How to Make Your Sales Follow-ups Effective to Draw More Business

It’s the vision of every business to establish themselves as the supreme giants of the market and leave their rivals far behind. In the process of achieving their dreams, businesses try many new ways of attracting new leads.
 

Sometimes, they even travel an extra mile to draw potential clients towards their products. But, while expanding the customer base, is essential to not to lose grip on your existing customers.
 

According to a market survey, 80 percent of the revenue earned by businesses comes from top 20 percent of their clients.
 

This is the reason why our existing customers are like salt to our food. We may spice up the food by adding additional ingredients but it rests incomplete without salt.
 

I’m not denying the fact that finding new customers is essential for the growth of your business, but entrepreneurs should not forget that their existing customers have a huge potential for revenues stored with them.
 

You may still ask, “Why should you care about your customer once you’ve made a sale?”
 

Statistics suggest that it costs seven times more to a business to attract a new customer than to keep an existing one.
 

I hope you get my point by now. Once you have made a purchase your attitude at this point is a key factor that will help you earn customer loyalty and more than that-an everlasting customer relationship.
 

Image source: Sulata.net
 

Once your honeymoon phase that is basically the time you close your deals, ends, a vulnerable time starts.
 

At this point if you leave your customer stranded alone with your product, chances are you might lose a golden opportunity of a future relationship with the customer. A follow up sales call on the other hand can save this relationship and provide you an unprecedented rate of profit for your business.
 

Here are the best and effective picks if you want to make a successful follow up sales call with your customer:
 

Show a Gesture of Thanks

Once your customer has made a sales purchase, it is your duty to thank them. It is similar to the case when somebody thanks you in return for a purchase made at their store. There can be a number of ways by which you can show your gratitude and thankful nature to you customers.
 

For example, a simple thank you email, a card that is added to the invoice or an additional purchase coupon etc. Whatever your method of sales is, it is important to make your customer feel that they made the right choices by choosing you.  
 

Make sure you use sentences like, “We are here for you”, “Congrats on your first purchase” etc in a thank you note. If you do not want to spend much, you can send a personalized email to your valuable customer.
 

The note is even more impactful if it is sent by the representative or the manager who ultimately helped in closing the sale.
 

 

Demonstrate a Sense of Care

Don’t just wait for your customers to approach you with problems related to the products.
 

Market statistics suggest that including an ‘other suggestions’ column in your follow up email can help you gain the credibility of a customer.
 

This column contains the frequent issues that you’ve observed through careful studies of their business practises along with adequate suggestions for improvement. Not only will this practise distinguish you from the crowd but also create an urge with the customer to roll up their sleeves and actually implement your suggestions.
 

In other words, show your customers that you’ve listened to them throughout and observed well.
 

Choose the Subject Line Appropriately

When sending follow up emails, one must take care of the subject lines. Your subject lines represent your emails and decide if the customer will open them or not.
 

Thus, it becomes your responsibility to not use spam keywords. Make you email stand out from others, as follow up emails generally brief up a previous discussions. Consider the example below.
 

The subject line reminds the customer of their participation in a contest with the business. Surely, it reminds the customer of the purchase or the last discussion, ultimately leading the customer to open the email. And once the customer, opens your email consider 70 percent of  your task already done.
 

 

Propose an Opportunity

Try to propose something new, every time you decide to send a follow up mail to your customer. This means that even though you are presenting a solution to your customer, you are doing it in the form of an opportunity.
 

It would be disappointing, if you lost an opportunity of a sale for your business. However, it can be avoided if the sales representative masters the art of presenting opportunities that are not price driven solutions or just a feature.
 

Try to imagine the life of your customer with your product. Now, also think about the additional requirements that will complement your product and cater to the customer’s need.
 

Open Communication Lines

Communication is the key factor that drives the relationship between your business and your customer. Even though, you’ve just closed a deal, make sure to keep communicating with your customers.
 

You may ask their permission to send them important blog posts regarding the products or regular newsletters. Whatever be the communication channel, just don’t forget to provide high quality content to consolidate the trust between you and your customer.
 

Your high valued content may include guides, educational articles or webinars etc.

 

Image source: Pardot
 

So, sales follow up can be as important as closing a deal for the first time. You need to gain the trust of your customers, provide them the attention that they deserve along with maintaining open communication channels. This way you can gently ask for a second sale and turn a sales follow up into a business opportunity.