactful as a follow up tool is the speed of implementation that you use with it. Don’t wait days after your prospect and you have spoken before sending them a video response. Do it within minutes and set the tone early that you are someone that will follow up and set the expectation of how you want the interactions to take place moving forward. Take control and be the professional.
“Nobody likes to be sold to, but everybody likes to buy.” – Earl Taylor
3. Send The Calendar Invite In Real Time
It drives me nuts when I hear my sales staff tell a prospect that “as soon as we hang up” I will send you a calendar invite for our meeting. Don’t do that. Send it right then with the prospect on the phone. At the same time, instruct them to go ahead and check the ACCEPT button on the invite so both of your calendars match the date and time for the follow up call or meeting.
This is important to start your prospect on the path of commitment. You also are taking control of the process at the time of conversation. How many other emails or calls is your prospect getting that day? You don’t know. What you do know is what and how your call goes while you have their attention. Keep their attention and ask for the acceptance while you know they are looking at their emails. Don’t just trust the process you are working in, verify it.