The evening after: gain your customers' respect when they least expect it

If you have just found yourself a client and have gone through a successful deal with him, accept our congratulations. You have gone through the hard part of it all and made the deal happen. Now, all that is left is the easiest part of it all - and yet somehow the majority of ventures do not reach their full potential simply because they did not have an effective follow-up system. Psychological studies have shown that out of the four customer's experience combinations that are possible after the customer has done business with you twice, the best possible outcome for the customer relationship is when, initially, the customer is not completely satisfied, and, afterwards, his concerns get addressed to turn his second experience into a remarkable one. This is only made possible through thorough and effective follow-up system. Easily done, but somehow so often forgotten.

Leverage your strengths

Experienced marketers know that being specific about your offerings and your audience is crucial for professional success. Segmentation, targeting and positioning are not some abstract concepts any more. Instead, these three activities form the basis for any successful attempt at grabbing the public's attention. Knowing what, how and to whom to make an offer will get you a job, a donation, a sale, or even all three, if you're looking for that. With that said, finding the right audience and that unique feel can take quite a long time, and most of us don't have years to wait for such an epiphany before getting what we want. Today, Nick and I prepared a three-step outline to ease and, hopefully, accelerate the journey to our readers' goals.

A sales management system on your desk

Think about some important components of a successful business. What comes to your mind? Some of our readers would mention reliable front desk staff, a team of trained salespeople or a solid website that attracts new clients. Maybe some will think of a referral-rewarding plan and a customer retention program.

Now that we have this list, I can see a pattern emerging. All of the techniques mentioned above target one area of business development: sales. This consensus is here for a valid reason. Sales management is simply the most crucial aspect of a successful venture, be it a mom-and-pop grocery store, an environmental activist organization or a multi-national corporation with headquarters on nine different continents.

True enough, sales may not necessarily be a particular organization’s primary goal (like in the environmental agency’s case.) Nevertheless, sales, be they in the conventional form of soda bottles sold, or be they in the more atypical form of donations raised, are crucial to the continued survival of any establishment that incurs expenses during the course of its existence.