Calling People from Way Back: The Benefits of Persistence

[beepampered]

An example of how calling people from way back can be a good thing.

1. Cindy placed an outside order on a show two years ago. She remained on my email list and placed a small web order for a gift six months ago. When I called to make sure she received it, she said she would do a party "in the fall." The show she had Monday will be closing at $1200-1300. What if I had not sent out an email? What if I had not called her for customer service? What if I had not called her several months after she told me to?

2. Met a dental student while getting my teeth done (go tote bag). I knew she was graduating and called a bit but never got anywhere. This week, five months after she would have graduated and possibly moved away, I called her, sent her and email and she wants to book a show! Don't know why I didn't add her to my regular email list but no matter, new contact, new group of friends all because I kept that scrap of paper.

Lesson learned: don't give up. Keep calling. Be persistant.....

 

[Sheila]

:thumbup: Way to go!!!

 

[pampered2007]

Congratulations! I have people on my email mailing list that have been there since I started my business 2 years ago and I haven't heard a thing from them since. To be honest I am a bit nervous about calling them now since it's been so long. What were your magical words you used during your customer care calls? Sometimes I feel like people are annoyed with me calling and act as if I'm a telemarketer and others are very appreciative of me calling and thank me.

 

[mgoodson]

Congratulations! I have people on my email mailing list that have been there since I started my business 2 years ago and I haven't heard a thing from them since. To be honest I am a bit nervous about calling them now since it's been so long. What were your magical words you used during your customer care calls? Sometimes I feel like people are annoyed with me calling and act as if I'm a telemarketer and others are very appreciative of me calling and thank me.

My feelings EXACTLY!!

 

[NooraK]

You could start off with "Hi Suzy, it's Gina, your long lost PC consultant. We met at Sally's show quite a while ago. Is this a bad time (a Tammy Stanley tip)? I know it's been forever, and actually quite embarrassed I haven't followed up with you as I should have. I've recently made a renewed commitment to the service I want to provide to my customers, and I wanted to touch base with you."

Let them respond, ask them about their products, let the conversation go from there. If you have old slips, talk about bookings if they've marked yes. If you don't have any of that to go off, just let them know you're checking in, and leave the booking stuff to the next call.

 

[NooraK]

How appropriate that I should come home to find this in my email box:

