Instigator Blog

Your clients are a goldmine.

You knew that right?

The key to leveraging existing customers into more and more success is to follow-up with them. While plenty of salespeople are gunning for the next big score you know the path to success lies with the people who have already paid you money.

But you can’t just follow up willy nilly whenever you feel like it or remember to do so. You need a follow-up system.

Here are 6-steps to putting a client follow-up system in place:

1. Measure Success. If there are metrics you can track to gage success, use them. A software company might track usage of their hosted application. A retail organization could track repeat purchases to gage clients’ happiness. If there are no metrics you can track that’s troublesome because it means you don’t have any sense of what your customers are doing or thinking. Metrics aren’t perfect, they’re just a barometer from which you can build your system of client follow-up.
2. Follow Up on a Schedule. You need to follow up regularly, but not too often. I ping my customers every 3 months. It’s a good amount of time to gather information, give customers a chance to come up with issues/questions/etc. and not overwhelm them. You might want to setup a CRM application to track clients and when you’re supposed to get in touch.

   Of course, schedules are made to be broken. And you’d break your follow-up schedule when the metrics you’re tracking tell you something is going very well or very bad. In both cases you’ll want to follow-up on an accelerated scheduled to find out what’s going on. If things are going very well, you’re moving to get positive feedback, testimonials, client referrals, etc. If things seem to be going very poorly, you better fix the situation. Fast.

3. Have a Reason to Follow Up. It’s not good enough to just follow up and say, “Are things going OK?” That’s better than nothing, but instead, try and have a specific reason for each follow-up. When you have a specific goal in mind for your follow-up it makes it more effective and valuable for you and the client.

   Here are some reasons you should be following up with clients:

   • Make sure the customer is happy
   • Resolve customer complaints
   • Solicit feedback
   • Get a testimonial
   • Get approval for doing PR with the customer
   • Upsell
   • Update them on new products/services
   • Referrals

   Ultimately, each time you follow up with a customer your #1 goal is to build a stronger relationship, but you can do that more easily if you have a reason for calling them beyond “just chatting.”

4. Two Calls and One Email. If you don’t reach a customer the first time you try and follow-up, leave a message and then call again. If you have to leave another message, tell them you know they’re busy and you’ll send an email instead. You might not follow this exact process but the point is that you can’t follow-up endlessly. If you’ve tried a few times and you get no response, move on to the next follow-up. People are busy, just because you don’t reach them doesn’t mean the client isn’t happy.
5. Keep Track of Client Follow-Ups. Track the results of every customer follow-up. Did you accomplish your goal for the follow-up? What else did you find out? Take notes, keep ‘em handy, and use them for the next follow-up.
6. Validate Your Client Follow-Up System. Is it working? Are you getting valuable feedback? No system is perfect, so over time make sure you’re assessing the success of your client follow-up system and update it accordingly.

Follow-up with your customers regularly and you’ll gain a wealth of knowledge. They’ll be your buzz agents, evangelists and references. They’ll buy from you again. They’ll complain more openly (which is a good thing!)

Go call your customers. They’re a goldmine of success.

Crack heads. Bank robbers. Salespeople. Taxi drivers.

What do they all have in common?

They’re always gunning for the next big score.

A few days ago I was in a cab (in Montreal), and for those of you that don’t know what it’s like, try and picture a combination of a demolition derby and stock car race. With no rules. And faster.

The driver’s speeding along leaving pedestrians and pigeons in his wake, and I’m thinking, “Why IS he going so fast? What’s the hurry?”

My thinking went something like this:

• The cab driver can’t be that concerned with customer service, it’s unlikely I’ll ever see him again. Sure, becoming a customer shouldn’t be a one-night stand but in this case it really is. So it can’t be customer service.
• His reputation is at stake, but again, I won’t see him again, so what’s the difference? And I can’t believe he cares that much about the reputation of his cab company (I don’t even know which one it was) or the reputation of all cab drivers in Montreal.
• It could be pure boredom; so cab drivers race around like poodles on speed for entertainment purposes. That makes some sense to me.
• It could be that customers complain if the cab driver goes too slow; there’s an expectation for the entire industry — cab drivers must drive at blazing, reckless speeds — and so everyone works to achieve that, and surpass it. That also makes some sense.

Then I thought, “He’s driving like that so he can get to his next fare. And the next one after that. Always seeking out the next big score.”

Who knows how long he had to wait for my $15 fare, but he’s got to be hoping to get it over with quickly so he can find someone else who needs to go to the airport ($40+) or even farther.

Of course, that’s a silly way to think. The next person he picks up might want him to go two blocks.

It seems salespeople often think the same way. Land a deal, do it quick, with as little effort as possible, so they can get to the next one. The Big Kahuna. The Mother Of All Sales.

It’s a bad way to think. It alienates the people you’re currently working with and shows a lack of true interest in building a relationship. Plus, the next deal could be for less. The sale you just closed might not have been enough to buy that condo in Maui, but who knows how much repeat business could have been had with a bit more effort, thoughtfulness and authentic relationship building.

Gunning for the next big score is a bad way of doing business.

