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Fulfilling your clients’ expectations — keeping them happy — is the way to success.

Knowing where you are going with your projects through all the stages of follow-up will get you to your goal while meeting your clients’ needs and expectations at the same time. Creating space for success along the way by letting go of unprofitable clients and hiring associates to help you promote your products and services may be necessary steps for you to consider in order to increase your sales.

Fulfilling Client Expectations

Clients who are satisfied with your products and services provide you with a good reputation. Cultivating satisfied clients is also the way to sell several projects to the same people.

When you have completed a sale and you know that everything went well for your client, ask for a letter of recommendation. These letters are great for showing to prospective clients and may convince someone who is undecided about a project to work with you. These letters are also useful to show sales associates when you are training them. Letters of recommendation may help to clarify the quality of performance you expect from your associates.

When you are starting out, sales may come in slowly, but if you are persistent and continue to seek out new clients, your business will grow. Continue to help clients feel comfortable with you and to know that you sincerely care about them. Your ‘A’ ‘B’ ‘C’ files will help you track which clients are the most productive for you. As these clients shift in the files into ‘A’ status you can be confident that you have business for the future.

The strategies that you use during the stages of follow-up on a project are all simply techniques that will bring you repeat business from your clients and help you reach your goal.

• Tell people in a subtle way that you want their business.
• Ask prospective clients what you can do to earn their business.
• Ask your clients questions and listen without the intent of responding.
• Take notes when the client is speaking and repeat their concerns. This shows the client that you are listening and you care.
• Always remember to thank your clients for their time and for their business.

When to Let Go of a Client

Terminating clients on occasion is part of your job as a salesperson. You need to know when it is best for you to let go of a client. For example, there is no point in subjecting yourself to verbal abuse or broken agreements. Move on to the next opportunity. Being selective is part of how you manage your time. There is no need to waste your time — let go of clients who become more trouble than they are worth and who are not going to make you money. It is fine to just move them to your ‘C’ list and not discuss this with them. Don’t call on them again. Clients that don’t appreciate what you do should be terminated. Clients that don’t care about your products should be terminated. They are an unprofitable drain on your time and an unnecessary burden.

In order to meet your sales goals, you must continually evaluate each client. If a client is buying very little or nothing, or if they are a very difficult client, it is fine to discuss this with the client — gently. You may want to ask them for a short meeting that provides an opportunity to be direct, and to explain that you have worked hard to earn their business — but have received no orders. Ask if there is a way that you can conduct business together.

You don’t have much to lose by being professionally candid with a difficult client. Perhaps the client will see your point and decide to conduct business with you. Or, they may tell you they like your competitor better. The point is, at some time you should have up-front, honest business conversations with most clients about how much business you are doing together. If you have problems with a particular company, keep track of who the current buyer is. In the future, a new buyer who is friendlier with you may appear on the scene.

You can also ask these clients what (not “if”) you can do better to make doing business with you easier. Explain to the problematic clients that you want to do business with them and to this point you have spent a lot of time, but they have bought very little or nothing from you. You can ask them what they would do if they were in your shoes. At some point, make a decision whether to continue working, or not to continue, with a client. Both you and your client know that if sales don’t improve you will no longer call on them. Above all, do not dwell on lost sales. Find out why you lost, what you learned and move on.

Expanding Your Business

As your business grows, you may be in a position to hire sales associates to help promote your products and services. It’s usually the case that a salesperson with a background similar to a client will do the best in selling to that client. It is crucial to be available in person when the client is starting to evaluate products and make decisions.

When hiring sales associates, take the time to train them to ensure that they will represent you the way you want them to. Let them know what you expect and keep up the training as an ongoing process.

Not only is it important as a salesperson to know your own strengths and weaknesses and to be honest with yourself about your own personality and preferences, but to know your sales associates as well. Everyone has strengths and weaknesses and it is critical to know what you do well and what you do not do well. It’s also important to know what your associates do well. You might want to go along to a sales call with a new associate to learn about their abilities. You will learn how you can support them in promoting and selling your products and what information you need to provide them. These shared calls will also give you extra time to talk with your team members about the business and your products.

Ultimately, a combination of good planning and organization, follow-up and timely action are what will set you a step above your competition. Be aware of what is unique about you and your services. Even if you make a mistake, by maintaining your integrity, your clients will continue to have confidence in you. However, “have it your way” is sometimes the best approach if people remain stubborn.

Take Advantage of Opportunities

Be aware of opportunities to adjust your overall organization to better serve your clients. For example, you may find that it is useful to hire a part-time office assistant a few hours a week to complete work in the office that you don’t’ really want to do. Most of the time you should be doing what you do best — selling. For example, a part-time assistant may save you hours of desk time by managing your e-mail in box and flagging the most important messages for you. Also, to generally improve your business cash flow, periodically review your overhead.

In the big picture of achieving business goals, every step in your process of being organized is significant on the way to achieving the ultimate outcome you desire. Each step becomes part of a seamless whole. From the outset, when you first meet a prospective client and learn a little about them, you begin to build a long-term professional relationship. Keeping track of every meeting and all the details will help you move the relationship and possible projects forward in a timely manner. Learning to listen and understand your clients and their needs will allow you to adjust your approach to accommodate the client with solutions as part of your selling strategy. Your prompt and reliable follow-up will ensure your clients that you are on top of their project and their needs. By closing unprofitable gaps in your system, whether it is letting go of time-consuming, unprofitable clients, hiring associates to assist you in managing and optimizing your time, or stopping cash-flow leaks in your overhead expenses, you are helping your business grow. Remember to thank your clients for their time and for every sale that comes your way — you are on the way to success.

MANA welcomes your comments on this article. Write to us at [email protected].