There’s a common saying in sales that states, “The fortune is in the follow-up.” If you were to consistently follow up with your prospects, existing customers and past clients you will instantly increase sales.
As a business owner who manages to recruit customers, it is important to maintain consistency through ongoing marketing campaigns that strengthen the relationship, expand upon it, and further respond to the wants and needs of those customers.
Another reason why follow-ups are so important is that people will need to hear from you an average of 7 - 12 times before they finally decide to purchase something from you.
So if you decide to send an email to follow up once this is NOT enough. It also means that if they don’t respond, it doesn’t necessarily mean they aren’t interested.
Most people are busy or get easily distracted, so if they haven’t heard from your company enough, it is so IMPORTANT that you need to remain consistent with follow-ups.
The investment necessary to find, identify and attract a new customer is much greater than the energy and effort that is required to retain an existing customer who will reward the business with loyalty, referrals, and greater profits over multiple transactions.
Neglecting to follow through and preserve “top-of-the-mind awareness” once it is accomplished is a common mistake made by business owners, and it is a costly one.
Even the largest and most recognized brands in the world – that enjoy the most magnetic marketing momentum and dominant market share – continue to run successful campaigns to keep customers and constantly add new ones to their database.
Otherwise, those customers will be lost to competitors.
Once a customer shifts loyalties it is twice as hard to win them back because the business has to compete with not only the general market forces but also with the specific strength of that new bond and relationship with the competitor.
Breaking that bond of loyalty and luring these lost customers back can be an uphill battle, so it is imperative that from the initial point of contact is the beginning of a lifelong relationship.
Most importantly – since profit is the ultimate goal and should always be the primary benchmark – recognize that vibrant relationships with customers are dynamic and symbiotic.
Every customer a business counts as its own - represents the potential of many other customers and customer transactions.
Good customers are the best advertising and they can also contribute many times over to the bottom line through increased frequency of transactions, higher average dollar amounts on those sales, greater total revenues and margins, and higher net profits.