I always emphasize the importance of identifying your ideal target market and knowing who they are, so you can best serve them. So once you’ve placed your perfect target market, you’re now generating leads and marketing them. Now what?

Well, what often happens to many businesses is:

• Your leads tell you they’re going with someone else
• You’re left behind
• They chase you for leads

The leads are coming in, but you’re just not sealing the deal. It all comes down to your process for following up on your information.

The process you need

It would help to capitalise on every lead you generate with an Extreme Follow-up Process (EFU). An extreme follow-up process makes it non-negotiable that every piece of information you generate is followed up promptly and thoroughly.

Every single one. 

You can’t go out of your way to create opportunities and let the ball drop when the leads come in. 

The trades and construction business is incredibly competitive. If you have a new lead, chances are they’re also scouting out your competition. If someone wants a quote to paint their house, build their extension or unblock their drains, and you don’t get back to them promptly, they’ll forget about you and give their cash to your rivals.

It would be best if you were non-negotiable and demanding about following up with current and future clients. If your marketing, sales, customer retention and fulfilment strategies do not approach with extreme follow-up, they will be expenses for your business and cripple you.

How to approach your Extreme Follow-Up Process

The “extreme” part doesn’t relate to being ‘pushy’ or ‘over-sales – it’s in an internal phrase used to kick you up the bum to take action quickly and consistently. Here are a few problems I see in businesses when it comes to their follow-ups:

1. They hate the ‘sales side of things’

Let me give you the brutal truth: there is no ‘sales side of things. Sale is an integral part of any business; it’s not optional. It’s not something you can take or leave. What are you doing in business if you are worried about being ‘sales’?

I’m sure you didn’t invest $300,000 of your own money so you could sit around in an empty store or quiet office because you didn’t want to bother anybody.

If you think you are too quiet or shy or don’t have the ‘right personality to sell, you’re completely and utterly wrong. It’s something everyone can and must learn.

Remember, there’s selling, and then there’s being pushy like a used car salesman. ‘Selling’ is not a dirty word.

2. Thinking you’re a nuisance.

That’s head trash. You have a great product or service and know who needs it, why they need it, and where they are. You can take them from frustration to freedom.

That’s not a nuisance. That’s helpful!

If you sell the latest hip, rad, trendy skateboard outfits and knock on the door of old folks’ homes, that’s undoubtedly a nuisance, but that’s not what you’re doing, is it? You will approach your carefully defined target market with confidence and clarity.

3. Putting it off 

It is one of the worst mistakes you can make. Delaying securing customers because you’re unsure of the answer only delays you getting paid.

The extreme follow-up process is a building block. It creates leverage. It’s imperative that you don’t have reluctant staff to contact people who say ‘maybe’.

You may be a small team, but you can run a big business if you know who you are and what you do and everybody is on board. How can you not have a go? How can you not follow up on your culture and plans?

Your next steps

Follow up today. Not tomorrow, not next week. Today. Continue to show your clients you care and continue doing the right thing. If it’s not okay, they will tell you: they will go elsewhere. If you watch your scoreboard, you will know if it’s working or not. 

The extreme follow-up process is critical for making a profit. Your most significant result is to get money in via operating cash flow. You need to be in the business of making and growing money.

I coach business owners. Maybe you’re a plumber or accountant, builder or lawyer. It doesn’t matter; in the end, we’re all in it for the same thing. 

 If you do a great job creating an enquiry, you must do a better job converting that enquiry into a customer. They need you! How can you not follow up?