A Sale is just the Starting Line

Learn to Manage Post Sale Phases

Once a customer decides to buy, many sales people ring the proverbial sales bell and move on. Yet, according to Jonathan Farrington, the first sale is really just the starting line. “The first sale isn’t the end of the sales process but the beginning of the next sales cycle,” writes Farrington in a recent blog.

The key to managing future sales is to understand the processes that a new customer goes through. According to Farrington, these stages include:

1.  Being motivated to want to buy from you.
2.  Making the decision to buy.
3.  Wanting to be convinced that they have made the right decision.
4.  Looking for reassurance that they are doing the right thing.

By improving strategies to handle each of the post sale phases, a salesperson is more likely to build a long term sales relationship with the customer.

Farrington offers the following tips to help manage the post sale period:

• Set a service agenda for the first thirty days after the sale so that your customer knows what to expect.

• Ask each customer for their preferences in the way you manage their account.

• After the sale, send a hand-written note thanking them.

• Identify areas that the customer thinks are vital to their account management and pay close attention to those areas.

Farrington includes more tips for managing the post sales period in the full blog post. Follow the link below to learn more about this essential aspect of the sales process.