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Brick No3: Don't let your prospects off the hook
By Matt Weston, Friday 26 September 2003 If you're a fisherman it's unforgivable to let a fish off the hook once it's taken the bait - after waiting hours to get a bite, all you need to do is reel in your catch. And, as a small business owner, if a prospective customer shows a real interest in your product or service, you really must make sure they buy from you. Like the fish, you must reel them in. But what if your prospect doesn't want to buy there and then? How do you make sure you get the sale, even if it's in six months time? My 6 point checklist 1. Learn by others' mistakes Working from my kitchen table has made me see my sky blue lino kitchen floor (inherited from the previous owner) for what it really is - threadbare and in need of a change. So, last weekend, I trekked down to a local flooring shop to find out my options. The sales assistant was friendly enough, and talked me through the different types of flooring. But, criminally, she let me go back through the doors without really learning any details about me - What budget did I have? When exactly was I looking to replace my floor? Would I need someone to fit it too? How did she expect to convert me into a sale without having got that information from me? She was relying on a friendly smile. Of course, this helps, but isn't nearly enough. I did, however, order some samples of various Dalsouple rubber tiles - the next big thing in flooring a friend tells me, ultra-durable, warm underfoot, colours made to match, easy to fit (visit http://www.dalsouple.com). But she only took my home address, so won't be able to chivvy me along by email or phone. From her point of view, these are opportunities missed. You can learn from day-to-day mistakes like these. Sometimes it's difficult to step back to look at your own business objectively, and picture yourself as a customer - which is what you need to do. So why not spend some time thinking about the many times when you've actually been on the customer end - How has your sale been won or lost? Look at your competitors - in their shoes, how would you do it better? How would you increase the number of prospects you convert into buyers? 2. Recognise the true value of sales 'in the pipeline' Imagine how much money this shop would have to spend to get say 10 customers like me to walk through the door very interested and needing to buy? How many people would it have to cold call? How many ads would it have to place? That's the value of a prospect to that shop. Let's look at it another way - I walked in a hot prospect, I estimate that, if they'd done their job, I was about 50% likely to spend about £500 there. Not there and then, but down the line. If the shop had done its job properly (I'm not blaming the assistant, it's the procedures that were poor), then every 10 hot prospects like me would spend a total of £2,500 worth of business - money worth having. But instead I walked out a better informed, but uncontactable prospect. I would, in all likelihood, go to other shops, get other quotes, forget about that shop. Walking out I reckon I was 10% likely to buy. So for every 10 prospects like me, the shop would only get a total of £500 worth of business - not so great. 3. Listen at least 60% of the time The most important sales tool is not the mouth, but the ears. Find out as much as you can about your customer so that, further down the line, you know when and how to close the sale. The best questions to ask are open-ended (one's that can't be answered by yes/no/either/or). Some good open-ended questions - - What factors/ features/ benefits are most important to you in your purchase? - Who else has a say in the decision? - Why are you looking to upgrade from the product you already have? - When are you looking to actually buy the product? - What is stopping you buying now? Do you see how these questions can give you vital knowledge to convert your prospects into sales? 4. Gather contact information - the more, the better If your prospect isn't going to buy now, you need a way, or ideally several ways of contacting him/ her to follow up. Even if you sell low priced items, email is a cheap way to communicate with your customers. I can't stress this enough, but DON'T rely on your prospect coming back to you. Give them a reason to give you their details, for example - - 'As you're more likely to be in a position to buy in 3 months, perhaps I could give you a quick call as a reminder, and to update you on our prices then?' - 'If you jot down your address, I'll send you details of our new range when it comes in' - 'We do a quarterly email update for our customers that you might find useful - I can send you a copy if you like?' 5. Strike whilst the iron is hot Even if it's just an email to say 'Thanks for your interest' or a phone call to say 'Did you get my quote ok?', the quicker you follow up, the better. Strike whilst the iron is hot - whilst the prospect's interest is at its highest. A former colleague once told me that, out of all the people he'd met over his many years in business, the most effective by far was a man who diligently followed up every single meeting the same evening with a short fax or email note. The note would simply thank his contact for an enjoyable meeting, and summarise the main actions. It worked wonders. Back when I was collecting quotes to have my windows done, only one of the 5 firms (I Foster & Sons) I asked to quote bothered to follow up their written quote with a quick phone call to check I'd received it ok, and ask what I thought of it. Can you guess who ended up getting the job? Get your first follow up in immediately, and you will remain foremost in your prospect's thoughts - at the top of the pile. 6. Always have a specific reason to follow up To maximise your chances of getting your prospect to buy, you must keep in touch. But whatever you do, don't contact them unless you have a specific reason to do so - ideally some news or a benefit that will personally interest them. Don't ever open with lines such as 'I'm just calling to see how you were getting on' or 'I just called to catch up'. Drawing on my window fitting example again, I Foster & Sons didn't win the contract straight away. I had to arrange finance, so put them off for three months. True to form, Eddie (the salesman) followed up in 3 months, to say that he remembered that I'd said we were looking to get the windows done around this time, and that they were quite busy at the moment so he didn't want me to have to wait because they were overbooked. Also, he'd had another look at the quote, and although some of his materials costs had gone up, he'd happily honour his original quote. I know this is a classic salesman's close, but it worked, even on me! The more you can personalise the follow up, the better. A good friend of mine used the internet to gather 5 quotes for his car insurance renewal. Only 2 firms sent a follow up to the quote - one of these was just a 'reminder', the other used the magic phrase 'many of our customers find they can enjoy cheaper car insurance when they call one of our specialist operators and have their quote personalised'. He acted immediately, and the company won his business. Remember to sign up: back to top |
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