The streams of orders you’ve counted on have dried up, customers have gone underground, your product just doesn’t seem to be needed any more. In fact, your business has suffered just about every disruption in the book.
Are you missing something?
You’re stranded in the wilderness. What’s your first step?
Ache for the comforts of home? Maybe. But that won’t get you anywhere.
Look at what’s in your backpack and see what you can do.
Use what you have – a survivalist approach.
To survive, businesses must take advantage of the resources close to hand.
So, stop looking at what you don’t have. Take a look in that backpack, filing cabinet or CRM (customer relationship management).
Has every lead generated by any e-blast you’ve ever done been followed up?
How about those telemarketing leads? Turn them into tele-sales by calling back.
Website enquiries. Is your website user-friendly and does it encourage enquiries? Make sure all interest has been followed up.
Has every RFQ been replied to?
And…. Has every quote sent out been followed up?
Has every customer service issue been resolved?
Have you contacted every customer you’ve done business with in the past 2 years?
You’ve forensically and methodically done all the above, so now what?
To stay in business, every business needs accurate reporting.
90% of management is follow-up. So for you as a manager to follow up, you need accurate reports. What do you manage after all? Numbers!
At this point your backpack and even your filing cabinet are out of the running.
Choose a system – preferably a CRM tool, but at the very least an Excel spreadsheet and get those numbers entered!
If the task seems too humongous (and even if it doesn’t – you’re a busy person) go ahead and delegate. This could be to a staff member, or you can look outside of your company for one time or ongoing part-time support. Outsourcing this kind of work is cost effective as you’re only paying for the hours actually worked. Go for whatever level of delegation you’re comfortable with.
Now that you have data to work with…
Pick a number and manage it. You’ve tasked your sales force from e-blast organizers through the tele-selling team to face-to-face salespeople to follow up leads, enquiries and quotes. Now it’s your turn.
Analyze those figures and find out what part of your pipeline needs help.
Website management.
Email advertising
Tele-selling
Face-to-face selling
Quoting
Order fulfilment
Aftercare – make sure that your client is delighted with your product and service.
Relentless, ruthless follow-up in these 7 areas is what will get the order.
Crafted by our talented in-house copywriting team. Want to find out how #TeamZembr can help you? Get in touch.
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