You don’t ask them any questions.  You might record their telephone number.  And, worst case scenario you lose the scrap of paper containing their details over the coming weeks.

Whatever the reason (or excuse) you don’t follow-up.

What if they haven’t received the brochure (trust me, it happens on a frighteningly regular basis)?  What if they’re interested and are waiting for you to call?

It isn’t the customers job to remember to do business with you – it’s your job

Most customers take on average seven points of contact before they buy.  And most sales people give up at 5 points.  What’s even more scary is the number of businesses who don’t follow-up at all – despite the fact that it’s free marketing!

So what is best practice with follow-ups and how can you really make the most of incoming enquiries?  Here are our top 5 tips (most of which are free or cheap to implement and could be done very quickly):

1. If a customer calls, have a script to follow and find out as much information as you can
2. Gain permission to follow that person up and ensure they received the information they wanted
3. Answer enquiries promptly – be available by phone and email and respond where possible within 24 hours
4. Record all the information you take in a database (ideally customer relationship management – CRM – software)
5. Diary a follow-up and stick to it (and then diary another)

If people take time out of their busy lives to enquire about your product, they’re paying you a huge compliment.  The least you can do is treat that compliment with respect and try to help the customer towards a solution.

We received a mailing on Saturday that pretty much broke all of the rules.  So what top tips can we share from it:

1. Get permission to send the mailing in the first place. Just having a business card from someone does not give you permission to send them your marketing materials – and can do you more harm than good.  It also contravenes the Data Protection Act and you should be a member of the Data Protection Registrar if you’re sending any direct mail.

2. Check your list against the mailing preference service. It is against the law to send mail to people – including businesses – listed on here (which we are).

3. Put the right postage on. In this instance, the mailing had been sent with a second-class stamp instead of the large letter stamp.  So it cost us £1.19 to pick up our ‘junk mail’ and we had to go to the Sorting Office to collect it; leaving us less than impressed.

4. Personalise the mailing. Inside this particular mailing was simply a flyer, with no personalised letter or details of how the service could help our business.

5. Follow-up, as this will increase your conversion rates. I’ve yet to find out whether a follow-up call will be made, but if everyone’s paid for their postage, this business could have some interesting follow-up calls!

Direct mail can be quite an expensive method of marketing your business, so it’s crucial you give yourself the best chance at success.  If you don’t know what to do, get some help!  The company I’ve mentioned is a brand new start-up and could have permanently damaged their reputation from a few simple errors – and they say consultancy is expensive!

Did you know… most people say no seven times before they are ready to buy, but most sales people give up after 5 times.

Do you have a follow-up procedure in place that captures prospects and ensures you are in front of them when they’re in a position to buy?  If not, that could be a great use of your time today.

This isn’t about selling people something they don’t want – but for many prospects, ‘no’ doesn’t mean ‘never’.  Chances are, they were interested in your product or service when they called / asked you to visit, but the timing may not have been right, or they may not have had the budget necessary.  But things may have changed.

Keep in touch with your prospects – they are warm leads who could boost your business relatively easily.  Could you maybe call just two each day this week and reconnect with them?