Thank You Is Always A Good Idea
I recently shared with you a story about a friend of mine who was looking for and purchased a new computer and phone system for his business. We discussed the importance of salespeople sometimes having to work together in order to completely satisfy the customer and their needs. Something else recently came out of that story that I also would like to share with you.
We talk a great deal about the importance of thank-you notes and follow-up calls when it is appropriate. We have discussed sending thank-you notes when a sale is completed or when a salesperson is thanking a customer for coming in and considering making a purchase from them. Those are both great reasons for a thank-you note and as we have discussed before, thank-you notes and follow-up calls continue to be an underused method of contact by many salespeople.
As I told you before my friend shopped a few different companies and spoke with different salespeople before making his decision. A few weeks after making that decision and ultimately having his new systems installed, he received a thank-you note. Very appropriate, don’t you think? Especially after the business that he had just thrown the way of the company; however, there is a twist. The thank-you note was not from the company he had made his purchase from, it was from one of the companies that he had looked at but decided to buy elsewhere.
The thank-you note thanked him for coming in and giving them the chance at earning his business. It also said that while they were sorry that they did not do enough to earn his business that they will continue to be there for any for his future needs. They also offered to service the equipment he had just bought from a competitor if he became unsatisfied with the service he was currently receiving.
This particular company may not have gotten the initial business from my friend but because of a simple thank-you note just for coming in, they will probably get a majority of his business in the future. Think about that for a minute, a company that turned a turn down into a repeat customer by taking five minutes to say thank-you. Moral to the story: never underestimate the positive effects of a simple note and/or follow up call.
FINAO – Brad Huisken, President – IAS TRAINING
