Five Things You Should Do After Meeting A Potential Customer
We bet you have heard this many times: skills and knowledge are important when you are running a business, but networking is fundamental if you want to build a truly successful one. And networking is all about finding people who share the same passion for your idea or business and who can help you make it happen.
When you first meet someone who could become a potential customer, you go through a wide spectrum of expectations, whether you are a young entrepreneur or an experienced businessperson. Why? Simply because you are dealing with people. People are unexpected and have different interests, which means that when it comes to networking, one size does not fit all.
If, at the end of the day, you successfully survived that first meeting, now comes the moment when the real work begins, an extremely important process if you aim to build a longstanding relationship with this new customer: the follow up.
With this in mind, and since we are starting a new business ourselves, we researched on the matter and we wanted to provide you with a small easy-to-remember toolkit of the five steps to take when following-up with potential customers:
1. Draft a follow up plan
At this point you should deeply understand who your customer is and what their company does. Considering these factors, draft a specific follow up plan that covers the needs of each customer individually. It will be more effective and they will feel they are dealing with someone who is genuinely interested and professional.
2. Avoid being a full time salesperson
Do not try to sell your product or idea at all times. If you meet one of your customers at a social event, make sure to talk about something other than the business you are doing together. This is a great opportunity to build the relationship at a more human level. Forget about investments and profits for a few hours and have fun talking about golf or Scotch.
3. Be on their Top Of Mind
The day after your meeting, around mid-morning, send a short e-mail; thank them for the meeting and add some relevant information about your future work together. After that, your communication should be frequent and business-oriented; do not send him a picture of all your seven dogs, even if they told you how much he loves dogs.
4. Always keep in touch
You could, for example, become contacts on social media, but be assertive: asking them to join your Linkedin network is ok; adding them on Facebook the very next day you meet them, not so much. Also, do not leave them waiting for a reply; be respectful and show real interest by responding on time, or even calling if the e-mail is too important. But know when to keep your distance so you don’t become annoying.
5. Add value
Make sure you are the bridge between two people who can solve each other’s problems. For example, if you have a friend who sells office supplies and one of your customers is opening a new office, they will both benefit from meeting each other, and you will be adding value to their businesses and your relationships with both of them.
Remember these steps and we can assure you it will make your job of networking and follow up much easier and, especially, a lot more enjoyable.