How great follow-up skills increase sales and referrals

In this age of digital technology, communication is slowly becoming a lost art — and along with it, customer follow up. If you’re not good at customer follow-up, you’re missing out on a fortune. Of the million things sales reps must deal with, following up is such a key aspect of the job. While reps are jumping from one call to the next, updating your CRM and addressing new leads, inevitably, deals are falling through the cracks. Discover how to master the follow-up process to close more deals and build loyalty. 

Everyone is a customer in today’s marketplace. Customers are making purchases in more ways than ever before — in person, online, through phone calls, by texting, and through social media. There are lots of opportunities to close a sale, yet many businesses are leaving money on the table.

Limited Time Offer: ATI's 30-60-90-Day Follow-Up Process for Repair EstimatesTo help shop owners maintain great customer follow-up on estimates and increase sales and loyalty, we give them ATI's 30-60-90 Day Follow-up Process and tracking spreadsheet. To receive your copy, go to www.ationlinetraining.com/2021-04 for a limited time.

How is it that with all these opportunities to close a sale (discussed, estimated, or almost purchased by customers), three times the dollar amount is still on the business's books for follow-up? The answer is: there is no follow-up after the customer says "NO."

Most businesses and their sales associates believe in the hit or miss approach with their sales opportunities. To them, it’s a numbers game. The more customers they attempt to close, the more sales they will close. But, when they get the response “NO” from a customer, they just move on to the next sales opportunity — forgetting all about the time and energy just spent with the previous customer that said “NO” or “NOT RIGHT NOW.” The previous customer may have needed time to think, time to talk with a spouse or a friend, or was just not ready to say “YES” at that moment.  

Sales associates that move on too quickly are missing a BIG opportunity to increase their closing rate and their ability to get customer referrals by not doing this simple process: following up. 

Following up should be a standard operating process in every auto shop with each customer. It’s the simple process of gathering the customer’s name, phone number, and email; obtaining permission to share information with them, so that you can reach back to see if services are still needed or say “Thank you.” Doing this process ensures that you increase sales and referrals by showing you care about the customer’s experience.  

Let me share with you an example of how the follow-up process and the thank you process worked for me one Saturday this summer.   

As a coach, I was working in a shop, modeling and training effective sales practices one Saturday. A customer called and wanted pricing on sets of tires for his Jaguar and his Maserati. I was so excited about this opportunity to demonstrate the entire process from a phone quote to sale, including making the reservation, completing the transaction, and asking for a review online and referral. It would be special for everyone to see the SOPs I coaxed them on in action and see that they work.   

I quoted two sets per vehicle based on the needs of the customer. I then emailed and texted estimates to the customer. While I was on the phone with him and preparing the quotes, we engaged in general conversation. I discovered that he had been a customer of the location I worked at several years ago. I asked the customer what brought him to this location for tires since he had been using the other shop to take care of his vehicles. The customer said he was referred by a friend who mentioned he was always taken care of at this location and that he always received a thank you call for doing business with them. So, the customer decided to call and find out for himself.   

I emailed and texted the customer the quote to review and told him to contact me before closing so I could order his tires for Monday. I did not hear back; so I called at the end of the day, left a message, and texted him as well. I did not hear back until Tuesday via text — the text read “thank you for getting in touch I’m still thinking about it.” I arranged an actual call via text to work on overcoming any questions the customer might have. We spoke on the following Saturday. He was going out of town but liked the tires and the quote. A week had passed, and I had two phone calls, and two texts with the customer to try and close the deal. The customer made a reservation to get the work done the following Wednesday but did not show. I started texting and calling on Wednesday and finally heard from the customer on Saturday via text.   

Two weeks had passed, and finally after I again texted the customer, he called and apologized about missing the appointment. He said, “I am getting the tires from you because you have stayed with me the entire time while I made up my mind; not one other place called to follow up.” He set appointments to get all eight tires installed the following Saturday.  

It took three weeks to make the sale. The customer purchased Road Hazard to protect his investment for all eight tires and the alignment protection package — an investment of $3,700.00. An estimate was prepared for items found by the technician when performing the courtesy check process and given to the customer. The customer was not ready to make the exit reservation yet for the brakes and other work. All is right with the world for the customer and his vehicles. Two days later I called, left a message, and texted him; thanking him for his business and saying I appreciated him giving us the opportunity to take over his vehicle needs moving forward. The next day he made a reservation to have the brakes done on the Jag. This was just the beginning of a great relationship for both parties.   

Shazam, that is what can happen when you stay with it; follow up and say thank you. Relationship-driven sales are paramount to the success of your business.   

The follow-up process requires patience and commitment from the sales associates. Estimates for repair and for maintenance services are created every day. What happens to those estimates that are given to the customer that chooses to wait on the extra work you estimated? Do they go in the trash can, glove box, or on the floor of their car? Are you even tracking to see what happens with your estimates? If not, request this 30-60-90-Day Follow-up Process and Tracking Sheet at www.ationlinetraining.com/2021-04.  

Let me share a very simple 30-60-90-Day Follow-up Process:   

30 Days: 

1. Save all estimates created electronically or manually and place them in an expanding file designated for the last 30 days. 
2. Two days after the estimate is given, email or mail a copy to the customer. 
3. Two weeks after the estimate is given, call the customer and ask if they have any questions about the estimated work shared with them and see if they want to make a reservation. 
4. Four weeks after the estimate is given; repeat step 3. 

60 Days: 

1. Contact the customer to find out if they have had the work done elsewhere. If so, be sure to ask the reason they did not come back to you. Gather the feedback and investigate what the customer shared were the reasons. 

90 Days: 

1. Contact the customer one last time about the estimate given. Be sure you have shared all benefits and incentives to come in and get the work done. Be sure to thank them for their consideration. 

Track and measure the results of each step in the 30-60-90-Day Follow-up Process. Be sure to take good notes on the feedback you receive from the customer on why they are, or are not, making the reservation.   

Committing to a follow-up process will increase your sales. The fact is that sometimes customers do need more time before they decide to buy, and the salesperson that continues to seek their business is likely to win the sale. You can double down on the follow-up process by committing to doing thank you calls for every customer within two to three days after their visit. These calls show your customers that you appreciate them and that you’ll work hard to exceed their expectations by making sure that they had a great experience. Take that time to ask for feedback on what you can improve upon for their next visit. This type of interaction helps to build customer relationships and loyalty.  

To commit and stay on track to providing great customer follow-up, simply go to www.ationlinetraining.com/2021-04 to get ATI's 30-60-90-Day Follow-up Process and Tracking Sheet.