Follow-Up With Your Customers November 29, 2006
Posted by Tim Raines in: business, marketing, management , trackbackIf you’re interested in finding new customers, you might want to start with the ones you already have. How many of your existing customers are repeat customers? Of the ones who are not, WHY NOT?
If you don’t know the answer, it’s probably time to find out. Most salespeople don’t like to follow-up after the sale, as many seem to think it’s akin to asking for problems. “No news is good news,” they reason. Of course, no news is really no news.
Following-up with your customers makes sense for a number of reasons:
- It’s an opportunity to fix any problems that might exist. This could potentially turn an unhappy customer into not just a happy customer, but a fiercely loyal one
- It’s a chance to get feedback on your product or service. This amounts to practically free market research. After all, there might be some critical opportunities for changes that will take your product from run-of-the-mill to extra-ordinary.
- There’s a good chance, of course, if you have a quality product or service, that your customer will have nothing but praise. And let’s face it—couldn’t we all use a few minutes of listening to positive feedback? Best of all, by following-up, you’ll have planted a seed that tells the customer you care.
Finally, you might just find a customer who’s willing to send you more customers. As Seth Godin suggests:
If you really want to generate those referrals, don’t ask for a referral, ask if everything was great. Offer to help. Do it in a gentle way, with no strings, no additional addons, no sales pitch. If you really and truly care, why not ask? Not a form, not a survey. Just one caring person, asking. Not that hard, actually.
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