Business Follow-Up? Fat Chance!

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Consistent Business Follow-up is sorely lacking in most small companies.

How often have you heard someone say, “I’ll get back to you next week,” or “I’ll follow-up with you later concerning your issue?” And then nothing! Similarly, the most misused farewell line heard, regarding business follow-up, is “Let’s do lunch, soon!”

“Fat chance” of that happening!

Sadly, small business salespeople, after spending precious time searching out prospects, are notorious for not following up with them, consistently. Generally, these are unsuccessful salespeople.

This same lack of consistent business follow-up by salespeople not only occurs in sales; it’s a common frustration in other areas of a small business.

Example No. 1: A person in one department contacts someone in another department, asking for information in order to complete, i.e. “Task A”. A few days later, management discovers, “Task A” is still not completed. Whereby, management begins looking for the reason as to why it is incomplete.

As a result, the two employees involved in exchanging information concerning “Task A” begin pointing fingers at each other, shifting blame. Pete says, “I asked Sally for information concerning 'Task A' and she never got back to me.” Sally replies, “Boss, I have a thousand things to do, so Pete should have reminded me!”

Again, “fat chance!”

Example No. 2: Employees — after spending valuable time gathering information, in order to give an estimate/quote to a potential client — fail to follow-up after sending it. Or, they may follow-up one time. As a matter of fact, failing to get an initial response from the client or prospect, there’s a “fat chance” of a second or third business follow-up!

Why Business Follow-Up Occurs Sporadically

Simply stated, there is NO prompt to call someone to action! Therefore, business follow-up occurs when someone “feels like it,” or if they “happen to remember” to follow-up.

In other words, there’s a “fat chance” of business follow-up, without a proper system.

In a systematized, organized business, “fat chances” are not an option. To be sure, for every process and task there is a prompt requiring action. As a result, a business follow-up is part of a strict systematic approach.

CRM Software Tool for Business Follow-up

CRM (Customer Relationship Management) software is a popular and effective tool for salespeople. However, to ensure the consistent and correct use of a CRM, we strongly recommend implementing Daily Routine Checklists for all salespeople. Moreover, we recommend the Daily Routine Checklists for all key personnel.

To be sure, a Daily Routine Checklist, along with other control checklists, is the effective place to locate all necessary prompts; holding all employees accountable to all systems.

As a result, no more “fat chance” of a Business Follow-up!

Did I mention? Great systems work!