Dear Reader,
A good salesperson knows how indispensible it is to to follow up with the customer on a regular basis. In German you of course know your way around this type of activity. But what about in English? Does your professional sales English need some brushing up?
Secretary Today, a magazine edited by native-speakers, has collected some basics and terminology for professional follow-up calls to customres and prospective customers.
Before you start, remember these three important points:
Be honest: If you can’t answer a question, don’t lie. Show you are competent by letting them know you can get the answer quickly and promise to get back to them. „I can`t answer that myself but I know someone who works with this on a daily basis. I’ll check with him und get back to you right after this call.“
Observe the 80/20 rule: There is a general rule that during the initial selling phase (bei einem ersten Verkaufsgespräch), the prospect (möglicher Kunde) does 80% oft the talking. Get your customers or prospective customers to do most of the talking by asking open-ended questions that will let you know exactly what they want or need. „Can you tell me more about what you exactly are looking for“ – „Why do you think this will work for you?”
Smile and be friendly: This may seem obvious, but when you are speaking a foreign language you tend to become nervous and start to frown (die Stirn angestrengt runzeln) instead of smiling. But smiling makes you seem more friendly. After all, few people would want to talk to a dull (langweilig) person, let alone (geschweige denn) do business with them.
Here are some further useful phrases for follow-up calls:
- You said we should contact you if anything came up that might interest you. Well I think you’d like to hear about our new data security program.
- I’m calling to check that you received our offer for spare parts.
- I’m checking that the consignment (Lieferung) arrived in good condition.
- I’m phoning to ask you if you’ve looked at our proposal (Angebot/Vorschlag) yet.
- Were you happy with the service you received from us?
- Is there anything we could do to make the sales process easier for you?
- Can you tell me what we could do to improve it?
Further material on this topic as well as other useful subjects for international business can be found at Secretary Today.
Good luck on all of your efforts.
Bildnachweis: Vasyl / stock.adobe.com