The myth most business owners believe: My work is done when the sale is complete and paid for. Most business owners plan what happens with the customer before and during the sale, but never follow up after the sale.
Why this myth causes a problem: If you just concentrate on the sale, you are leaving most of your profits on the table! Most business owners never follow up with the customer to see if there are other products or services that the customer may also be able to use in addition to the product that they originally came in for.
The truth successful business owners learn the hard way! Most of the advertising and marketing costs are from getting the customer to buy from you the first time. Successful business owners understand that the real profits happen after the sale. They look for opportunities to sell additional products and services. These include:
- Send them monthly specials.
- Create a customer frequent buyers' club.
- Create a product-of-the-month club, something similar to the “coffee-of-the-month club”.
- Look for opportunities to cross-sell them into unrelated products/services. For example, business owners who come to us for tax preparation may be excellent prospects for our QuickBooks training.
- Put in a referral program that entices them to refer their friends.
- Design new products/services that their current customers will buy. This is an excellent way to test a new product. If your current customers won’t buy the new product, it is unlikely that prospects who do not know you will buy the new product.
Lesson learned: The real profits happen when you plan what you will sell the customer after they buy the first time.