Today I want to share something interesting from my inbox! I got an email from a buddy of my via Linkedin that essentially boils down to one question.
What do you do after you make a sale?
This is what I often refer to as the Missing System. Missing because most of the small business owners, entrepreneurs and coaching clients that I work with are missing this crucial piece of the puzzle in their marketing plans.
I see this all the time and the worst part about it is if it is missing from your business then you are leaving lots of money on the table. Not to mention making it harder for you to succeed.
As a new business owner or entrepreneur we often become obsessed with making more sales. I’m not saying that we should not be constantly getting as many people as we can into our sales funel but it is not the only thing that we need to be concerned with.
If you are trying to create a business for the long term (not just make a quick buck aka a scamer) then you need to start thinking in terms of the lifetime value of your customers. This is the length of time that a customer is going to be with you and the total amount of money that the customer is going to spend with you.
Now I don’t want you to start thinking just in terms of money. Money figures into the equation but the bigger piece is the relationship that you build with your customers and clients over the next year, 5 years or 10 years.
So if you are looking for long term business you need to start thinking about developing long term customers. What kind of steps can you take to ensure your customers come back to you again and again?
Think about the people that you buy from on a regular basis. Maybe it’s a care dealership. Maybe it’s your auto-mechanic or your hair stylist. Why do you keep going back to them again and again.
Yesterday my father-in-law went to get his haircut (he’s been going to same woman for the past 9 years) only to find out the woman who cuts his hair had quit. There were several other ladies who could have cut his hair and done a good job with it. But my father-in-law left. When I asked him about it, he said he wanted to look around a bit and find someone good.
That’s what he said but the thing is he had a relationship with the other woman spanning 9 years and he liked her and trusted her to do a great job cutting his hair. The two keywords here, like and trust!
BTW-I did a little math, being conservative with the numbers and that hair stylist made around $1100 from my father-in-law over the course of those 9 years! So let me ask you again what’s the lifetime value of your customers and clients.
So if your ready to fill in your own Missing System or add to your existing one here’s a quick blueprint of how to set it up!
What You Need to Do After You make the Sale!
1) Thank Them! This can be done all sorts of different ways! The more personal you can make your Thank You the better result you’ll have. I’m partial to sending a hand-written Thank You Card or note! This is an easy way to stand out from those who just send the standard Thank You email! In fact I do both! You can send anything you like. Cards, Letters, Postcards, whatever. Just make sure it is personal and really lets your client know how much you appreciate them doing business with you.
2) Deliver the Goods! Make sure you bring your A game for this whether it’s a product or service. Make sure you do the best job possible! Take as much time as you need to totally wow! them. Don’t go in there and do a half-assed job. Do everything you can to make sure they are ecstatic with your products or service!
3) Always Give Them A Bonus! I’m not talking about the bonuses you have listed in your sales letter. I’m talking about unadvertised bonuses. For example, If I just sold you a copy of my new ebook, Is email Marketing Dead?, I might give you my new video series, Black Book Marketing Videos- Where I Reveal the Top 7 Bulletproof Methods to Double Your Sales and Your Income (coming out very soon!) as a Free Unadvertised Bonus. Are you going to be happy with that? I’ll bet your going to LOVE it!
4) Ask How You Can Help Them! This is a standard part of my after sale follow up and should be part of yours as well. Wait…your saying I need to do follow=up after the sale to? Yes I am! After they buy from you, contact them after you deliver the goods and ask if there is anything that you can help them with in conjunction with your product or service.
This is HUGE! It shows that you do really care about them and not just the commission you made off of them. Almost No One is doing this online so it will really make you stand out!
5) Stay In Contact! You want to stay in contact with all of your customers and clients. This can be done again through several different ways. Email is the most common because it is the cheapest method. Print Newsletters. You could send a birthday card on their birthday or a card on the holidays. Just keep in touch with them. You need to do this in order to build your relationship with them. Have Fun and be creative!
6) Get Referrals! There are many small businesses out there that will tell you that their business’ life-blood is referrals or word of mouth marketing. This just means that your customers like what you’ve done so much that they tell their friends and professional associates about you!
One of the best ways to get referrals is to start asking for them. I do this all the time with some pretty amazing results. You can also build the process of asking for referrals into your after sale funnel. What I mean by this, is you can include a referral sheet or card with your Thank you card or your unadvertised bonus. Bottom Line you just need to start asking for them.
Now that you’ve got the dirt on The Missing System make sure it’s not missing from your business! Take action right now to get this set up. Don’t sit on this one and say I’ll get to it. It’s too important.
QUESTIONS? COMMENTS?
GET INVOLVED BELOW!
P.S. Would you like to learn HOW to get 100, or 1,000 or more people on your list?
Then check out this video to learn a cool listbuilding trick: http://ow.ly/9xZxX
