Salespeople can get a selling edge, even during an economic down turn, by using the same extraordinary follow-up with customers and prospects alike, following some dog treat guidelines.
Salespeople can always learn valuable behaviors from dogs. With my dog’s recent illness we had to stop her treats while the veterinarian ruled out one diagnosis from another. If she wasn’t in anguish about it, I was. Then I began to wonder, “Am I keeping treats from my prospects or my customers?” Embarrassingly, it’s my customers who might be going without a follow-up treat at times. But now I have ideas of what and how to treat both prospects and customers.
It matters what kind of treat. The reality is if you are in sales, a telephone call, an email, a card, an in-person visit, these are appropriate treats of “I care about you,” when you aren’t trying to just sell something. Actually it does and it doesn’t matter what kind of attention you pay to customers or prospects. Just like your dog likes one brand over another, your customer and prospect have a preference of how you communicate too.
Be sure your treat is appetizing. Here’s where your customer and prospects preference comes in. How often do they prefer to hear from you? How do they prefer it – in person, by telephone, with a card, with email? Just find out and fashion your follow-up with their preferences.
Try different treats until one hits the sweet spot. About three years ago I increased my follow-up with written, real, greeting cards. My business took a 30% jump in that year. At that time, it was more effective than a telephone call and outweighed results of email. What is your customer’s sweet spot?
All sales treats are not created equal. Each customer and prospect has their preference. Even salespeople have their preference of how they stay in touch. The best follow-up is to take a queue from your customer and prospect preferences. The next best follow-up is for a salesperson just to have a planned and acted on system for follow-up.
And you can try a real greeting card for a sweet spot with your customers and prospects for free. Send a real greeting card from your computer. Postage included – for a treat.