Many
professions don’t bother to follow up at all.
Maybe they assume that prospects will call them if they have any
questions or are interested in making a purchase. The problem is that most people that you’ll
encounter in life are extremely busy and don’t have time to remember who you
are, find your contact information and track you down. Most business people will forget about you if
you don’t give them a reason not to. If
you have a world class product or service then maybe you don’t have to worry because
prospects will go out of their way to find you, but most business professionals
are more likely to deal with people who show up in front of their faces on a
regular basis and whose information is easily accessible.
There
aren’t many better ways to lead off your follow up strategy than with a
professional looking and well written thank you note. There are many places you can get both cards
and notes but you’ll probably want to keep them clean, elegant and simple. Including your company logo is a great way to
add a customized touch. You can also use
this as an opportunity to distinguish yourself from your competition even more by
using a good quality thick paper stock or even eco-friendly plantable seed
paper.
Don’t use the
note as an opportunity to continue selling.
Your prospect might get turned off by the idea that you’re going to
stuff your product down their throat every chance you get. Be sincere and thank them for the time that
they spent meeting with you, maybe even mention that you appreciate that they
have a busy calendar and you realize that it isn’t trivial that they made time
to meet with you. Offer your
availability should they have any questions, comments or concerns and promise
to touch base again a short time later.
If you can coordinate your next follow up a few days after they would
receive your note then they’ll still remember the positive feelings from
receiving your card.
Make sure
that you follow up as you promised in your note. There’s nothing worse than dropping the ball
on a promised follow up – if you’re not true to your word when you’re trying to
win their business, what are the chances that you’ll stay interested once
you’ve won their business? A phone call
is a good next step as it continues the personal touch and allows a chance to
continue building the relationship. It
will also give you a chance to ask if the prospect is ready to move forward
after they’ve had time to think about the outcome of your initial meeting. If they mention the thank you note then you
know you’re on the right track!
As you
continue to engage the prospect you can use less personal and less invasive methods
of communication. Maybe after the phone
call you should follow up with an email to see if things are moving along or if
there is anything else that they need from you.
If you’ve successfully built a good relationship then you don’t need to
be in their face all the time but you do want to stay fresh in their minds.
On a final
note, while the personal touch of a hand written note is a good thing, your
prospect needs to be able to read it. If
your hand writing looks like the work of a doctor writing a prescription it’s
OK to get someone with a neater hand to write the note for you.
Got something to say? Leave a comment below, we’d love to hear from you! Got a question that we can address in our blog? Contact us through our website or email me directly and we’ll put our crack team to work and let you know when we post a reply.
Steve Hartley, Managing Partner
Fering Communications Inc.
