Rapidly Grow your Business with a Follow-up System

Success in business is often determined by getting the simple basics right. One of these basics (regardless if you are an employee, an entrepreneur in your own business, or running a large operation) is about building and maintaining strong relationships. Relationships with suppliers, new prospects, existing clients, former clients, affiliates, service providers – everybody who plays a role in making your business successful.

Yes, most of us prefer to socialise and do business with people we KNOW, LIKE and TRUST, and our relationships will determine if we are known, liked and trusted. Whilst most business people are able to connect and establish relationships, many fall short on following up and maintaining the relationships. Failure to follow up or nurture your relationships will have a direct negative impact your bottom-line and therefore your business success.

Let me ask you, do you know how much money are you leaving on the table as a result of not following-up a lead, not staying in touch with a prospective client, or not checking with former clients if they are ready to do repeat business with you? What are a few extra sales worth to you? Without a proper Follow-up System, you are most probably losing out right now. Here are some practical pointers to guide you in establishing a Follow-up System that works for you:

1. Get the right Attitude. Following-up with prospects, clients and people in your network is not sleazy or “salezy”, or at least it shouldn’t be. It is essential in keeping your business alive! Never rely on others to call you (unless it has explicitly been agreed) – it is your responsibility to nurture relationships, especially in the early stages.

2. Create Space and Time. Many people have many excuses for not following up, the most famous being “I have no time”, the other being “People will call me when they need me”. Once you realise that this activity can increase your income, you will make the time. The easiest is to set aside a regular weekly time-slot and diarise it as if it would be an important client meeting. Keep a follow-up list at hand to keep track of the people you plan to connect with – prioritise, go for the individuals that can bring in easy business first (also known as Low Hanging Fruit). Follow-up should become a habit!

3. Let Technology work for you. I am by no means suggesting that you need to invest in a fancy Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system with expensive equipment and software. Although this may be the route followed by businesses with a large customer base, there are many other tools that, if combined with a simple paper-based process, could be useful to individuals or small businesses. An integrated mail and contact management system (such as Google Mail or MS-Outlook) is essential. Other tools include list management applications (for email campaigns), auto-responders (to manage opt-in and automated messages) and office productivity tools such as MS-Office.

4. Capture the Details. It is essential to capture as many details as possible about a contact. Name and email address or contact telephone number may be adequate initially, but if you have an email address, cell phone number, postal address and even social media links, you can reach the person in a number of ways.

5. Connect in other spaces. Once you have established contact, try to connect on social media sites such as Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. Send personal messages to their inboxes to thank them for accepting your friend requests. This creates more opportunity for interaction.

6. Stay in Contact. Now that you have an individual’s contact details, identify the best possible way and frequency to stay in contact. Will it be a monthly or bi-weekly newsletter, will it be a personal email, will it be a series of messages (or communication campaign) delivered via an auto-responder, or will it be a personal letter in the mail? How about birthday cards or Christmas cards? Get clear on your communication objectives, plan what you want to send, how often and then just do it.

7. Reactivate Old Contacts. Many of us have a wealth of information that we are not using to our benefit – our address book, telephone list or cell phone! If you have not been particularly good at staying in contact in the past, there are always opportunities to reactivate old contacts in your database (such as former clients, colleagues and friends). This is an ideal opportunity to do a personal warm update letter or call – share what has been happening in your life and your business, update them on what you are doing, tell them about the type of clients you are working with and find out if you can catch up in person. Follow up with a call, or schedule an informal meeting such as a coffee-date (whichever is appropriate). When you connect personally you can find out if you can be of service, or if they can do any referrals. You will know what is appropriate for each person. Send or do 5 – 10 of these weekly and you will soon have more business coming in!

A final word on staying in contact – remember, the objective is to build relationships where you are known, liked and trusted. Take care not to spoil this by pitching your products and services excessively. Nobody wants to be spammed! I personally try to provide useful, value-adding information more than 80% of the time in my social networking and interactions with my contacts!

Here is my business challenge to you today: Be brutally honest with yourself – are you leaving money on the table because you are not following up? Look at your business and see where you can implement any of the suggestions above.

I challenge you to make a list of 50 people with whom you need to do personal follow-ups in the next month – plan it, do it and then keep on doing it! Ask me how if you are stuck!

About the Author: Gina Mostert is a business success strategist and coach who works with executives, entrepreneurs, business owners and independent professionals to plan for success, get more organised and take decisive action to get results.

By creatively combining the best of consulting, coaching and mentoring, she helps clients to define exactly WHAT they want to be, have or do in business and HOW they intend to get there. She is the developer of the 8 Essentials for Business Breakthroughs Program for Small Businesses.

Links: gina.mostert@inovizion.co.za or www.inovizion.co.za