What’s Your Follow-Up Strategy?

Did you know most salespeople give up after just one conversation with a potential customer? With cold calling, it may take up to eight calls to reach your prospect. That’s a lot of time and effort to build a relationship that may lead to a sale.

With network marketing, one of the many benefits you’ll receive is that you will rarely use cold calling. Our members bring “warm” prospects to each other each week. When a Commerce Connections member hands you a lead, they have already begun the conversation with your new potential customer!

Here are five top tips for ensuring a great follow-up strategy

1.      Create a clear follow-up process. If you don’t have a documented strategy, take a few minutes and plan how you want your follow-ups to happen. Does this include phone calls, emails, in-person meetings, etc.? Then, figure out how you will add this to your daily to-do list.

2.      Reach out later in the afternoon. When you reach out between 4 and 5 pm, you’re more likely to reach your potential customer. If they’re in planning mode for the next day, you may get on their calendar sooner! If you find that time frame doesn’t work, shift to other times of the day that are ideal for their schedule. Some people are morning people, while others may use their lunch break to catch up on calls and emails.

3.      Be prompt in following up with prospects – within 24 hours. If a potential customer already has a need for your product or services, there’s a feeling of urgent need. Think about the last time you needed something and were ready to make a buying decision, or at the very least, needed information to help you make that decision. Try to reach out as soon as possible when you get a warm lead from a Commerce Connection colleague. It will make both of you look good to the customer.

4.      Ask for referrals and follow up with referrals ASAP. Once both you and your business referral partner are thinking about potential customers, it’s a good time to consider other referrals that didn’t immediately come to mind. If you have already established a reputation for following up with warm referrals quickly, others will be happy to continue sending new customers to you. This process helps you build a solid business pipeline – ask for referrals and quickly follow up with the referrals. You may bring in a few extra jobs just in time for the holidays!

5.      Check your past leads for missed opportunities. It never hurts to reach back out to a potential customer who “ghosted” you or didn’t respond to your typical follow-up process. Sometimes, people are just busy and didn’t have time to reply when you reached out. There are all kinds of unexpected events that interrupt a purchasing need we had in mind – an illness, an accident, a sudden repair that diverted funds. If the customer decided on another option, then you can close that lead. But if they simply needed more time to make a decision, they may be happy to hear from you again.  

Following Up with Potential Customers

Do you want more warm leads to help you grow your business? At Commerce Connections, our one-seat-per-industry model ensures we’re not competing within our group and are recognized for giving leads to other members. We track our closed business and sales internally in a friendly competition that allows us to see how and where we’re growing.

Check out a Commerce Connections meeting this week. Schedule a visit, today!