Follow Up Strategies for Your Small Business

Follow up and follow through--two distinct characteristics of the successful small business in action, and strategies that can benefit any business focused on getting results. Follow-up strategies are essential for your small business plans, whether this is in marketing, lead generation, customer retention, or business development. Following up with customers, clients, vendors, and suppliers is a skill and a habit that allows your business to maintain a steady pace of growth and improvement; you're setting the foundation for success with consistency, and allowing each department of your venture to overcome challenges and obstacles time and time again.

A primary lesson in sales and marketing is how, and why, to follow up with leads and referrals. As you launch your small business, you'll have an opportunity to network and correspond with dozens of clients, potential customers, and leads. Sitting and waiting for a response from these groups is not a smart move; your small business is depending on your skills in being proactive and this involves taking the steps to kick off negotiations with your goals in mind.

Although this can be intimidating at first, practice and continuous progress will lead your business to a pool of customers and clients who stay in touch, and most of all, keep your business in the top of their minds. Your competition won't stand a chance when you are proactively searching, targeting, and communicating with your potential customers and clients. Your small business can become very powerful in a very short period of time! Here are some key follow up strategies:

1. Make use of a contact management database or system. This can be as simple or detailed as you like (and can handle), but the idea is to tag and note each contact appropriately so you're not wasting your time. Making notes of the event, call, or interaction will give you room to review and follow up within a timely manner

2. Make sure your mailing lists are scrubbed. If you're sending out direct mail pieces, makes sure you've removed all ‘Do Not Call' participants, and any duplicate entries. These can damage or even sever an important relationship.

3. Make use of co-registration lists. If your small business has a significant amount of web traffic, signing up customers for e-mail newsletters, bulletins, and other freebies is a great way to stay in touch with them without a formal call or meeting

4. Learn to nurture. Sometimes this can be a simple greeting card, personal note, or other token o appreciation for the relationship itself. Any form of communication that will keep your business on the top of their positive state of mind gives you a better chance of closing the next sale

5. Keep track of your referrals; and call them! If you have developed a network of referrals, make a fresh list that receives a consistent message from your business. This might be a seasonal greeting card, a new offer, or a special discount. Whatever you choose to send, make sure you're acknowledging the relationship, and make the excuse to follow up by checking to see that they received the item.

Just remember that in order to improve your sales and customer retention rates, frequency and consistency have a powerful effect from the customer's perspective. An effective follow-up strategy will allow your clients and customers to remember you, communicate with you more often, and even follow up with you the next time they need something!