How to Increase Your Sales by 50 Percent

Would you be surprised to learn that 50 percent of all sales are closed in follow-up communication? What is even more staggering is that only 10 percent of seasoned sales professionals follow up more than once after a sales call or interaction with a potential customer. I’m not suggesting you need to become a seasoned salesperson, but as a sales expert, I know first-hand the importance of the follow-up.

According to Grant Cardone’s book "Sell Or Be Sold," the sales professionals who experience the greatest success, meaning close the most deals and make the most money, are the very 10 percent of people who follow up with customers more than one time.

What does this mean for you and your business? It means that by developing a sound follow-up system, you stand to gain fifty percent more business. While it may sound too good to be true, simply doing the common things uncommonly well will separate your business from the rest of the competition.

Follow these simple steps to implement a successful follow-up into your business.

• Become a conversation catalyst. Follow-up communication happens after the initial sales conversation. I hear people say all the time that they are unsure how to locate their target market or how to connect with them. One surefire way to become a conversation catalyst or get the conversation started is to give away a freebie. Pharmaceutical companies do this all the time with free samples, which get the representatives in the door to start a sales conversation with a doctor.

• Record everything. Develop a system to keep track of how you want to follow up after a sales call. Be sure to include the mode of each individual follow-up. Examples of possible follow-up modes include emails, phone calls, written letters or face-to-face meetings.

Don't stop. Ever. Many people will give up before they see benefits. Don’t be one of those people. Why? The follow-up is about keeping the conversation moving forward. All things being equal, friends buy from friends. All things being unequal, friends buy from friends.

Continuing to follow up in an authentic way will create a relationship. Implementing a follow-up system can help develop sales connections that pay off like manna raining down from heaven: paying clients!

Kendrick Shope is a sales expert and coach. She created a sales strategy called "authentic selling" that focuses on engaging conversation, dynamic ideas and compelling results.

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