What are the best ways to follow up with customers after a sale?

Handwritten notes are always appreciated. The new book Heart Spoken by Elizabeth Cottrell talks about a variety of ways to make those happen. When I teach sales to bankers, I always suggest they create a Conversation Recap to send to the buyer in a PDF within 48 hours of the call. This is follow up at its best. The Recap is in an email where the banker expresses their thanks for the meeting. The Recap itself summarizes the buyers priorities and let's the buyer know the banker was listening. Thank you notes are great. Conversation Recaps are differentiators.

I have always found regardless of what sales industry I am in, a brief handwritten "Thank you" note is very well received. In an age of digital overload I feel most of my clients appreciate the thoughtfulness and sentiment of old school methods. Time is a commodity - a few minutes to write a personal note will leave a great long lasting impression.

A personal note can sometimes be difficult depending on your industry and customer portfolio. A simple "Thank you" goes a long way in whatever is the preferred communication method. It builds trust and leaves your customer feeling good. The customer experience can put you above competitors or drop you to the bottom. I have found this is steps above the price game. I've noticed this most at car dealerships where building brand loyalty is king.

Becoming a trusted advisor begins with regularly checking in. This is something that can get away from you quickly with the massive amounts of email and often times heavy workload. I have found that Monday mornings are the best for me as a "check in day" as it allows me to travel during the week without having to worry as much about customer touches. Carve out some time each week and block your calendar for time to check in with your customers.

I disagree with waiting for "after the sale". You never know when you're going to get an audience again. This was a hard one to start becoming a habit. There is some awkwardness about asking for a referral, especially when it most often is a competitor. I have found it best to ask during a physical visit and phrase the question in a genuine way and avoid closed ended questions. "I'm really trying to grow my presence out here. What other companies would you recommend I reach out to? Who do you think would make a good contact?"

Something I have found that is helpful is to provide your customers with industry news. This builds your reputation for knowing the industry and will also help your customer plan for the future. If you know that X product is tight and the price is going up, give your customer a heads up so they can plan accordingly and not get caught off guard. Purchasing and production will love you and you'll get a boost in orders to help weather the storm.

My customers time is valuable, so soliciting feedback can be difficult. I have found that the majority of customers just don't have time to complete surveys, polls, etc. I have found the most success in asking for feedback in physical visits or talking on the phone. For feedback on myself, in customer visits, I've asked my manager to ask the customer how I was doing (after excusing myself to use the restroom). This way my customer can be open and honest with my manager and I can get relevant feedback on how to improve. Yeah, it can be a scary. But in the end you'll have a much better idea on your customers needs and can tailor this to your customer.

Know your audience! I had an experience as a new District Manager for a very large company. In one of my first customer visits with one of my subordinates, he sat down with the purchasing agent and started to tell him about his weekend. He proceeded to tell this customer how he got inebriated and had a great time partying on the weekend. I'm sure there is an audience for this, but I knew the purchasing agent and also knew he was very religious and did not drink alcohol. A couple months later the sales person resigned. I called this same customer back to tell him he would have a new rep and his exact words were "there's no love loss between me and ____". I wonder why.