Making Following up Simple
/Have you tried the 2-2-2 method?
This is a system I have used ever since I started in Network Marketing and retailing my products this old tip/training really will help you deepen that customer relationship and bring in more sales ‘long-term’.
Consistent follow up can generate extra income and leads for you every single month. But the problem starts when many consultants don’t do this, not because they are afraid of being up front and may seem pushy), but because they are overwhelmed with…
When to contact
How to contact
What to say when they contact
The 2-2-2 method (maybe some of you have tried this as the 3-3-3 or even the 1-2-3 method?) solves this issue by providing a systematic approach that takes the guesswork out of when to make the contact and what to say.
Why not add this in to your daily/weekly power hour - choose the same day and at the same time every week to do your follow-up’s, and watch this 2-2-2 method help take your business to the next level. Using any follow up consistently will increase your overall business success.
This simple method can help increase your sales, parties and recruiting efforts by ensuring that you contact your customers at predetermined intervals that are proven to be the best times to re-connect with them. I have also added some sample scripts to help you get started at the end of the article!
Some experts in marketing estimate that using the 2-2-2 method can increase income by 50%.
2-2-2 stands for two days, two weeks and two months.
2-Days
The first contact you make to each customer is two days after they place their order or make their purchase from you, whether that was at a party, online, in person, or by messaging you directly - you’re now going to connect and start the 2-2-2 process.
The ONLY purpose of this contact is to thank them and re-assure them their order is being processed. That's it! You're not asking for anything. This contact is to simply show your gratitude and to say thank you.
You might say: "Hi Claire I just wanted to thank you again for your recent ___________ order and to let you know it should arrive by Thursday and when it arrives, should you have any questions at all, please feel free to message or call me.”
OR
"Hi Claire I just wanted to thank you again for your recent ___________ booking and to let you know I have posted out your hostess pack and should you have any questions at all, please feel free to message or call me.”
And that’s it! The voice note or message takes less than a minute and being brief is important, because not only will you complete more of your calls, she will remember that you are respectful of her time and took time out in your day to update and think about her.
Important
The reason we want to call in two days is that it is a proven fact that things stay exciting or top of mind for about three days and after that, the interest fades. This is true of a great restaurant you ate at, a concert you attended, or the gorgeous pair of shoes you put back on the shelf while shopping. It is also the case of the party any guest attended - so remind them you are there to help!
Sometimes you’ll message a customer for the thank-you call two days after their purchase and things may go differently. A lot of the time, your customer will have already been talking up your party or event and your products with her co-workers or friends and the chances are they will have asked her for a catalogue, as well.
Now imagine how your thank-you call looks like in those situations…
You message your customer and thank them for their order, you tell them it was great to meet them and they respond: "I was talking to my friends and a few ladies from work asked If I could bring in a catalogue. Could you send me one?"
This is your opportunity to suggest hosting a party with you: "Sure Kate, I could send you a book. But, to be perfectly honest, your best bet would be to host a party. You already have a couple of friends that want to order and I would much rather give you the credit and some thank-you freebies for those orders instead of me just taking the orders."
You’ll be amazed at how often someone who went to work or called a friend and talked about how much fun they had or how excited they were about what they ordered will opt to just go ahead and book a party (don’t forget this could even be an online party or catalogue. Then suddenly your two-day customer-care call has secured another booking!
Or perhaps your customer got home and realised there were other items she wished she’d ordered or she’d meant to order. Maybe she went home after a party and spoke to her husband about an item she loved but didn’t get. You’d be amazed at how many spouses respond: “If you loved it, you should just have gotten it!”
Now imagine for a minute what your thank-you call looks like in those situations…
You call, you thank that customer for their order, you tell them what a pleasure it was to meet them and they respond: "Is it too late to add onto my order because I wanted to add...".
Or they say something like: "I was talking about it to my husband and I do want to get that exclusive fragrance. I thought it was too much to spend, but he said go ahead."
This is your opportunity to suggest hosting a party with you. "Well, Sarah would you like to go ahead and book a party so that you can get that fragrance for half-price, or did you want to place an order for that right now?"
You will be amazed at how often someone who had second thoughts and wanted to add to the original order decides to accept your offer to host a party during your thank-you call two days later. Then, suddenly your two-day customer-care call has secured another booking for you.
Now, only about 8-10% of your two-day calls will result in add-on orders, but about 20% of these types of calls will turn into parties on your calendar. It’s also important to understand: it’s rare for someone who has realised that they’d like to add to their order to pick up the phone and call you or drop you a message. They presume it’s too late. Plus, people are busy and they forget. However, if you just sent that thank-you message two days after the order, you’re providing an easy opportunity for them to update their order and you’re already providing superior service to them.
One of the biggest overwhelms in follow up is people often ask me, do I have to make a phone call for every one of these 2-2-2 or can I send a message or text? I always answer that I prefer sending a voice note but ANY contact is good contact. But the one you will get the greatest ROI (return on investment) of your time is that first two-day call.
2-Weeks
The second contact you make to each customer is two weeks after they have received their order.
The purpose of this message is to provide a service. You still don’t have to ask for an order or a booking. You are showing up to be of service to them as one of your existing customers. Again you can call, voice note, message - whatever works best for you:
"I just wanted to make sure you received your product and everything was good, I would love to know if you’re enjoying it, how is it working for you?”
