Ask Our Expert – A Selling Question

“How do you gently push a client to pull the trigger?”

What you need to think about is how to train your customers early to comply with the guidelines or steps you need to be able to fulfill their orders efficiently. Training the customer requires a preset system of advance education and ongoing communication to insure that your transaction with your customer stays “top-of-mind” with them. The more you can automate this education and communication, the less time you’ll need to personally follow up or handle last minute ordering.

•Do you have a simple “process outline” for the main order fulfillment you provide? If so, consider creating a series of emails that prompt your customers to complete the next step of the process. Many times, clients drag their feet because they are trying to handle too many things and the item that gets handled next is the one that is now “an emergency.”For each step that requires their involvement, build in enough time so that a special phone call can be placed if they don’t respond.

•When a client first places an order and you send a confirmation email, use this time to convey some simple, yet important steps to insure they receive their orders complete, accurate and in time for their chosen deadline.

•As an incentive to encourage early responses, let them know that your very competitive prices are based on being able to respond in an organized manner. Orders that are placed as “urgent” will carry an additional charge to handle expediting costs.

•Regarding point #1, you might want to build in an email that lets them know that if you receive their order (or next step to complete the process) by a certain date, they can avoid ‘rush charges” and get their merchandise at the discount you agreed to.

•Take a look at all of the formed you use to gather information and place as many of them as is reasonable online to facilitate quick responses to your follow up emails.

You probably won’t cure this problem 100% but if you can free up one area of your ordering process that bogs down your entire system, it will be totally worth it.

Steve Smith is a business coach who specializes in helping small businesses come up with a plan to succeed. To visit his site,click here.