Follow Up X 7

Follow Up to Improve Relations and Results

 

One of the most important and yet overlooked skills in business today is follow-up.

This applies to many parts of our business: sales, marketing, customer service and care, leadership, networking, branding, and more. It is a habit and a discipline that, when used effectively and regularly, will change your results and your life.

Kevin Eikenberry with the Sideboard gives us seven ways to incorporate more follow-up into your practices – and therefore seven ways to increase results.

1. Say Thank You - First and foremost, the must-do follow-up habit is to say thank you. Send an email, make a call, or best of all, send a hand written note. It is a terrific opportunity to follow up with the individual right away. Same day is best. Tell the Customer thanks for the new order. Tell the employee how much you appreciate their extra effort (or their normal effort over the long haul). Thank a person for a referral. Thank a colleague for the book or website recommendation. We all sent thank you cards after receiving graduation and wedding gifts. And while you may have done it because it was expected, it was really good practice for the rest of your life. I have a recurring task on my task list. It reads “Who do I need to thank today?”
2. Ask for Feedback - After completing a project, meeting, sales campaign, consulting engagement, or whatever, ask for some feedback. Preface your request by saying that you want to not only make sure that you have met their needs, but that you want to know how to continue to improve. Implement a win/loss interview.
3. Keep Track  - You’ve given an employee, vendor, supplier or customer some coaching or help on a specific issue, so follow-up to see how it is going now and if the results match what had been expected. Follow-up isn’t just a one time deal – it is an on-going commitment. You likely are interested in the progress others are making. Let them know by staying in touch and seeing how things are going and how you might be able to help.
4. Remain Interested  - This is one step beyond keeping track. It is remaining interested in the other person or group’s progress over the long term. Continue to check back on progress. Remaining interested shows that you care and have made the effort to remember about events and goals important to the other person.
5. Remember Important Events  - Top people call friends and colleagues on their birthdays and sings or at least tells them Happy Birthday – live or on their voice mail. I have done this occasionally in the past – but have made it a more normal part of my routine as well. Why? Because it makes people smile. Your kids and parents expect a happy birthday wish, but do your Customers? Your employees? Your vendors? Maybe you don’t sing, but you can still wish people happy anniversary, happy birthday or happy St. Patrick’s Day – especially if they are Irish!
6. Share Information You Know Matters to Them  - Have a colleague who has a rose garden? Send them the article about roses that you read last week. Have a co-worker who graduated from a certain college? Congratulate them when his team wins the big game. Have a Customer who loves tennis? Send them a link to the website you heard about that helps people improve their game. You get the idea. Follow-up by giving people information or comments that they know is just for them. It should be used throughout your career to keep your network fresh and engage. This could mean forwarding an article that you think she’ll find interesting, or congratulating her if you notice she’s been promoted or earned some sort of recognition. Maybe thanking her for a bit of advice that you employed. Keep it simple and brief, and don’t ask for anything back. If that person hears from you and has an update? She’ll absolutely be in touch. Try: “Hi Sue, We spoke last month about the product manager position at XYZ Industries. In our conversation, you highlighted some emerging trends in food packaging. I noticed this attached article about the same topic and thought of you. No response necessary. I hope you find the information useful!”
7. Have a Plan  - CRM systems are a great tool to track your calls and conversations with your contacts regularly. We have a process to connect with our most valued colleagues and Clients monthly. Our plan continues to be tweaked, but we have a plan because we know how important follow-up is. 

These seven suggestions show how valuable follow-up can be.

 

There is little about it that is hard. Being exceptionally good at follow-up requires focus, dedication, discipline, and a decision to do it. If you will make the decision you will become a more effective leader or supervisor. You will become a better networker. You will have greater sales. You will retain your relationships longer. Any of these are reasons enough to follow up.

 

More reasons to follow up:

• 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
• 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
• 12% of sales people make more than three contacts
• 2% of sales are made on the first contact
• 3% of sales are made on the second contact
• 5% of sales are made on the third contact
• 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
• 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

Thank you for reading and sharing this!

Turn Your Customer Service into a Profit Center

Customer Service Is Not Just About Service

by Terry Stidham

We know that “Everyone is in sales,” or should be according to many along with Joe Maddalone in his Forbes article, "Five Essential Sales Tips Everyone Must Master".

This is especially true for the customer service department. For many companies their customer service team is the main point of contact. They work on the front lines, and often are the ones who know the most about the customers’ specific wants and needs. So, it makes sense that they should be in a position to make additional sales, right?

Whether this task has been outsourced to a call center or there is an in-house team, these employees should be doing more than taking calls. In addition to providing quality customer support that will keep customers coming back, your customer service team should be upselling customers to increase revenues and improve the lifetime value of your customers.

 

Targeted Upsells 

Successful upselling starts with attention to the customer’s wants and needs and who knows them better than customer service. They have access to a CRM system that tracks each customer’s purchase history and interactions with the company.

 

They also know the specific reason why the customer has contacted the company, how to resolve their issue, and what type of product or service the customer may be receptive to purchasing at that time, oftern making them the right people to upsell successfully.

 

Customer service reps should take into account the customer’s history and needs in order to provide an upsell or cross-sell that is valuable to the customer at that moment. The particular needs of the customer should determine what the rep chooses to market to them. If the customer does not find value in it at that time, the upsell will not be successful.

