Following through is the thing to do
Want to see something funny? Just watch me trying to hit a golf ball out of a sand trap. You’ve never before seen such an ugly, unathletic, uncoordinated golf swing. The Scottish pioneers of the game would be horrified.
The biggest of many problems is with my follow-through. Somehow, sand creates a faulty connection between my brain and the club, which results in stopping the swing right as I make contact. How else can you explain the fact that the ball often hits the lip of the trap and rolls right back to where it started? Sometimes I can make my second attempt without changing my position.
One time, one of the guys in my foursome ate a sandwich while I was trying to get out of a trap. That’s only a slight exaggeration. He actually finished the sandwich while I was putting.
I mention my golf misadventures, because following through is just as important in selling. In fact, following through can make the difference between a completed sale and one that is hanging on the edge.
Following through is not the same as following up. Following up can refer to staying in touch after an appointment or conversation, or the start of a new ad campaign. Following up gives both the salesperson and the advertiser a chance to tweak the advertising. Following up can happen any time, right now or months into the future.
Following through refers to things that can help the prospect finalize a buying decision or be happy with the decision they just made. For example, the creative director at an ad agency once told me about selling a print advertising campaign to a local development company. The two owners of the company loved the ideas and called staff members into the board room to ooh and ahh over the proposed layouts. But over the weekend, one of the owners took the layouts home to show to his family. He put the boards next to the family’s main television, where everyone in the house would see them each day. You can guess what happened: someone at home didn’t like the ideas. On Monday, he said he was having second thoughts and suggested that they needed a different kind of campaign. His logical business brain had said “yes,” but his emotional family brain said “no.”
That business owner was dealing with a form of buyers’ remorse – in which a buyer regrets a purchase shortly after paying for it or agreeing to buy it. It’s happened to me, and it’s probably happened to you (a pair of poor-fitting loafers comes to mind). Many times, it suggests that the buyer didn’t have enough supporting facts before buying. That’s why it’s crucial for salespeople to follow through.
A golf shot isn’t complete after the club makes that initial contact. And a sale isn’t final after the prospect first agrees to buy. That just means the salesperson needs to follow through with reassuring and confirming information to fight off buyers’ remorse.
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(c) Copyright 2024 by John Foust. All rights reserved.
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John Foust has conducted training programs for thousands of newspaper advertising professionals. Many ad departments are using his training DVDs to save time and get quick results from in-house training. Email for information: john@johnfoust.com