Perhaps this has happened to you. Before drifting off to sleep at night you decide that tomorrow you will take the time to call all your past customers. The next day, however, instead of calling all your past customers, you find yourself in the middle of a debate. One side tells you that by calling your past customers you could generate new bookings, interviews, and even a phone sale or two. The other side tells you that risk losing customers by calling them because some may inform you that they never want to hear from you again.Whenever I am out doing one of my Get Results NOW workshops with direct sellers around the nation, I think the most consistent question I am asked is, "Tammy, is it ever too late to call your customers?" The reason why so many direct sellers ask me that question is because they are sitting on sales receipts that date back over a year, sometimes over three years. It seems pretty obvious now which side wins out when direct sellers have that debate going on inside their heads - the side that suggests calling past customers might cause one to lose those customers.A few weeks ago I realized that by letting you know more details about my own business I could help you choose the other side, whenever you have that debate inside your head. I need to begin by telling you the process I went through to get customers.In order to sell training products, the first thing I had to do was establish credibility. If I wanted to establish credibility, I had to provide a way for prospects to learn from me and put my ideas and training to use. But providing a way for prospects to learn from me was not enough; I had to know how to get my prospects to find me. I had to be a marketer before I could be a sales trainer! To speed up my learning curve, I invested in marketing workshops that required thousands of dollars to attend. Once I understood how to market my training, the next step was to build a website.I spent hours and hours writing and working with someone to build my website. Then I spent hours and hours writing articles and submitting them to article directories to help drive traffic to my website. Then I invested money into advertising to drive traffic to my website. Then I spent hours writing a free report that my prospects could get for free by visiting my website and giving me their first name and email address. Then, every week I spent an entire day writing and publishing a weekly ezine so that my prospects could get more effective sales tools in their hands at no cost to them.Notice all that I had to do just to get a prospect, not a customer, a prospect!Here's the shocker. Every time I send out an email to my prospects, I lose a percentage of those prospects. Yes, when I send this ezine out today, there will be prospects of mine who decide they do not ever want to hear from me again, and they will unsubscribe to my weekly ezine. Last week when I sent out a free recording entitled, "Tips to Selling in Any Economy," a number of my prospects unsubscribed. And if you are thinking no one from your company would unsubscribe... YES, people from YOUR company unsubscribe.Here is what I could easily do to prevent my prospects from unsubscribing and therefore remain my prospects forever. I could stop writing a weekly ezine. I could decide to never contact my prospects again. If I stopped emailing them, they would have no reason to unsubscribe from my list, and they would remain on my list indefinitely. AH! I think I've landed on something here. Is this not brilliant?Dear Reader, I think you are smart enough to realize that I may not have prospects unsubscribing from my list, if I never sent out another ezine, but I would hardly improve my business by doing that. It is through this weekly contact that I actually convert prospects into customers. True, I have plenty of prospects who never become customers, but that is true in any sales business. My only chance of converting prospects into customers is to stay in touch with them (Hmm... any chance you are seeing how this applies to you and your direct sales business?)Please notice that just as I cannot expect every one of the prospects on my list to truly be my prospect, you cannot expect that each of your customers to remain a customer for life. It is critical to understand is that the only way to develop life-long customers is to stay in touch with them. if i actually decided to stop sending out a weekly ezine, it is true that people would stop unsubscribing from my list, but my list of customers would not grow because of that. If a customer ends up wanting to return a product or if a customer tells you not to bother her again, that person was never really a customer. Simply having that customer's name in your database is pointless, and it gives you a false sense of just how many customers you really have.The next time you find yourself in a debate of whether or not to call your customers, always go with the side that says to call them. Dare to discover who really is and who is not your customer. When you dare to discover this, you may scratch a few names off of your dream list, but the reality of new bookings, interviews, and phone orders quickly generates a better dream!Author, Sales Trainer, and Professional Speaker Tammy Stanley publishes the propelling 'Sales Refinery Insights' weekly ezine for direct sales professionals. If you're ready to jump-start your direct sales business, make more money, and create more value, get your FREE tips now at http://www.tammystanley.com/ezine/ezine_offer_ds.htm

 

[beepampered]

Seems like the people who don't want to talk to me, don't answer.Oh, another example. A lady who placed an outside order on a show and then I met to deliver a replacement part (or something). A year and a half ago she said that she might book "in a few months." Well, I've been moving around a piece of paper with her name on it for a few months before I finally called. She isn't interested in hosting because "they have no money" but is looking at my recruiting packet. I haven't spoken again with her and this is not my strength. The point is that she remembered me and continues to be interested in our products.I often emphasize how long it's been. "We met a century ago at xxx's party." "we have some great new products since you've last seen a catalog, can I send you another one?" Take Tammy's advice and just do it.....

 

[littlemaisyPC]

Love Love Love Tammy!! It was like she was talking to me. I did this the other night thinking I need to make calls and of course the next day I didn't. I will be making my calls tomorrow. Way to go Bee on those calls!

 

[lockhartkitchen]

It works! I contacted one tonight, that I have been working on for a year off and on. Contacted her 6 months ago and she had lost her job, wasn't interested in a show because she didn't have money (even though she'd get benefits). Talked to her about business.Now- she has a job. She was impressed that I still had her information and contacted her. She booked for November! We're doing a Grey's Anatomy show.

 

[AJPratt]

I have this lady who hosted a catalog show for me in August, and is doing a cooking show in December. I have no idea where I met her. Maybe at an event. P3 has her added to my contacts in 6/08. She was responding to one of my newsletters! So, keeping in touch is a great idea!

 

[lockhartkitchen]

You would be surprised how many people really are happy you called. I feel, as long as they are still on my contact list (haven't chosen to be released), I can still call.