Follow up is the key
We touched on the fact on a previous blog that the most difficult part of the sales equation is finding a potential customer who needs your services currently at that very moment. We also touched on how much easier it is today with the tremendous benefits that are due to technology. Nowadays, instead of hunting for customers, they are actually hunting for me and more importantly, it’s at that very moment they’re needing more custom embroidery and screen printing.
I am very aware of the fact that we are not the only St Louis digital t-shirt printing company in the city. Therefore, I have to find an edge in order to get the job over my competitors. I am not only bidding against other St Louis t-shirt printing companies around town, but I’m also competing against National companies. It’s up to me to create some type of perceived incentive in my client’s eyes to give them a strong reason to use me over the next guy who’s selling the same thing.
One of the things that I mentioned to them is the human element has been pretty much removed. It’s not uncommon that not only does anybody not answer the phone when a potential customer calls, but even when you leave a message, it might be days before somebody calls you back if they happened to do it all. I also bring up the fact that if someone doesn’t answer the phone when they think there’s a strong chance that you might be a potential customer, how less likely will they take your call, if there’s a problem. This could be complicated even further, if the job happens to be out of state or be time sensitive.
The point I’m trying to make here is to convey that even if you happen to be a bit more expensive than the other quotes they have been receiving, you need to stress the fact that although there’s no status in overpaying, cheaper is not always the best value. What does it profit you if you save a few bucks on the order, but receive it 3 days after the event? You certainly do not want to find yourself on the phone calling the company who did your job and nobody answered and nobody even bothered to call you back that same day or maybe not even at all.