Failure to follow-up will lessen loyalty.
Lower loyalty will sink sales.
Fanatical follow-up will radically grow sales.
So, how can we make follow-up priority #1? We elevate fervent follow-up by acting fearlessly.
In my experience, here are the most common reasons why we fail to follow-up:
- We convince ourselves that other tasks can come first.
- We are dubious of shoppers and assume these leads will be time-wasters.
- We believe our best customers can wait, because they know how busy we are.
- We don’t relish calling back annoying clients or prospects.
- We assume the person could make a request, or ask a question, that we are unprepared for.
- We fear it will be a complaint, challenge, change, or serious issue.
Do you confess to any of the above? I do!
Nobody’s perfect. Gratefully, we all have the ability to grow and improve our professional performance. Here are the strategies I recommend for becoming a follow-up super-hero:
Stick to Your Follow-Up Promises
Never miss deadlines that you—or the consumer—have agreed to. If anything, over-deliver and beat the deadline! Be rigid about making on-time callbacks.
Without Shoppers We’d All Be Out of Business
All clients start off as shoppers. Don’t discount these leads. Don’t let your competitors beat you to them, either. Speed wins! That shopper may become your best client in the future—and refer their friends and family.
Our Best Customers Keep Coming Back When We Consistently Deliver Loyalty-Grade Service
They expect our best. Remember that loyalty is earned, not owed. We must earn it every day… without fail. No, they cannot wait. They will assume you are busy with everyone else’s concerns but theirs.
Rationalize Why You Classify Certain Consumers as Annoying
Make a choice: fire them if they are consistently unreasonable, or learn to love them for who they are. We don’t need to become the best of friends, just the best of service providers in our field.
Don’t Shy Away From Challenging Requests
It’s what we signed up for in our respective fields. Failure to step up when the going gets tough is a failure in leadership. Perhaps we need to reexamine our preparedness or our chosen careers altogether, if we aren’t eager to do the work.
Complaints, Challenges, Changes, or Serious Issues Must Be Heard With Great Urgency
Here is our opportunity to demonstrate our leadership abilities under pressure. Have a plan in place for listening, mirroring, empathizing, and quickly analyzing next steps. Step up or step out. How we handle difficult scenarios can cement our relationships for life—for better or worse.
Pledging flawless follow-up might just be the #1 most important thing on our list to achieve daily. It has to be a no-excuse commitment. When we get into this habit, it moves up to the top priority list.
Fanatical follow-up is a powerful business-builder!
Stuart Cohen, Chief Motivation Officer at StuartLloydCohen.com
If you can think big, Stuart will help you do big! An accomplished 28-year travel industry executive turned serial solopreneur, Stuart is a creator of brands and an energizing motivational speaker. He motivates & maximizes personal performance in leadership, entrepreneurship, salesmanship & wellness.
