Here’s the scenario -You walk into an event, someone corners you, and doesn’t stop talking. It is yucky and the opposite of what you want. You may remember that person, but you may not spend time to know if they are nice or trustworthy,
Marketing and sales professionals meet new business contacts every day. Success with that prospect starts at that moment and depends on multiple factors.
Hopefully, the prospect converts to a customer and has a post-purchase lifecycle. Every touch pre- and post-sale is a building block for TRUST building.
Know, Like, and Trust – Pre-Sale
I’m sure you agree with this adage:
- Know – Be known where your prospects and clients hang out.
- Like – Have the right set of questions and opening line.
- Trust – Use actions to move up the Trust Ladder.
It is at the core of most relationships.
Know and Like happen sooner than Trust. Trust rarely happens without being known and liked. Combine trust with follow-up actions to close the sale.
Since it can take many follow-ups, manage frequency and content to build trust and buyer confidence. Microsoft says,
“Only 50% of salespeople follow up once.”
Use multiple touch points automatically and you will leave your competition behind!
Know, Like, and Trust – Post-Sale
Your prospect is now a customer. What are the ways you reinforce the trust factor? Whether you are service firm, online retailer, or distributor, the yield on Post-Sale outreach is exponential.
Repeat business from loyal customers builds long-term profitability. Maintaining the trust, post-purchase helps ensure loyalty. Use multiple touch points, automatically, to demonstrate that trust.
Touching Everyone is Impossible!
Whether you are prospecting, servicing, or producing, follow-up tasks are overwhelming – it’s not a time management problem – it’s too many tasks and it creates Follow Up Fatigue (FUF).
Following Up is hard so let your CRM do the heavy lifting. Repetitive, manual tasks (emails) create FUF. CRMs prevent FUF. Here are 2 examples.
Professional Services
Brandly Insurance Company (BIC) buys leads and its sales agents call the leads. After each call, the agent emails and texts multiple times over a 2 week period. Today, personalized emails and texts are triggered by the click of 1 button.
Each sales rep is freed up to meet A&B clients and prospects without the drudgery of repetitive, manual emails and texts.
Online Retailer
Karen Jones (KJ) sells her products online. She drives good traffic to her website and her email and customer lists are growing. KJ’s post-sale interaction with customers was limited.
Today, KJ:
- Triggers promotions based on prior purchases automatically.
- Segments her buyers by product, volume, and demographics.
- Sends nurturing, educational tips and tricks in emails and texts automatically.
Re-orders are now the fastest-growing part of her revenue.
CRMs Produce Revenue
Robust CRMs free up sales reps, managers, and owners to focus on their A&B prospects and clients. That is where the money is. CRMs:
- Automate repetitive, manual tasks so that you do not have to do them.
- Segment contacts based on your data.
- Remind you to follow up.
- Centralize notes, tasks, quotes, and service tickets.
Your CRM is your institutional memory, backed up and secure.
