Follow-up can make or break the deal for you. According to Boomerang, 48% of the sales quote is deleted by the prospects without paying attention to the details. Sadly, your quotation might suffer the same fate; it doesn’t catch the attention of the recipient. For this, follow-up is crucial to ensure that the prospect will convert into a customer.
What if your follow-up template is well-crafted and delivers the right message, but the medium you choose is not suitable? Which medium or tool should you choose depends upon what you are after? If you wish to optimize the response rate and the issue is time-sensitive, then you might go for a phone call. However, calling a person ten times a day would not be a good idea at all.
Following-up through the most suitable medium is as important as the follow-up itself. For this reason, I have scoured a list of the most used follow-up methods and an advanced alternative to the traditional techniques as well.
Following-Up by E-mail
You might feel uncomfortable while planning to follow-up after the quote, even when the recipient hasn’t responded yet. But, when to opt for a follow-up e-mail is a tricky thing to decide. If you want to optimize the chances for a positive outcome or are dealing directly with upper-level management, then e-mail is the best medium. Keep it short, professional, and upbeat.
E-mails are among the most commonly used mediums in small and medium enterprises. However, it has its own drawbacks. You need to be extra careful to craft the message and describe the top pitch of your product/service.
Following-Up Via Phone Call
When you are dealing with the subordinates of the decision-maker, then you can go for calling them directly to ask about the availability of the concerned person. But there is a higher risk that the follow-up might annoy or fails to grab the attention of the recipients as they might be busy in other things.
It is advised to call two or three times with an adequate gap, and if the other person still doesn’t pick up the call, then you should leave a voice mail. That’s it. Anything more than this can be perceived as too irritating, invasive, or even desperate.
Following-up Through Text Message
If you think your e-mail may go unnoticed and the phone calls might go unanswered, then you should leave a text message asking them when is the best time to get in touch with the prospect. Don’t act too clingy and also don’t cross the line of professionalism. Keep your message concise and to the point.
Following-up in person
Sometimes you might feel that the situation is do-or-die, and you can’t persuade the prospects over any medium, then show up at their office and have a meeting with them. Though it is better to get an appointment for the meeting to save the time of both the parties. It is, no doubt, the best way to ensure you get the attention and is intrusive at the same time. So, you should play this trump card only when there is no choice left, and it’s warranted.
Following-up By Fax
Your prospect is not responding to the e-mails and not picking up the phone, then why not consider sending them fax? It is the least cluttered medium to ensure you might get the desired results. Though in 99% of the cases, you won’t need it, when you do, it might make the difference.
Osmos CRM Tool
All the before-mentioned options are traditional and somehow outdated ways to follow-up after a quote. You need an efficient and time-saving tool like that of Osmos to speed up the process for better time management and getting desired results. For a company that deals with hundreds of clients and sends in quotes to numerous people from time to time, it is quite challenging to keep track of the activities.
Osmos offers you the convenience of creating the template of your choice with the option of editing and deleting the previous ones. Besides this, you can customize the interactive button to enhance the engagement with the customers and leads. A personalized call-to-action can help you in fostering the response too.
You can also track the follow-up sequence by the unique IDs or the names of the prospects/leads. In short, it automates the process of the follow-up with minimum efforts from you. What else do you want from an automation and CRM tool?
