How To Mess Up Follow-up Calls Like a Pro
Posted by completesalesmanagement on February 27, 2010
It is bad enough that according to various studies approximately 92% of all salespeople do not follow-up at all. However, it is equally bad when salespeople do follow-up and do such a poor job of it that they turn away customers from buying.
- It does Not have to be this bad
A bad follow-up call begins with the lack of strategy and preparation for making the calls. The instruction given to vast amount of salespeople is to call these leads that have been generated. At times the leads are generated through some activity that is independent to the salespeople’s daily activities. So, there is total disconnect and unfamiliarity between the salesperson making the call and the prospect.
Let me explain by way of a true life situation that happened to me. This situation happens regularly and is repeated throughout various industries. A few days ago I received a call from a sales person who is following up on a white paper that I had downloaded over a month ago. The very first thing the salesperson asked me was, “Did you read the article that you downloaded”?
First off at this point I cannot remember the name of the company, the product, or the name of the White paper that I had downloaded. Heck, I can’t remember if I actually had even downloaded anything. When I asked when I might have done this, the salesperson tells me it was about a month ago.
You can see here how the follow-up system has failed. The next question I am asked is if I needed any additional information about the product? Since I had no idea what this salesperson was talking about, I asked him the name of his company and what they did. The salesperson then gives me a data dumb on who they are and why they are so great.
It’s important to note that the company he was calling from was not a small company, but rather part of a very large corporation. So I can’t say that it was a lack of resources that prevented this company from being able to properly train its sales people.
Not once did the salesperson ever ask about my needs or probed to understand what my business was about. In fact, when I told him I did not have any needs at this time, he politely thanked me for my time and hung up. I guess he now could cross me off his list of people to follow-up with. Sadly, there is a good chance that his activity is listed as productive within the company standards.
The simple truth is that having people do a task does not mean that the task is going to be done correctly. Before any sales call is made it is important that a strategy be developed as to what the objective is for making the sales calls.
The main reason for making a follow-up call is to take the customer to the next logical step in the sales process. I doubt sincerely that anyone would want follow-up call simply to find out what they thought about the White paper or to see if there’s anything else they need. Most salespeople that I talk to have no idea what the next logical step should be in their sales process. This is because there is no sales process. There are a lot of companies who tell their salespeople to just make a sale, or your job is to sell. There is no other structured process in place. Yet, the most successful sales organizations in history have always had a sales process.
Left to their own demise the average salesperson will take the easiest approach when no direction is given. It’s just human nature to find a way to get the task done as easily as possible. Sure there are individuals out there who will invest their own time and efforts into trying to be the best that they can be.
Company’s today have to accept that the sales environment has changed a lot in the last several years. Today’s consumer is more knowledgeable and has access to just about any information in the world at their fingertips. More than likely, a customer will not have any questions about the product because they have already done their research if they were interested. The opposite is actually true, the salesperson needs to know more information about the customer before making the call. The shotgun approach to sales is not only a waste of time, it does not work.
There really is no reason why a sales person cannot target their customers better and truly find out what the client’s needs are a form calling on. Internet has allowed us for the first time to have access to data about our plans faster and cheaper than ever before.
The real challenge for companies is to change the way that their salespeople are selling and not rely on old mythologies that don’t work anymore. It does not take a lot to do this, but it does require some forethought and some planning that can easily be done and implemented.
Professional selling is no longer something that is done off the cuff and without preparation. In order to be successful companies and individuals must hone their skills and develop appropriate methods and strategies to better serve and capture the opportunities in the marketplace
if you would like to have some information on how to develop a strategy and implement a new sales process for your staff give Robert Estupinian, sales expert and consultant, a call at 408-879-7280. Give a call today and explore the possibilities without any obligation.
