Follow Up With Your Customer

After you go through a sales session with a customer, wether you sell them a product or not, follow up with them. Otherwise, your time was all but wasted.

Every part of a sales process from the initial contact, to the presentation of the product, to the final step, following up, are all equally important.

The following up process is an important element of the sales process for many key reasons, here are just a few:

1. Following up makes your customers feel important.

When a customer walks into your office, or calls you on the telephone, they do not want to be thought of as a statistic. They want to be treated as though they are the only customer you have.

By following up after your initial contact, it tells the customer that you are serious about doing business with them.

They will appreciate the phone call, and this will be a clear message to them that they werenít just another sale on your way to meeting your goal.

2. Following up with your customer shows that you care.

Another reason to follow up with your customer is to find out how they are doing, and how their new product is benefitting them.

Ask questions about the product and the experience they have had with you and your company.

It is always good to get feedback, good and bad. This way you can correct anything that your customer was not happy with, learn from your mistake, and be sure not to let it happen again with your next customer.

If their feedback is negative or they just are not happy with the product, find out their reasons, be empathetic, and try to resolve the problem as best you can.

3. Follow up with your customer for more sales opportunities.

After your initial meeting with your customer, one of two things happened. Either you got the sale, or your customer left still undecided.

If you got the sale, following up with your customer is important for reasons stated in number two, and also, you now have an opportunity to up-sell. While they are on the phone, ask for permission to go over some of your other products you believe they may be interested in.

If your customer left you still undecided, than this is the perfect opportunity to see if they have come to a decision. If they havenít, ask if there is anything they would like you to go over again, or, if they thought of any more questions they would like to ask.

A final note . . .

Before a customer leaves your desk or hangs up the phone, make your customer aware of your intentions to follow up with them. If your sales session went well, this should not be a problem.

Following up with your customers is a great opportunity to keep in contact with them, and there is no law that says you canít follow up more than once.

The more you stay in contact with your customers, the stronger your relationship with them becomes. The stronger the relationship, the more business and referrals you can expect from them. So follow up, Always.

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Finding Sales Leads For Your Cleaning Business

When starting out in your cleaning business, your first clients may be friends, relatives or clients that you had while working for another cleaning service. To grow your business you need to expand your circle and gain new customers. Where do you look for potential clients? The following are practical ideas to find qualified leads.

-- Join a networking or volunteer organization. Your community may have a chamber of commerce, Sertoma, Rotary or other networking organization. Joining and participating is one way to get businesses in the community to know about you and the services you provide.

-- Become an authority. Conduct a survey or poll that offers marketing information and then publicize the results through press releases and websites. Another way to become an expert is to teach classes in a local community education program. Both ways will build recognition and hopefully demand for your services.

-- Find a partner. Work with businesses that compliment your cleaning service. Think of pairing up with a carpet cleaning service, air duct service or a business that cleans blinds. When your partner cannot supply a service they can refer the client to you and vice versa.

-- Create an industry profile. Put together an informative speech or write an article about green cleaning, taking care of carpets or another area you're experienced in. Then put together a few promotional pieces to mail out to the local media.

-- Buy banner ads in electronic media. Look for a website that targets your potential customers, such as your local chamber. This can deliver your information right to the businesses that need your services.

-- Read your local newspaper. Your local paper will keep you informed about new businesses, expansions and remodelings. These can all be prospective clients.

-- Have a booth at a Business Expo. Most communities have some type of commerce and industry trade shows. Setting up a booth and having a sign up for door prizes is one way for people in the community to learn about the services you provide.

-- Check your records. Have you lost clients? Were there potential customers who contacted you that you did not sign up for cleaning services? Circumstances may have changed and they might now need your services.

-- Buy leads. You can buy prospect lists and mailing lists from various sources including local chambers, trade groups, professional organizations and mailing list services. Some lists can be very specific and break down the leads to specific groups, while others (such as from a chamber) may include all the group members.

Growing your cleaning business and getting more clients will take some time, creativity and perseverance. Devoting time into developing contacts and using the above ideas as guidelines you can grow your cleaning business and put your profits into the bank!

Comparison Sites Attributing To A Higher Level Of Online Sales

What is the attraction and value of these for users and what are retailers and service providers finding them a useful tool as they strive for online sales?

The online retail sector for products and services has been buoyant for a number of years and the level of resource and funding that major retailers dedicate to the online market surges with each turn of the calendar. As the online marketplace has developed, the consumer offerings have become increasingly sophisticated and more reflective of the offline marketplace and traditional marketing. Consumers demand greater choice and shop around for the best deals ñ the benefit of increased levels of competition. Online comparison sites have developed a niche in recognising and reflecting offline shopping habits and reflecting this in terms of online user search habits.

Indeed the online comparison sites appear to be a making a good fist of it with new research from E-Consultancy revealing that in some industry sectors up to 30% of online sales are referred by shopping or product comparison sites. More and more, online comparison sites are being considered as part of the online marketing mix for retail and service providers and represent the entire business model of a new wave of comparison based reseller and aggregators.

Personal finance is one sector where aggregator and referral sites thrive. The impartial aspect of allowing consumers to compare and contrast a range of services and providers to find the deal that suits them best allows a degree of empowerment on the part of the consumer and offers a distinct competitive advantage for reseller and aggregators. Sites such as Moneynet (http://www.moneynet.co.uk ) and the Motley Fool (http://www.fool.co.uk ) provide users with information in a simple, no nonsense manner allowing them to select the product or service that suits them and pocketing the referral commission.

Other sites such as Dial-a-Phone (http://www.dialaphone.co.uk ) are more straightforward in their approach to referrals. A bulk reseller, they can display preferential deals from the main mobile phone networks, avoiding the middle man and passing savings on to the consumer. Again, there is an essence of customer freedom involved as the user can compare and contrast various services and offerings before committing to a particular network or package and again the reseller picks up the commission for passing the user on.

With the online marketing model continuing to develop in size, scope and sophistication, the future look bright for online referral, reseller and aggregator sites and these look set to be a continued integral aspect of online marketing.