Sean McCool

The Profit Funnels Guy™

In last month’s issue of the Slippery Rock Gazette, we talked about the sales process. If you missed it, dig out last month’s copy of SRG or search the online archives. 

You’ve made the sale, now what?

This is where the majority of companies drop the ball and lose out on future sales. 

Consider the facts:

According to RightNow Technologies, 73% of customers leave because they are dissatisfied with customer service. However, the company losing the customer thinks only 21% leave because of customer service. The company losing the customer also thinks 48% leave based on price, when actually, only 25% leave because of price.

And here’s the rub….

Not taking care of customers can be very expensive. In the book, Leading on the Edge of Chaos, you’ll find some heartbreaking statistics. For instance:

  • Acquiring new customers can cost as much as five times more than satisfying and retaining current customers.
  • A 2% increase in customer retention has the same effect as decreasing costs by 10%.
  • Depending on the industry, reducing your customer “leave rate” by 5% can increase your profitability by 25 to 125%.
  • Customer profitability tends to increase over the life of a retained customer.

You see, once you’ve gone through the sales process with a customer, the deal is far from done. You’ve got to follow up with your new customer afterwards. If you don’t, you’re wasting a valuable opportunity to make more sales and build a long-term relationship. If you fail to follow-up and follow through, you’re also killing your best shot at getting sales from their friends who will see your work.

Following through with the job you promised and then following up with your customer after the job has an important purpose for both you and your customer. For you, it leads to further sales opportunities. For your customer, it shows that you care about them and they’re important to you.

How to Profit from Upsells 

Upselling means getting your customer to buy from you again, usually at a discounted price. There are lots of different ways to do it, but all of them revolve around one basic idea. You want to thank them for their business by offering them an exclusive deal just for them. 

You can offer a special discount at the time of purchase with coupons for their next visit. Or you can send them a “thank you” message with a special offer. Many businesses ask for customer feedback and reward customers with the discount when they complete a quick survey.

Freebies to Say Thanks

Successful follow-ups work because they achieve both purposes mentioned above – generating more sales and offering them something special. A great way to do this is to give your customers a free gift. Even if it’s something small, it will have the effect of showing them you remember them and value their service.

It may seem like a catch-22 to give away a free gift at your expense in order to make a profit. But the reason why so many businesses do this is that it works. The effect on your customers is very powerful.

Other Ideas

Your follow-up can be extremely simple. For many companies, the main purpose is to simply keep in touch. When you do this, you stay in your customers’ minds and they think of you first when they need your products or services.

Birthday and holiday cards are an excellent way to do this. You can invest in software products that allow you to create your own customized cards and manage a huge list of customer addresses. These simple cards get an excellent response rate.

Another way to stay in touch is to sponsor events. Find out what your customers enjoy or what they’d like to see you sponsor. Create an event that’s exclusive to your customers only, and offer deals, discounts and freebies for attending.

So what?!

The big idea to take away here is that people just want to know you appreciate their business. Most consumers are not looking for perfection, they just want to know you care that they chose you to spend their hard-earned money with. People love to be liked and they can deal with people who don’t like them, but apathy kills a person. And since you sell to people, apathy will kill your business too. 

Bottom line: Make sure your customer knows you care before, during, and after the sale.

Sean McCool is an award-winning copywriter and the author of Marketing Secrets of the Ice Cream Man. He is known as The Profit Funnels Guy™ because Sean shows businesses how to set up multiple Profit Funnels™ throughout their business. Sean can be reached through his website, www.SeanMcCool.com