Selling For Dummies, 4th Edition

Part IV

Growing Your Business

Five Follow-ups You Need to Make

• Referral contacts: Referrals are a great source of business. A referral is not a guaranteed sale. But contacting a referral is definitely easier than starting from scratch.
• Current clients who are happily involved with your product or service: You need to contact these people in appreciation of their continued loyalty — to you, your company, and your product or service — and to continue to serve their needs. A good time to follow up with loyal clients is when one of their referrals becomes a client.
• Current clients who would benefit from new and improved versions of your product or service: Reminding clients when it’s time to consider updating the product you helped them acquire is just good customer service — and it’s often a good source of additional sales.
• Difficult-to-reach prospective clients: Some prospects are hard to reach, so you need to follow up with them several times before finally making a connection. Consider contacting them twice in a week, and once each of the following weeks as the maximum.
• People in your network: These may be people who are not clients but who are willing to help you with introductions to potential clients, advise you in your career, or otherwise provide you with assistance. I suggest as a rule of thumb you be in touch with them six times per year.

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