The timing of a sales call is key.

Leave it too long and your prospect will be cold, leave it too soon and you look desperate.

So here are some tips to help you dust off the follow-up sales call and actually have success:

1. “How long do I leave it to do a follow-up call?” This is the most common question I get. Depending on your industry/product, a follow-up call is between half-hour up to 3 days. Retail is fast (30-60 minutes), service-based businesses (24 hours -3 days). All you need to say is “Well, let’s touch base in (insert time), that allows you some time to sit on it and I’ll answer any question that comes to mind when we jump on the phone, what’s your best contact number?”
2. The most important thing to do (especially if you are fearful of doing any type of sales call) is book it in. Scheduling a follow-up call not only stops you from chickening out, yes I know you’ve probably talked yourself out of doing them before. The easiest time to do it that gives you the greatest success is organising the highest time of rapport. This is in the actually sales process at the end when they have given you an objection that you haven’t been been able to overcome.
3. Making a time to touch-base with them also has a better customer service feel to it, especially for your prospect so they have no nasty surprises. Nothing worse than getting a sales call at an inconvenient time. It’s also a great win-win as they know they have a timeframe to make a decision by. Believe me for the sake of your own self-esteem, the last thing you want is continually calling and chasing a prospect. Creating a time allows you to re-explore how you can help them and have a decision-maker on that call. A strong yes or a strong no. No fence-sitters! This saves you from doing countless hours of following up afterwards.
4. BIGGEST TIP I can give you when calling a prospect back… DO NOT CALL UP WITH THE OBJECTION. Most untrained people would call back using the objection as the start of the follow up call. This starts the call off on a logical front, which is why they didn’t buy in the first place.

for example: You said you wanted to think about it, so I was just calling to see if you had thought about it?

Solution: You are better off recapping the customers needs and wants then recapping their objection.By doing this it draws the customer back into focusing on their emotional needs which is why they were interested in your product in the first place.

**NOTE: Remember the follow-up call is a symptom of normally not knowing how to work through a customers objection. So if you find yourself doing a lot of follow-up calls then it’s time to start exploring how to overcome objection and bring the customer to clarity in the actual first sales discussion. I can help you with that enquire here: success@annettelackovic.com