Increase Your Sales By Following-Up

The difference between a successful business and one that just gets by is that the business that is just getting by thinks that the marketing is over when the sale has been made.

One of the main reasons customers leave, change suppliers, or stop buying is because of apathy on the part of the company. There is never any follow-up after the sale. Customers often feel neglected. They feel that the company doesn't appreciate their business so they will give it to another company that does.

In order for your business to maximize its profits, you have to realize the immense potential value of each customer. And it begins when the first sale is made. Each customer is a potential repeat customer and potential referral source leading to other customers.

So the follow-up begins with a thank-you note or card sent out within 24 hours after their purchase. If they have purchased from your web site, within minutes after their purchase. When's the last time a business thanked you for being a customer?

Your follow-up must continue on a regular, using a variety of the many follow-up opportunities that are available to you. And the variety of effective follow-up opportunities that you have available to you, is a limitless as your imagination. Here are ten ideas to help get you started:

1. A preferred customer show

2. A birthday card

3. A special sale for preferred customers

4. A newsletter

5. A personal letter with facts of interest plus a special offer.

6. A personal telephone call follow-up.

7. A holiday card.

8. A contest or sweepstakes.

9. A special thank you card on the anniversary of when they became a customer.

10. A special report, book, or e-book for customers only.

Marketing studies have shown that it costs a business six times more to sell something to a prospect than to sell the same thing to current customer. So, your goal should be to develop a long-term relationship with every customer or client. Long lasting relationships with your customers or clients will yield a wealth of benefits for your business.

The starting point of any follow-up should be your commitment to your customer's or client's happiness. Your goal is not simply customer satisfaction but rather exceeding the expectations of your customers, giving them more than they anticipated. Showing them that you care about them more than they're used to from a business.

To do this, you've got to learn about your customers. You learn first by listening to them, then by asking more questions and listening carefully. One of the best follow-up tools to use is sending them a questionnaire after their purchase. You can also have them fill out a questionnaire on your web site. By knowing the personal likes and dislikes of your customers you can render personalized service, such as clipping articles of interest to special customers or recognizing their achievements, and the achievements of their families or businesses.

When people purchase from your web site or subscribe to your newsletter you should have some type of auto responder. With an auto responder, you can create a series of e-mails designed to consistently communicate with your customers. You can set up your auto responder to automatically send a series of e-mails to your customers at predetermined intervals. For example, as soon as they sign up for your newsletter, they will receive the first e-mail in the series. And you can set the rest of the series to arrive every 2 days, or once a week, or whatever time frame you think is best.

Stay in touch with your customers because if you don't, someone else will. Marketing studies have shown that nearly eighty percent of business is lost because of apathy after the sale. Built-in follow-up, set up as an automatic procedure by your company, is a barrier to apathy. It requires time, energy, and imagination but it does not require a lot of money.

For example, a customer representing $200 in profit to you can mean a $200 profit without follow-up. Or that same customer can mean $60,000 in profit with follow-up. Here's an example of how the arithmetic of consistent follow-up can work:

* Follow-up transforms the $200 yearly profit into a $600 yearly profit per customer with two repeat sales.

* Follow-up results in four referrals, each representing $600, for a total of $2,400 per year. $2,400 plus $600 equals $3,000.

* Even if you earn no more referrals after the first year, $3,000 times a 10 year relationship you should have with your customers means at least $30,000 profit per customer - - if you follow-up!

Customers are much more willing to buy from a company they have already done business with than from a different company that they don't know. Once a customer has purchased from you, the chances of them buying from you again are very good. Take advantage of this human phenomenon to increase your sales effortlessly and automatically with immediate and consistent follow-up.

Copyright© 2005 by Joe Love and JLM & Associates, Inc. All rights reserved

Joe Love draws on his 25 years of experience helping both individuals and companies build their businesses, increase profits, and achieve total success. A former ad agency executive and marketing consultant, Joe's work in personal development focuses on helping his clients identify hidden marketable assets that create windfall opportunities and profits, as well as sound personal happiness and peace.

Reach Joe at: joe@jlmandassociates.com

Read more articles and newsletters at: http://www.jlmandassociates.com

---

The 7 Commandments of Marketing

Marketing is the key to success with any business, online... Read More

How Gratitude Works

Want to know what the highest-impact, lowest-cost tool is in... Read More

Linking Features & Benefits

I'm sure that you've had those Eureka! moments, too. When... Read More

Fundraising: How To Avoid Three Common Mistakes

I'm a board member of a local nonprofit and we... Read More

Looking for Sky In All The Wrong Places

Ever sit with a single puzzle piece of clouds and... Read More

The 3 Unknown Steps of Marketing Success

To be your own marketing expert you first need to... Read More

The 10 Cornerstone Principles of Marketing

There are four parts to a marketing system and they... Read More

Wooing Women With Packaging

In just one month three California vineyards have introduced new... Read More

Network Marketing Is Definitely A Relationship Business

Heavily branded websites like amazon.com are household names and carry... Read More

Using Alternative Media to Generate More Customers

Last week I received a very nice thank you gift... Read More

Getting Paid to Promote Yourself

We all know we can pay a magazine or a... Read More

Does Your Marketing Plan Need Changing?

Change is good, right? Not always. But when is it... Read More

Determining Marketing Effectiveness Even If You Didnt Track

What if you've done a variety of marketing activities over... Read More

Knowing Your Customer Is The Key

Without doubt, understanding what a customer's wants and needs are... Read More

Your 30 Second Commercial

This tip is so simple, that many people we've talked... Read More

Five Steps to a Web Site That Sells

I'm always amazed that people would spend months to develop... Read More

To Be Successful Sell to Wants not Needs

My mother used to tell me, tongue in cheek, that... Read More

Creating Customer Value

The purpose of business is to create and retain a... Read More

How To Get To The Top of The Marketing Food Chain

Are you tired of living off handouts from big-name marketers,... Read More

The Exiler

THE EXILER (your search for true brand attributes ends here!)With... Read More

20 Power Marketing Tips

Use these powerful yet simple tips from the national best-seller,... Read More

Commercial Collections By Telephone

The telephone enables a credit manager to make many contacts... Read More

Radio Ads That Get Results

Radio advertising can be a small business's best friend. It's... Read More

What Your Customers Want

Your customers don't know what they want. And to assume... Read More

How to Expand Your Target Markets

Are your products or services geared towards only one target... Read More

Maslows Marketing Filter

One of the basics of all marketing and advertising training... Read More

Universal Principals That Guide Business Growth

Universal principals are those "self-evident" truths that have guided brilliant... Read More

FREE Means MORE Business

Why give freebies?We have all seen freebies at trade shows... Read More

Market Planning -- Getting the Word Out

"There are those who get things done and those who... Read More

Using a Contact List Profitably Part One

In previous articles, we discussed the generation of a contact... Read More

Growing Your Brand Assets

Okay. Raise your hand if you think brand management is... Read More

Small Business Marketing Tip - Get Attention and Be Remembered

We live in a world of noise ? not just... Read More

11 Ways to Turnaround a Cash-Strapped Business or Practice

This past weekend I received a disturbing message from a... Read More