How to follow up with prospects

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Bikky Khosla | 29 Apr, 2014
Every small business pays great attention to reaching out to new customers, wherever possible, offline or online, at an event or on a social network platform. They place great importance on networking and building connections. They are quick at sending product information whenever a potential prospect requests for it. Everything is right till this point, but when it comes to follow-up, they usually fall behind. After the initial contact, most small businesses prefer to sit back and wait for a reply, which most of the time never comes.

I had an informal discussion on this issue with some small business owners recently. Most of them don't stress on follow-up because they don't want to appear pushy. This is true -- following up with prospects too frequently can easily drive them away. Too many calls, too many emails can do more harm than good. But how many of small businesses ever come close to crossing this line? Most of the time, it is total lack of follow-up efforts for which prospective clients are lost, and not because of excess of it. A balance can easily be maintained just by following a standard follow-up process.

While following with prospects, the focus should be always on building relationships. You should be responsive but not forceful and no matter whatever the medium you use -- telephone, email, social media platform -- try to add value to the process by adding some supportive information, useful links, birthday cards, anniversary cards, notes of appreciation, etc. Share ideas, ask questions and try to understand their needs. Don't call every time just to sell -- it leaves a very bad impression in the minds of the prospects. Don't repeat the same message again and again -- it will not be respected and heard.

There is another common misconception among small business owners that prospective customers will contact them if they're interested -- no need to follow up with them. But in reality, things may not be so straightforward after all. Many a time, a prospective customer may have questions in his mind that he is not asking, he may not understand how your product applies to his requirements, he might be thinking of buying the product not right now but after two months. It is during the follow-up process you get the opportunity to clear such confusion and let the prospect know how important it is for you to meet his needs.

Some small entrepreneurs view that they are aware of the importance of follow-up, but find it challenging to make it happen, due to their busy schedules. Amid so many things, it is sometimes difficult to remember even the names of the prospects. My suggestion is that you should make a list of the important prospects, categorize them into hot, warm and cool prospects, decide a follow-up plan accordingly and record this in tradeindia.com's Compliance Management System and create alerts. Systematizing the process will make it easier to accomplish the follow-up targets.

I invite your feedback. If you have some follow-up tips, please share with us.