Sales Follow Up - Commitment and Persistence Pay Off
Did you know that everyone is in sales? Yes, even you!
Sure, you might have “salespeople” on your team, but all members of the organization hold an important role in the sales process for a company’s product or service.
● The delivery team delights customers, increasing the potential for revenue growth and referrals.
● Account strategists can spot opportunities for improving customer’s results and growing the account
● Business owners also need to share the master vision that customers buy into
Now that I’ve informed you of your new job, it’s only fair to provide some tips for you to succeed in sales.
Close More Deals
What does a salesperson want more than anything?
Likely, “closing more deals” is up towards the top of their list.
Many marketing and software companies are interested in arming salespeople with cutting-edge tools and techniques to increase their closed deals. Some do have great things to offer!
But success with many these tools and techniques still hinge on a fundamental part of sales — and that, my friends, is the sales follow up process, which includes self-discipline!
Sales Follow Up in Action
Wouldn’t it be great if everybody just gave you a “Yes” or “No” after asking them once to do business together?
As convenient as that would be, on average, it takes 5-7 follow-up actions to close a prospect into a new customer.
But despite this, statistically, many salespeople will only follow up one time after the first attempt if even that! So only two attempts when the statistics say 5 to 7 per prospect.
Why only two steps?
In writing my new book Tireless, I wanted to understand what holds salespeople back in their follow up process.
The two major factors are no surprise.
1. Fear - The Original Force of Nature
2. Lack of Self Discipline - and planning for the next step
Fear is the most common force that holds salespeople back.
Salespeople often think that they need more motivation or the right tools to do their follow up, but in fact, it’s a mastery of their own fear that can often stand in their way. A salesperson must believe in the statistics, make the follow-up, and overcome their fears.
And this fear takes many different forms.
1. Fear of the sales prospect telling them, “No.”
2. Fear of making the sales prospect getting angry and rude at their persistence.
3. Even fear of their own success.
Mindset plays a vital role in salespeople who are successful. Cultivating a successful business mindset means extinguishing your fears surrounding sales and making that follow up they know needs to be made.
I’m an advocate for facing your fears head-on, with the knowledge that taking action will always be better than NOT taking action. As it has been said...
“Imperfect action beats perfect inaction.”
Why Phone Calls?
Commonly, salespeople object to making sales calls with the rationale that “People don’t want to speak on the phone anymore.”
But even with all of our new ways to communicate, phone calls are still an ideal way to follow up.
A phone call provides you with an information-rich channel to communicate, increasing the likelihood that you’ll form a true connection with your prospect.
This connection is key to closing the prospect into a customer, especially after you have already made a face to face contact!
More Channels to Follow Up
Although a phone call is an effective route to making a connection, I encourage salespeople to get creative and think outside the box with their follow up.
As long as you are adding value to your prospect’s day with your outreach, you can experiment with different types of follow up steps:
Video prospecting
Send your prospect a short video message to introduce yourself or check-in. Their ability to see you interacting with them personally does wonders for humanizing you. You can use tools like Vidyard’s GoVideo to make the job easy.
Email follow-up
Email likely will always be a staple of any sales rep’s toolkit. Try writing out email templates that take your prospect through their buyer’s journey, and then customize them to make it feel more personal for the prospect!
Social media touchpoints
Some prospects enjoy connecting on social media networks like LinkedIn or Twitter. Facebook still seems to be somewhat personal… so maybe keep that one out of your sales cadence.
Sample Sales Follow Up Process
Try a mix of different sales follow-up channels in your process! Here’s an example that uses a little of everything:
1. Introductory email
2. Follow-up phone call
3. Second email providing more value
4. Second follow-up call
5. Connecting on LinkedIn with a personal message
6. Third phone call
7. “Break-up” email prompting them to take action
Just remember… taking action is always better than not. Don’t give up on your sales prospect after 2 touchpoints.
Persistence Pays Off
It’s okay if you’ve let some of your sales prospects slide through the cracks in the past. Understanding the fear that stands in your way of success is instrumental in overcoming it.
In my new book Tireless, I discuss many of my own head-to-head encounters with fear and doubt about the time spent and if it would result in any positive outcomes, But They Did!
The ability to face fear directly is key to becoming a better salesperson, but also a healthier, happier person.
Always remember that persistence does pay off! Best of luck in your sales efforts.
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