The positive feedback you get at this point is super valuable, because you can use those stories during your product demonstrations or when you’re sharing the benefits of your products with others online and offline. Any feedback that is not-so-positive gives you an opportunity to shine and address any issues. This is your chance to help them correct the way they’re using the product if it’s not optimal, or suggest a different additional product or help them get their money back if appropriate. Being able to take great care of them is one of the reasons you’re calling again after two weeks.
Regardless of how glowing the feedback is, you will want to remind them that you are available and that she should feel free to contact you with any questions going forward.
And during this particular call, this second customer-care call made two weeks after the order is received, the last thing you’re going to say, after you’ve asked, “Is there anything else I can help you with today?” is: "Tanya, I value you as a customer and customer service is very important to me. From time-to-time, I would like to touch base with you to see if there's anything else I can do to take care of your needs. Would that be okay with you? Would you like me to add you to my newsletter/messenger VIP list for monthly updates??”
That last part is crucial because you’re making a commitment to the customer to keep in touch, which will make it more likely that you actually will message. And you’re getting their agreement so that YOU can feel good about dropping in their inbox in future to provide them your excellent service.
Exception: In the rare case that your customer responds to your offer to touch base now and again, with something like "Don't bother!" or “I’ll call you if I need anything.” consider it a great time saver for you. Just be polite, agree, thank them and move on. You may feel a little rejected, but that will pass and you have just saved yourself a ton of time spent contacting someone who isn’t interested in hearing from you (or likely any consultant).
2-Months
The third contact you make to each customer is approximately two months after your second message. It doesn’t have to be precisely two months, but you will want to schedule these for yourself so that you don’t have anyone fall through the cracks. Why not implement this method into your own weekly power hours? Set the same day, the same week and go through your calls - my own customer follow up book can help with this.
Now your two-month contact is the one where you will deepen rapport and you’re checking in with a customer who now feels like they know you better. These messages/calls are more about touching-base because the topics are going to depend on what you learned from them when you met them originally and any details that have come up in previous conversations. Again, this is why it’s so important to record good notes after each time you encounter them.
The more you can engage with your customers and make them feel important the more connected they’ll feel to you and the more likely they are to do further business with you and to refer people to you. So, with this third contact, you message them, you make pleasant conversation about what’s going on in their lives (because you will go and check out their social media posts before messaging them), and then you might have a conversation like:
Hi Diane, how are things going? I just wanted to drop by because the ___________ you ordered last time has now gone onto a special promotion and I thought you may now be running out so would be a great time to top up at a great price, do you need a top-up?
I see you’ve been busy with getting ready for the kid’s going back to school, how has half-term been for you?
You can also attach it to an upcoming season or event.
“Wedding season is coming up. Is there any way I can help you with that?”
“Mothers day is right around the corner, can I help you out with any of the specials ladies in your life, including yourself?”
That’s it. These messages don't take much more than about two minutes. The power is in having a systematic approach so that the messages are not random, you’re contacting people on a regular basis and you are positioned to have a stronger business and a more professional reputation.
After this third call, especially if your product line is something consumable like food, nutrition products or skincare, you will want to stick to a check-in call just like this one every two months. If your product is something more like jewellery, clothing or home decor, you can probably stick to a quarterly call to each customer after you’ve completed the initial 2-2-2 contact process.
Tip: When I first started out with follow up, I used the old fashioned index card system (grab some in Tesco or Asda the next time you go shopping), where you just have a small index card for each customer that lists what they ordered and store that card in a card file with tabs for the months of the year. So, when you call the customer in February for that third check-in call, you just move the card to April. When April comes and you call again, afterwards you move that customer’s card to June, and so on. Low-tech, but reliable and simple, so you’re more likely to do it.
If you like to store things on your computer, you can use Trello or Evernote for this and create cards and notes for each customer and add them to the reminder calendar area.
How to Create a Simple 2 - 2 - 2 Follow-Up System
Did you know:
48% of people never follow up after the first contact/touch
25% of people follow up twice
12% of people follow up three times
and…
10% of customers say YES after the 3rd touch
80% say yes between 5-20 times.
Just like with your social media posts, you have to be consistent and follow up is no different.
Sample Scripts
2 DAYS
"Hi _________, I just wanted to thank you again for your _________ order and to let you know it should arrive by ___________ and when it arrives, should you have any questions at all, please feel free to message me.”
2 WEEKS
Hi _________, just checking in to see that everything is OK with your recent ________ order, have you had chance to try it yet? I’d love your feedback. Isn’t it just fantastic!
Would it be OK to pop you on my monthly specials newsletter/VIP list?
2 MONTHS
Hi ________, how are things going? I just wanted to drop by because the ________ you ordered last time has now gone onto a special promotion and I thought you may now be running out so would be a great time to top up at a great price, do you need a top-up?
I see you’ve been busy with ________ how’s that been for you? [check out their social media posts]
OR
Hi _________, I’m just dropping you a message because we’ve just launched a brand new brochure and I wanted to let you get it first because for the rest of launch month I’m giving a discount of 15% off all new products! I hope you and the family are well, I loved your post about __________
#222method #networkmarketing #followupsystem #fmworlduk #workfromhomemum #mumsinbusiness
