Marketing Mistake – No Consistent Follow-up Plan for Past, Current & Potential Customers

Posted by on Sep 22, 2009 in Blog, Marketing Mistakes | 0 comments

Let me ask you a question which may seem odd to you at first. Are your customers (or customers that expressed an interest in your business in the past ) important to you? No doubt your customers are very important to your business. In fact, without customers it is impossible for any business to survive. They are literally the life blood of any organization or business.

A typical pattern I see in many business owners is that they fail to realize that once they acquire a new customer, or someone has expressed an interest in their company, how important it is to strengthen that relationship. And the common way you can strengthen this relationship is by simply following up with them. Following-up is equally important to both new and existing customers (and doing it right) can help you boost your bottom line very quickly.

Follow Up With Prospective Customers

Most of my clients find that it is not easy to close a sale on the very first attempt. In fact, even the statistics in direct mail marketing show that response rates increase dramatically the more direct mail pieces you send to them.

Although your customer may not buy into your salesperson’s first attempt to close them, this does not mean that the prospective client is not interested in buying your product or service. Could it be that they just require more time in order to make the purchasing decision? Could it be that they just require more time and/or just have some more questions regarding your product or service? In fact, I feel definitely recommend that you contact them after your initial meeting because it will show that you are genuinely interested in serving their interests and satisfying their needs (and not just wanting to gain access to their pocket book).

During the follow-up process, you can take advantage of the opportunity and explain to your customers in depth how your product or service can prove to be beneficial to them. An effective follow-up strategy provides you with a second opportunity to make the sale.

Follow Up With Existing Customers

I remember one time I was talking to a business owner and I asked him this simple question: “what marketing are you doing to your past and loyal customers?” And I’ll never get the look he gave me. “What do you mean marketing to my existing customers”, he said. You see, most businesses do not have a system in place to market to their existing clientele.

Acquiring a new customer is definitely more difficult than retaining existing ones. Think about it…..an existing customer has already said (by their actions) that they want and like your product. So when it comes to your current customers, you should definitely treat them as pure gold and put a strong emphasis on marketing to them. In fact, I would recommend you start a VIP Status to some of your long time customers. This will definitely show that you care and value their consistent business. The hard truth is that if you don’t value your existing customers and do what’s necessary to keep them, your competitors will be only too happy to relieve you of the responsibility.

By following up with your past customers, it only proves to them that their business is important to you. Let me ask you another question: Do you like when people take the time out of their day to recognize and appreciate you for the things you have done for them? If you are like the average person….the answer to this is “of course you do”. When following up with your customers, make sure that they know that you want them to be satisfied with the service that they are receiving from your business. By doing this, you not only increase your chances of retaining them, but the probability that they will refer your business to others (in the future) also increases as well.

Reasons prospects or customers may not buy from you:

  1. They may not be ready to make a decision.
  2. They may have more pressing things on their minds.
  3. They may have more questions about your product/service.
  4. Two or three of your competitors are actively trying to sway your customer to purchase from them.

By following up repeatedly, you will have a “dramatic advantage” over your competitors, since few of them will follow up more than once. When your prospects are ready to buy, which could be one week from now, or nine months from now, you will have a better chance of getting the sale if you are uppermost in their minds. You can only do that by consistently following up.