When it comes to earning new business, there is nothing more disheartening than continuing to follow up with leads that requested information without any response. This happens in every industry, even software (trust us). However, on average it takes 5 or more contacts with a prospect to close over 80% of deals. That is a lot of outreach when there doesn’t seem to be much movement.
Here is the sticky part:
- 50% of salespeople give up after one contact
- 65% give up after two contacts
- 80% five up after three contacts
If it takes 5 contacts but we are stopping at 1 or 2 or 3 contacts, there is a huge opportunity to close that gap and close the deal.
Customer Experience
It is worth noting that this does not solely deal with prospect follow up. Better communication with your customers improves customer experience and in-turn produces repeat business and positive word of mouth.
Where Do We Start
Let’s breakdown both scenarios of following up with prospects and impoved customer communication. Both need to have a well thought out plan of when and what to communicate. Below are some examples.
We’re going to have both Internal Communication, highlighted in Blue,
and External Communication, highlighted in Green.
Here is an example of a sales follow up loop. Knowing when the proposal was sent, if the email was opened, if the proposal was viewed, and when the proposal is signed are key indicators for the state of the prospect.
If the proposal was sent, but the email was not opened. Maybe the prospect just missed it because they were busy. Or it went to spam. Either way, a follow up would be appreciated.
If the proposal was viewed but not signed, there may be questions or changes desired with the proposal.
Based on these different steps, you can craft your message to make sure you are breaking barriers to close the deal.
Here is an example of a Customer Follow Up Plan. The key here is keeping the client informed at all times ensuring they have all the information they need when they need it. This is critical to achieve a phenomenal customer experience.
The Good News
Now for the juicy bit. Bitumio automatically tracks these various activities from drafting a proposal to completing a job. This makes it easy to set your Notification Triggers within Bitumio and let the platform handle the follow up and communication.
To see our Notification Triggers, check out this video. (Spoiler Alert: We’ve added SMS messages to the notification option since this video was created!)
We hope the above is informative and helpful. We do not just want to help you put together estimates and schedule jobs. We want to increase your pipeline, provide exceptional customer experiences, and really grow your business. If this hits home. Let’s chat!