Follow up, follow through and reap the benefits of a business relationship based on trust and concern for the customer. That's a quality that will take you a long way in any business.
by Louis Feuer, MA, MSW
Thursday, January 1, 2009

The key to building a successful business relationship is all in the follow-up and in taking the right next step.

What that first call must do is set the stage for yet another meeting, another phone call or a task that you promised to complete for the potential new customer. You are setting the stage for what you hope will become a long-term partnership. You are beginning a relationship in which you do not work for the customer but with the customer.

Personal relationships are based upon many factors and behaviors. They include shared values such as trust, concern, understanding and ethical behavior. In business, the very same factors hold true.

The referral source wants to believe you can be trusted to do what you promised. Referral sources hope you will show concern for their work and professionalism as well as the pressures they are experiencing.

They also want you to understand the frustrations and challenges the patient must endure. They seek your understanding regarding what they as a customer need to purchase or do in order to help the patient. And they also hope you will share with them any issues they need to be concerned with as you both work together to help the patient.

What your competition is counting on is that you neglect to maintain your relationship with a potential client — that you fail to do what you promise. So, as you plan for that first sales call, remember these six tips:

  1. Never leave the office without another appointment. Referral sources are not going to do business with people they only meet once.

  2. If you promised to provide the potential client with additional written information, make sure you do so. You probably need to take notes when you meet with referral sources so you remember what they request.

  3. If you promised to call or do something by a particular date, mark it on your calendar as a reminder. Keep that calendar handy. Circle the date in red and note what you need to do.

  4. Carefully consider what you will be talking about during your next appointment and what important information you want to save for another meeting. You want to have reason to return.

  5. Ask the referral source if he or she attends any professional meetings that may be open for you to attend also. This will ultimately help to increase your number of contacts with this customer.

  6. If possible, make calls to this account on a scheduled basis so they will know you are going to be coming by. Enter their name on your account list so that you continually remember to meet with them.

If you are going to build a relationship based on trust, you need to do what you say:

  • Show up on time for all appointments — which actually means arrive about 10 minutes early. Being late will quickly separate you from the competition. The referral source is always trying to determine what the difference is between one home care provider and another.

  • Keep all promises. Break one promise and the referral source may break their promise to call you with the next patient who needs oxygen or a wheelchair.

  • Never forget the competition thrives on your failure to do what you promise. They sometimes not only thrive on it but love hearing about your failure to follow up. You never want to be the subject of a referral source's next staff meeting, especially when the topic is about "any problems we are having with home care providers."

  • Think about getting business as a process that begins with that first meeting and ends in receiving an order. For each customer, that may take a different amount of time. Business comes to the patient and persistent.

Remember, promises are golden. When broken, they can separate you from the competition in a way you had never hoped. Follow up, follow through and reap the benefits of a business relationship based on trust and concern for the customer. That's a quality that will take you a long way in any business.

Louis Feuer is president of Dynamic Seminars & Consulting Inc. and the founder and director of the DSC Teleconference Series, a teleconference training program. You can reach him through www.DynamicSeminars.com or at 954/435-8182.