How Customer Follow-up Can Increase Sales In Any Business

When was the last time you followed up with your existing customers? Last month? Last week? Or was it the last time they actually bought from you?

I can pretty much tell you that no matter how often you follow up with your customers, it's not enough.

In today's world, people have less and less of an attention span and forget very easily about you and what you have to offer them. If you want an easy way to increase sales in your business, you need to increase the amount of contacts you have with each and every customer you have.

So how can you do this?

First, thank them for the sale.
Emails, thank you cards and letters are a great way to make one more touch with a customer right after the sale. If someone comes in to your store and buys something from you, send them a a thank you a couple of days after the sale. This will make them feel special and make you stand out from everyone else out there.

Also, educate them on the best ways to use the product they just bought from you. Remind them of additional benefits that they might not have known about or remembered before they bought the product.

Second, remind them of complimentary products that work well with the product they bought.
This is huge. Remember that people usually don't know your product anywhere near what you know about it. They are looking to you to help them and educate them.

If you have another product that works great with the product they bought already or that will enhance the product they bought, share that with them. Let them know the additional benefits to using that products also. Offer a special discount because they bought the first product.

Most business owners don't think about the fact that as long as what you have is of great value, your customers will want to buy your additional products as long as they make sense for them. Too many small businesses could easily increase sales just by letting people know about some of the products that they tend to forget to share with their customers.

Third, remind your customers of maintenance or renewable products.
What do I mean by this? Let's say you sell a nutrition product that is usually a month's supply. Many customers will still forget to purchase more when they run out. We're all busy. I do it all the time.

If you can call them or email them and give them an easy way to re-order, you've just saved them from running out of your product and you've made and easy sale at the same time.

Put your customers on a calendar so you know to email, call or mail out a direct mail piece in plenty of time to remind them to place their order before they run out.

Remember that as long as you provide great value and your customers are happy with your products, it's easy to sell them on additional products as long as it helps them save time, use the product better or most importantly, solves a problem they have. It's your responsibility to educate them on what you have to offer. They will never buy from you if they don't know you offer that product of service.