Lead management and CRM

Building a better sales follow-up

Man looking at laptop while talking on the phone

Alright, everyone … let’s talk follow-up. Sure, it may not be your favorite part of the construction sales process, but there’s no denying it’s important! Leads are great; but, remember they don’t just magically become customers. What happens when it’s time to follow up with them? Are you relying solely on email, or do you also make phone calls? With the right planning and execution from your team, the results that come from a solid follow-up can be amazing for your business. Here are a few tips to make things easier:

Categorize your interactions.

What exactly made your prospective customer reach out to you? Note this in your lead notes. There’s a difference between customers looking for a new home build and those looking for a remodel. While all customers are equally important, you’ll want to know just who you’re talking to when it comes time to close the deal. You want your messaging (regardless of how it’s delivered) to be driven by what your prospective customer wants to hear from you.

Develop a plan.

If there isn’t a strategy in place with whomever handles your sales process, there’s no time like the present to develop one. Where do most of your customers come from? Social media, review sites, your website, word of mouth? Start your plan by identifying where most of your prospective customers come from and go from there. Always make it clear that you are trying to help them, not just sell them.

Avoid cold, templated emails.

The best way to help your prospective customer relationship? Add a kind, human touch. Your future customer will notice impersonal touches and immediately become less interested in your brand, your product and you. It’s not fair to expect a prospect to take time and respond when you didn’t really do the same for them in the first place. Try making your emails look and feel more personal … just like they’re coming from a real person. Another key factor? Your subject lines. They are the first thing your customer will read so they need to be enticing!

Make phone calls. A lot of them.

Follow-up isn’t just about email. Don’t you want the chance to fully explain to your prospective customers how happy you’d be to start a project with them? We know you have plenty of awesome things to tell them and over the phone is the best way to start. In your first follow-up call with a prospect, you can get more details on what they need from you in order to move forward with a project; if they need more follow-up, you’ll know just what to discuss.

Keep your voice light and friendly.

Speaking of making phone calls, did you know that 38% of good communication happens through tone of voice and only 7% is the actual words spoken? When you keep your voice even, friendly and free of annoyance, you subliminally “tell” your prospect that you are ready and willing to do business and help solve their problems. While we all know time is money, money is time, nothing speaks more negatively than trying to get a prospect off the phone right away with a cold, uncaring tone of voice.

Keep in mind: the connection may not happen right away.

With many prospective customers, the connection isn’t always instant! They may love your company and brand – don’t get me wrong, – but the connection to jump right into a project may not be there. Remember that classic “Rule of 7”? The moral of this story: don’t get frustrated when you make more than one phone call or send one email to get that connection to happen. Your work will speak for itself … it may just take a little longer.

Buildertrend provides residential construction companies a user-friendly, web-based software to help them build more projects, complete projects faster, reduce costly communication errors, and maximize customer satisfaction. Discover how our software can work for you by scheduling a live demo

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Buildertrend Staff

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