One of the biggest problems for people offering products or services traditionally sold via retail stores is that while you may not intend to you are adding an additional barrier to buying. The best way to counter this is at two different points of the same process.
The first point is when you initially are talking with the client about the product. There will often be point within the process where asking for the order will generate the sale. Watching for these points and trying to close the sale can solve the problem all together. The earlier in the process you can close the sale the easier it will make the over all process. However you do not want to put to much pressure on the potential client either.
The second point is if you cannot make the sale in the first contact, you need to follow up with the prospect, within a reasonable time frame. It is quite important to follow up or you are pretty much writing off the sale as not that important. This is because it is much easier for someone to buy something, not just when they are interested in buying but you are interested in selling it to them.
What this basically comes down to is that if you are not interested in following up the sale process. Then what do you believe will create enough of an interest with the client to actually follow up and purchase. But of course yes there is a certain number of people that will follow up and purchase no matter, however by being proactive and following up yourself you can greatly increase your chances of a successful transaction.
Following up the sale though should not mean being a pest to the client.
- If you need to provide a quote, then you should do so in a timely manner, i would suggest within 1 business day, or what is feasible considering the client and size of quote.
- Once you have submitted the quote a follow up call could be made within 1 more business day just to ensure that the client has received the quote and to see if they have any questions.
- Finally give the client 4 to 5 days to review the quote and give them another call. This call could be made with the intention to answer questions and close the sale.
- Remember though, that you need to pay close attention to everything the client tells you. For example if the client request a quote to present to their board in 2 weeks time, then you may not find it very useful to call them 4 days after you have confirmed they received the quote. However calling maybe 2 and half weeks later could be more positive, and in this situation may even require another call later, as more questions may arise once they have present the quote to the board.
If you are providing a product or service where you have the opportunity to extend an enquiry from the first encouter then it can really be worth taking the time to work out your plan or attack, in how and when you will follow up with every client.