Lucky for you, most businesses are pathetically and shamefully inadequate in the area of follow-up with prospects and customers.
This is fortunate for you because it means that even becoming adequate at follow-up places you leagues ahead of your so-called competition. If you actually become good follow-up, you can easily own the marketplace.
There is a momentum that builds with follow-up that is difficult to describe, but easy to identify once it begins to yield fruit.
It’s like the snowball effect; what begins as a tiny snowball rolling downhill, picks up more and more mass as it proceeds, and it also picks up speed, so that by the time the snow ball reaches the bottom of the mountain it is a massive, irresistible avalanche.
Promise yourself that you will begin to follow-up with every prospect and every customer.
While having an elaborate and sophisticated follow-up system is indeed the mark of a mature and highly profitable business, it isn’t necessary to build a complex follow-up monstrosity in the beginning. You simply have to identify what the next logical step is in any follow-up sequence.
Begin by speaking out loud, or writing on paper, a simple series of “if-then” statements about your interactions with prospects and customers.
“If a customer comes into the store but doesn’t buy, then follow-up with a phone call three days later.”
“If the initial follow-up call does not result in a visit to the store within three days, then follow up with a postcard making a special offer to the customer.”
“If the customer response to the offer on the postcard, then send a thank you gift to the customer’s office and make another offer.”
It never has to be more complex than figuring out the next logical step based on the action the prospect or customer just took. The key is to document these follow-up steps with each customer, and begin building a predetermined sequence that applies to all customers who meet those specific “if-then” conditions.
Before you know it, your follow-up sequence will become a massive, irresistible avalanche of profits.