So there I am paying the cab driver his fare, and trying to calm my exploding heart, when he thanks me kindly and hands me my receipt and a candy. A little blue candy.

I’ve never been given a candy from a cab driver before. Cool. Talk about changing my impression in an instant. I’ll probably never see that cab driver again but he sure left me with a positive feeling. Maybe he wasn’t going for the next big score after all…

Photo by Skip the Budgie on Flickr.

Entrepreneurs wear lots of hats. That’s a given. But there comes a time when an entrepreneur has to weigh the pros and cons of wearing all the hats versus outsourcing.

The pros and cons of outsourcing are simple.

PRO: You free your time to work on higher priority tasks.

CON: Outsourcing costs money.

So when is the best time to outsource?

As soon as possible.

Your business won’t survive, let alone thrive if you’re spending your time doing tasks that don’t really grow the business. Plus, there’s a very good chance that many of the tasks you’re undertaking are not your expertise, so they take longer, are more frustrating and subsequently cost you more.

1. First, outsource operational and business management tasks; namely bookkeeping and accounting. Very few people are experts in these things, they’re time consuming but very important. Your business needs a good foundation, and part of that is a smooth running machine - so outsource bookkeeping and accounting as quickly as possible.
2. Next, outsource website/blog design (unless that’s your business!) This will usually be a 1-time fee (unless you’re updating the site constantly), so bite the bullet and pay someone. Get it done right, and stand out from the crowd of standard looks and themes.
3. Simple tasks should be outsourced next, even if they’re core to your business. For example, you might run a small ad agency. Part of your job might be tracking the metrics of the ads you’ve placed for clients. You’re also doing all the work, including the most basic ad designs. If you can hire a college/university student to replace yourself, do it. They might even work for free in exchange for a nice bullet point on their resume.
4. Finally, outsource tasks that will take you eons to handle but will take an expert 5 minutes. Even if you’re a reasonable skilled plumber, your title is more valuable doing something else. Actually, that’s why plumbers can charge so much (but that’s another story…) The point is to avoid getting bogged down in tasks that will waste your time; bring in an expert, let ‘em do it quickly, build that relationship and pay them.

If you run a small business or you’re starting a new company there’s one thing you should be focused on: sales. Everything else is secondary.

Outsourcing costs money. So there’s risk associated with it. If you spend money you have to make money to pay those bills. But not outsourcing is a bigger risk. Find a way to do it. Spend the money. Barter. Beg. (Don’t steal, it’s bad.)

Outsource as quickly as you can. It’ll help your business succeed.

There seems to be a bit of confusion over my post, The Secret to Networking Successfully.

I wrote that the secret to networking successfully is simple:

Know What People Have To Offer and Know What People Need

The post was brief (perhaps too brief!) but it’s all about connecting other people together by matching them up. When you know what people are offering, and you know what people need, you’re able to bring them together. It’s not about selling people on your services/products or being sold - you’re playing matchmaker.

And matchmaking is uber-powerful when it comes to networking because it:

• Keeps you in touch with people
• Raises your profile
• Leads others to reciprocate
• Boosts your networking karma

The idea of network matchmaking is summed up very nicely in this email message (just a sample of what I might send):

Dear Bob,

I hope you’re doing well. It was great speaking with you the other day, and I wish you the best with your new project.

I wanted to introduce you to Leslie (who is cc:’d on this email.) She’s a great graphic designer that I met a few years ago, and I’m confident she could help you out with your project. Her blog is at http://www.greatgraphicdesigner.com. I spoke to her briefly about what you’re doing and it’s right up her alley.

Her email address is leslie@greatgraphicdesigner.com.

Let me know if it works out and if I can help out in any other way.

Sincerely,

Ben

Short, sweet and to-the-point. You’ve just connected two people that need each other. You have put your reputation on the line (so do this cautiously) but even if it doesn’t work out you’ve gained bonus points with Bob and Leslie. They’ll appreciate the effort, thought and willingness to take some time out of your day to connect them.

1. Know What People Need.
2. Know What People Have To Offer.
3. Match ‘em Up!

Yesterday I was sitting in a Second Cup coffee shop and I overheard the conversation of a manager with her employees.

Setting the scene — she was on an apparent break, sitting casually at a table sipping a coffee. Lounging like she was on vacation, she barked over to one of the employees and said:

“Now listen to me carefully, I only want to say this once….”

“Blah, blah, blah — (insert Charlie Brown adult-speak) — blah blah…”

“If you don’t do what I say, we’re going to have a problem.”

She then instructed the employee to call over a second staff member, and she repeated the exact same diatribe. This happened a total of 4 times.

Can you imagine what was going through the employees’ heads as they nodded to her blankly? Exactly.

If you can’t do better than that - and say silly, pointless, demeaning and demoralizing things like, “listen to me closely” and “we’re going to have a problem” - you shouldn’t be managing people. Sheep, maybe. But not people.

One of her biggest mistakes was not explaining to the employees why her instructions mattered. She was asking them to do something fairly menial. It was clearly important, otherwise she wouldn’t have used the language she used. But why was it important? I have no clue…I’m guessing the employees don’t get it either…

Is there any chance they’re going to listen to her?