Salespeople Follow Up A Day Early And You’ll Never Be Too Late!

I was in the car leasing business, a fresh college grad, but someone with four solid years of phone experience behind me, and I reached out to sell my first deal.

Within a few hours, I got my first hot prospect on the line. He said he’d like TWO new cars, both in Green, and both with very powerful engines.

“No problem!” I replied.

He said, “Well, I have to sell the car I’m in, first.”

“We’ll buy it!” I countered.

“You have yourself a deal.”

I sent out the leases, by mail, and sure enough, to the surprise but delight of my manager, he signed them, we bought his trade, and we were done.

That was my ready-fire-aim approach to breaking into the business, but compare this to an error I made, that I vowed I’ll never make again.

Another small business owner said he was shopping for TWO Cadillacs and I told him I’d jump on the case, and asked when he wanted me to follow-up.

“A week from now,” he said, and I wrote in into my calendar.

Sure enough, on the appointed date I called and he said:

“Gee, I just bought them yesterday at the dealership. Guess you’re a little late!”

So, from that moment forward, I have always shaved a day or two off the call back date, resolving that it’s always better to be a day early, than a day late!

Dr. Gary S. Goodman, President of Customersatisfaction.com, is a popular keynote speaker, management consultant, and seminar leader and the best-selling author of 12 books, including Reach Out & Sell Someone® and Monitoring, Measuring & Managing Customer Service, and the audio program, “The Law of Large Numbers: How To Make Success Inevitable,” published by Nightingale-Conant. He is a frequent guest on radio and television, worldwide. A Ph.D. from USC's Annenberg School, a Loyola lawyer, and an MBA from the Peter F. Drucker School at Claremont Graduate University, Gary offers programs through UCLA Extension and numerous universities, trade associations, and other organizations in the United States and abroad. He holds the rank of Shodan, 1st Degree Black Belt in Kenpo Karate. He is headquartered in Glendale, California, and he can be reached at (818) 243-7338 or at: gary@customersatisfaction.com.