Make that call (again)

Here it is Tuesday morning. You were diligent over the weekend and called ten clients. Only three of them answered the phone. The rest you left messages for. Did the messages sound something like, "Just calling to see how you are enjoying your candles. Please call me if you need anything." Or maybe you got one of those cool (annoying) phone recordings that will leave your callback number if you wait until after the beep. Surely the person you called will phone you back if they are interested....

The cold hard truth is that you need to call those seven people back.

My husband taught me a very valuable lesson about a month ago. It's been really liberating for me. He told me that a good salesperson always takes the action to get back to the customer.

• Sorry I missed you today. I am calling you to see how you are enjoying your candles. I'll call you back later in the week.
• I'm so proud of you for lighting them and enjoying them. I'll call you next month with our specials and to see if you need any more.
• Sure, I'll pop a catalogue into the mail for you today. I'll call you on the weekend.
• Please read the information in this sponsoring pack. I'll call you tomorrow to answer any questions you may have.

I'll call you. I'll call you. I'll call you. I'll call you.

It's simply not their job to call us back. And that's why they don't.

Some of you are reading this and thinking that you will feel like a stalker. That if you have called someone 4 times and they haven't called you back then it indicates that they don't want anything. But that's simply not true.

You are a sales person. Our calls are easy. You are calling people you've met. People who've spent money with you. People who are either burning their candles and loving them, burning their candles and disappointed in something, people who gave candles away as a gift, or people who haven't opened the boxes yet.

My inspiration for this article was another brilliant post from Seth Godin. The little shovel is our phone calls. The bigger shovel is when we sponsor people.

So, this week, go back to your list and make that call (again).