What’s the best advice you’ll ever receive to be successful in sales?
Answer: the job’s never done.
You may have prepped and pitched and sealed the deal but that’s not the end of your business relationship. In fact, in many important ways it’s only the beginning.
Because this is when your company’s after-sales support should kick in.
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Once upon a time, this would simply have been providing a guarantee or extended warranty.
In today’s fiercely competitive sales world, however, this involves a series of initiatives all designed to ensure customer satisfaction, generate repeat custom and grow your brand loyalty.
It starts with saying thank you.
No matter how big or small, if your customer has just made a purchase, receiving a thank you by email, post or over the telephone shows you care not just about having made money but also having created a respectful business partnership.
You can add to your thanks the name of the best person to contact in case of any follow-up questions about the product or service – further reassurance you and your company are still there for them long-term.
There are also optional bolt-ons you can use that can strengthen your after-sales support, such as online training in the use of a product, software updates or a scheduled maintenance programme.
The successful sales professional will also maintain long-term communication with a valued customer (actually all customers . . . since all customers should be valued).
This could be a few weeks down the line to ask for informal feedback or to ask them to fill in a satisfaction survey – this is a great way to gather information about products and services and make any big changes or small improvements that may be needed.
You can also use the call or email to ask for personal recommendations.
A customer who really appreciates you will be happy to sing your praises to family, friends and colleagues.
Such personal word-of-mouth recommendations are taken much more seriously than even the most expensive marketing or advertising.
Staying on the job by providing excellent service after a sale builds trust and business. On the other hand, thinking the job’s done and failing to follow up will often see clients switch to other options.
So one more piece of advice: it’s 10 times easier to keep a happy customer than to find a new one.
If you’re a pro who never tires of keeping the customer satisfied, even long after the first deal is done, take a look at the latest Sales vacancies on s1jobs.