written by john c ashworth
The car business is famous for its blind acceptance of this false premise...
"The Be-Back Bus NEVER comes back."
In other words, if the potential car-buyer sitting in front of you right now does not buy right now, you can forget it. They’ll never be-back. No matter what they say.
Not even close to being true.
True to an extent? Yes.
True a certain percentage of the time? Yes.
The problem is that if you buy into the idea that if you don't sell to the person you're selling to today and right now, that your chances to sell to them are gone forever, you'll NEVER adopt the kind of follow-up mindset that is necessary to win a significant percentage of those folks as customers. Because it will happen if you're willing to shed yourself of this incredibly costly and ignorant idea that people will NEVER come back.
The real problems and the real reasons people don't come back are many and most of them have to do with how you ended up convincing them to come and see you in the first place; and then how well you did in your follow-up after your presentation and their lack of decision to purchase.
Most small businesses, for example, fail miserably when it comes to follow-up simply because they don't have the right information, technology or systems to do it. For example, I'm continually amazed at how in-frequently ANYONE at any establishment I frequent as a customer, makes any effort at all to collect my contact information so that they might be able to send me something after I'm long gone.
Most of the funeral homes I work with as an account executive are definitely guilty of this. I can't tell you how many of them I ask are still using paper files, or at best, a simple spreadsheet or some old, out-dated contact management system that does not provide them the tools they need to market to their constituents effectively. Allowing this to happen inside your small business is tantamount to taking a portion of your revenue, stuffing it into an old card board box and leaving it in the store room for a decade or more. Yes, that money will still be worth something when you decide to pull it out, but inflation will have hurt its value significantly, and some of it might be full of mildew and need to be thrown away.
I'm so confident this is true for you that I'm willing to help you for free. Send me a note and be sure to reference this post and we can talk about it in more detail. I'll show you exactly why it's OK when people tell you they need to think about it, and how to ensure that a high percentage of them actually do come back and buy from you.
The reason I'm so willing to help you for free is that I know there is Gold hidden in the store room of your small business. That's just an expression, of course, but I'm trying to make a point so bear with me for a moment.
That Gold might not be hidden in your store room. In fact, most likely it isn't. It's lying in wait inside your current customer and prospects lists.
Most of which have likely been ignored for quite some time.
Most of which are likely still lying around in paper format or inside some old system that does not allow you to leverage the treasure exists in those lists.
Now, even if you do have the latest technology systems and you've invested in an email marketing software and you're at least sending something on occasion to these lists, there is so much MORE you can and should do. I can show you everything. I can give you the key that unlocks this treasure chest, and at the same time opens a whole new world of possibility.
Send me a note and we'll talk about it. There's very likely a few gold nuggets you'll take away from this conversation that I'm happy to give you for free. I just want to help. After all, times are tough right now.
-John
