When someone calls you and they sound distant, as if they are reading from a screen, how do you react? No doubt, during the sales process, you’ve been courteous, useful, fun and energetic. It’s during the follow up call, more than ever, that you need to stay that way.

Now that you understand the benefits of the follow up and know how to effectively prepare your content, it’s time to deliver it.

The following points will greatly assist you in delivering a strong follow up:

Be energetic and enthusiastic – Have you ever noticed how when you greet someone they return the greeting in the same way. For example, when you say, ‘Hi, how are you today?’ the response is likely to be said in a similar ‘proper’ manner, “Good thank you, how are you?’ – ‘Very well thanks…’ Certain character types will like this, but if you want to be remembered, a greeting more in line with an energetic ‘Hey! How are you?’ will commonly be met with a similar energetic response. Remember that most people want to be happy, and “Positivity breeds Positivity.”
Be remembered for your energy, not forgotten for your professionalism!

Be confident. Be prepared. – Don’t call someone stumbling over your words. Prepare. Know your content and deliver it with conviction. As soon as someone conducts a follow up on me and stumbles over their words I immediately assume that they are just going through the motions as if someone else has told them to, and that they lack care.

Be diplomatic – If your clients are looking at going down a competitor’s path, keep your cool – the worst thing a sales person can do is get defensive about the prospects decision. For example:
“Are you crazy!?!?” “Have you listened to nothing that I have said???” – Losing your cool is like committing sales suicide.
“Oh, Ok, I see how that works, cool… Ours is similar in that respect but is a bit better rounded in the….” – If you argue with the client over why yours is better you will find them step into the shoes of your competitor and sell themselves on their solution.

Be concise – Rule Number One, they are not wasting your time, you are wasting theirs! It is impossible for a client to waste a salespersons time. With this in mind, don’t beat around the bush unless you have a relationship that allows it. Respect your clients time and they should respect your words.

Provide value – Can you offer the client any new valuable information? Has anything changed since your last interaction? Has the model been updated? Is a new promotion running? Did you learn a new feature?

These are a few useful tips that should assist you with conducting your follow ups. As always please post a comment if you have any tips on follow ups. Otherwise if you think that someone else might find it useless please forward it on.