Good Customer Service Is All About Follow Up

We all have satisfied and even enthusiastic clients, who know us, like us and trust us, and those are the same people who are likely to buy from us again and refer us new business. Yet, we all spend the majority of our time hunting for new business. Why not shift our attention a bit to the customers we’ve already won over? Why not make follow up a priority?

A Follow Up System Improves Sales

Good customer service systems will improve your overall sales. Here’s what I do, and I suggest you do the same or find a good follow up system that works for you.

Make sure you’ve got systems in place to track your customers’ buying cycles. I’m a big proponent of ACT!, a contact management system which contains your database, a hefty calendar component, mail merge capabilities and lots of other tracking features.

Whether you’re using ACT!, a similar program, or a day planner, make a notation for every single current user of your product or service at intervals on your calendar, corresponding with their buying cycle. If you know they’ll need your services annually, plan to contact them a little in advance of when they’ll need them

Also, get each customer on a periodic contact basis with you so they’re receiving a reminder that you exist. I recommend that you provide valuable information for them on a monthly basis, preferably through a personalized email. In that way, not only will they be thinking of you, but they’ll be thinking of you positively!  Periodically, make a phone call to some of your best customers. Just pick up the phone, tell them you were thinking about them and see how they’re doing. At that time, you may find that the conversation turns towards referrals. They may know someone else who could use your product or service…or you may be able to help them with a referral for their business. Think of the call as a strategic partnership meeting, and look for ways of adding value to one another.

Follow Up Is Key

Your focus is key in follow up. The important thing is the degree of focus you bring to these activities. It’s easy to do anything without really giving it your all, but if you strive towards a high level of presence, you’re going to surprise yourself with the results you get. In follow up, as with any other business activity, your success won’t show up…until you do!

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