 

Limited Time Offers

Customers don’t call to say, “I love my purchase, sell me more!” Oftentimes, they have a specific issue or question that they want to resolve. However, the customer service reps shouldn’t pass up the opportunity to sell to customers, since they’ve already crossed the biggest hurdle to sales: making contact.

Customer service reps can take advantage of the contact by telling the customer about the promotions, sales, and limited-time offers currently available to them. As stated above, these offers should be targeted to what the customer wants or needs.

For example: “I see your service contract is about to expire. We’re currently running a limited-time offer that provides 3 free months when you sign up for a 12-month contract. Would you like to renew your contract with us today?”

 

Bundled Services and Deals

Because the customer service representatives know the customers so well, they can predict what kinds of sales, upsells, or cross-sells would be most successful. Have them look for products that customers might want to buy together, and provide them as a bundled service. Purchased as a bundle, the array of services cost less than purchasing each one individually. Offering to bundle a customer’s current product with other complimentary products or services can give customers the impression of added value – in addition to cost savings.

 

Top-Notch Customer Service

Of course, the most important aspect in sales to customers through your customer service team is the quality of the service itself. If customers aren’t happy with the service that they are receiving, they won’t be receptive to any sales efforts through that funnel. However, high-quality customer service can improve customer satisfaction and result in more sales.

Two-thirds of consumers would be willing to spend more with a company – 13% more, on average – following an excellent customer service experience (The 2012 American Express Global Customer Service Barometer).

 

A properly trained customer service team can not only keep the customers coming back; they can also help customers find the products and services they need, and increase the lifetime value of each customer through thoughtful, personalized upselling techniques.

Recognize the 4 Personality Types to Improve Sales

Improve Sales and Customer Satisfaction by Selling to Their Personalities

by Terry Stidham

You or your reps. are good at identifying and finding prospects, making initial contacts, performing a needs analysis, developing solutions, giving presentations, handling objections and closing sales.

Most likely there can be some dramatic improvements on close rates and customer satisfaction by identifying and addressing the different personalities that are encountered.

We all know that people like to buy from people that are like them or understands them.

No one person is ever totally one personality type. We are all mixtures. People operate primarily in one of 4 types.

4 Personality Types and the Associated Characteristics:

Analytical:

• Likes facts and detail
• Money and numbers oriented
• Wants to know "bottom-line"
• Works best independently
• Very neat and organized
• Stickler for timeliness
• Not much of a risk taker

Driver:

• Gets right to the point
• Limited on time
• Always busy
• Wants immediate results
• Risk taker
• Likes multiple choices
• Needs to have the power
• Works best independently
• Focuses on positives 

Amiable:

• Likes to build relationships
• Friendly and likable
• Traditional attitudes
• Not a risk taker
• Needs support of other people
• Makes careful decisions
• Somewhat "wishy-washy"
• Less time-oriented

Expressive:

• Dreamer
• Uses hunches to make decisions
• Needs to be with people
• Makes quick decisions
• Likes to plan
• Takes risks
• Focuses on generalities
• Less time-oriented

How can you identify these personalities on a sales call?

Analytical & Amiable:

• Ask a lot of questions
• Speak softly
• Move slowly
• Not much direct eye contact
• Leans back in chair
• No hand gestures
• Patient
• Cooperative
• Calm

Driver & Expressive:

• Tell you things
• Speak loudly
• Fast movements
• Direct eye contact
• Lean toward you
• Animated hand gestures
• Impatient
• Competitive
• Excitable
• Enthusiastic
• Outwardly positive

Analyticals and Drivers are less responsive so you will notice:

• Serious attitude
• Very few facial expressions
• Formal approach
• Heavy time-orientation
• Will not touch you
• No chit-chat
• Direct conversation
• Rigid, calculated movements

Amiables and Expressives tend to be more responsive, so you will notice:

• More personal questions
• Warm, friendly approach
• Animated expressions
• Changes in tone and pitch
• Will try to build close relationship
• May touch you
• Chatty
• Many hand gestures
• Fluid movements

Begin studying the people in your life to determine their personality type. Take notes and compare them to the characteristics listed.

 

Working with each personality type:

Analytical:

• Let them feel they are right
• Give them facts first
• Stress rational, logical reasons for buying
• Observe time constraints
• Compliment them regularly
• Give quick, precise answers
• Use a direct close

Driver:

• Dress professionally
• Get right to the point
• Do not waste time
• Stress quick results
• Ask questions to force attention
• Change voice inflection to maintain interest
• Put everything in writing
• Let them feel they are in control
• Summarize key benefits before closing
• Use 2 or 3 option close

Amiable:

• Be friendly and build rapport quickly
• Don't rush into the presentation
• Don't pressure them
• Allow for plenty of time for conversation
• Stress emotional benefits
• Reassure them regularly
• Allow them to include others in decisions
• Give them one positive choice
• Help them make the decision

Expressive:

• Present the "big picture"
• Use emotional benefits
• Show them proofs -- testimonials, articles, etc.
• Recognize them as being important
• Put details in writing and explain carefully
• Use a direct close and reassure them of their decision

Recognizing personality types and being capable of working with them at their level will improve results dramatically and make selling more enjoyable.