5 Best Practices: After the Sales Call

For every sales rep, what happens during a sales call is important but what he does after the sales call is more crucial. It is easy for a lead to fall through cracks if the sales rep doesn’t have the right follow-ups, for instance.

Nurturing leads is a long process, and making the sales call is just the first of many steps. After the meeting, the rep has some crucial information about the prospect and it matters how he uses this information.

So let’s discuss some best practices to follow after the sales call.

1. Analyze & Plan Follow-up Strategy

It is necessary to do a deep-dive of your sales meeting to understand the prospect’s perspective. A best practice during every sales meeting that is known but worth repeating here is to take notes and after the meeting reflect on those notes. See what your prospect’s interests are, what are his concerns, and what type of solutions he is looking for. Once you understand this aspect of your prospect, then you will know how to do a proper follow-up. Go back to your product and see how you can offer solutions. Based on this, prepare your follow-up plan.

For follow-up strategy, the best option is to automate the tasks using your CRM so that you don’t miss the appropriate dates; there are always chances of you forgetting to send the newsletter or another call invite. So save yourself lost opportunities by automating follow-up.

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2. Send a Thank You Email

Thank you emails are important, but picking the right time also matters.

Send an email between 15-30 minutes after the meeting so that the conversation is still fresh in the prospect’s mind, but at the same time there has been some breathing time so you don’t come across as desperate or automated.

In your email, briefly explain what you discussed, stress on the benefits the prospect’s appreciated, confirm about the next steps and ask for a revert or feedback.

3. Connect on LinkedIn

The emphasis is not on just any social media but on LinkedIn because it is the premier platform for professional social networking. Following your prospect on Facebook or Twitter might not fetch anything for your business, but LinkedIn will give your more information about the prospect, as well as his business and other contact details.

LinkedIn also helps in having a professional connect where prospects can see more about your company, customers and mutual connections. This will only help in getting the decision in your favor.

4. Feed Relevant Content

Never show your prospects that you have no time/less time by slacking in your follow-ups. Instead, make sure it always looks like they are your most important client.

Send them valuable content that is either helpful for them in their business offering or will give them more insights about your product. Feeding relevant information that indirectly supports the end purchase should be your follow-up goal. Try to put yourself in a positive light by catering to your prospect’s needs at the right time and ensuring that you are not bombarding them with mails or calls.

5. Build Engagement

Engage your prospects in a manner where you are not pushing them to buy your product or service. Instead, create engagement opportunities that will provide value to your prospect. You can offer free analysis for their business and recommend any product offering that will be suitable. The recommendation need not be your product specifically but some other best choice. This type of unbiased advice will help prospects remember you and might recommend your product to any other.

You can use survey and reviews as an engagement activity where your prospects can give their opinion on various products, services or any other industry-related information. This will help you better your product (in case that is required) or change your sales pitch that will get you positive responses.

To reiterate, a fruitful sales meeting will remain fruitful if and only if you do appropriate and timely follow-ups. Remember to satisfy your prospects with continuous engagement and relevant data.