No follow up? No sale!

There is power in the follow-up. Whether you’re following up with business contacts, networking connections or prospective customers following up is key to building relationships and closing the sale.

Lack of follow up and neglecting to follow through is a critical and costly business mistake that dramatically affects your bottom line.  There’s absolutely no good excuse to neglect this part of your business — including any of these overused mantras: “I’m too busy,” “I forgot,” “I already left one voicemail,” “I ran out of time,” or “I’ll do it tomorrow.” Smart and serious business owners wouldn’t dream of dipping into the excuse bucket and pulling out one of those. 

You can’t close sales when you’re making excuses.

Actions speak louder than words. Stop talking about following up and actually start doing it.  Failure to follow up happens in every industry every day, and it affects all of us personally and professionally. With this type of negligence, it’s not surprising that so many businesses are struggling. They’re leaving money on the table by omitting this critical step.

Think about how much time, money and energy you’ve put into developing sales strategies, networking and marketing. Dropping the ball at the follow-up stage sends a message to customers that they can’t count on you. Is that the first impression you want to leave with your potential customers?

If you willingly let your customers fall through the cracks due to a lack of organization, failure to follow through or poor communication, you will jeopardize the sale, your professional reputation and the potential for referrals.

Smart, serious salespeople and business owners write things down, they have a daily to-do system, they return calls, they keep their promises and they do what they say they will do. They honor their words and back them up with actions. If they declare they will call or follow up, they do it because it’s part of their job.

Following up is in your control. A good follow-up system will generate sales and keep your business in business. Customers respect business owners and salespeople who are efficient, organized and dedicated enough to follow up and follow through in a professional manner. When you follow up, you win customers.

In the sales world, there are those who think about it and talk about it, and then there are those who just do it. Remember: There’s no good excuse for dropping the ball on potential business. Not one.