How can you set up a customer follow-up schedule?

1 Choose your tools

The first step to setting up a customer follow-up schedule is to choose the tools that suit your needs and preferences. You can use a CRM software, a spreadsheet, a calendar, or a combination of these to track and organize your customer data, interactions, and tasks. Whatever you choose, make sure it is easy to access, update, and sync across your devices. You also want to have a reliable and professional way of contacting your customers, such as email, phone, text, or social media.

2 Segment your customers

The next step is to segment your customers based on their stage in the sales cycle, their needs, their preferences, and their potential value. For example, you can group your customers into categories such as prospects, leads, appointments, test drives, negotiations, sales, referrals, and repeat buyers. By doing this, you can tailor your follow-up messages and actions to each group and prioritize your time and effort accordingly.

3 Plan your frequency and timing

The third step in customer segmentation is to plan how often and when to follow up with each segment. This varies depending on your market, product, and customer behavior, but some general guidelines are to follow up with prospects and leads within 24 hours of their initial inquiry or visit and every few days until they book an appointment or test drive. For appointments and test drives, follow up within an hour of their visit and then every day until they make a decision or indicate their interest level. For negotiations and sales, follow up within a day of their purchase, and then every week for the first month, every month for the first year, and every quarter or year thereafter. Finally, for referrals and repeat buyers, follow up within a week of their referral or purchase and then every month or quarter to maintain the relationship and offer incentives or promotions.

4 Craft your messages and actions

The fourth step is to craft follow-up messages and actions that are specific to each customer segment. Generic or spammy messages that are sales-oriented or automated should be avoided. It’s important to personalize messages and actions based on the customer's name, needs, interests, feedback, and history. Examples of follow-up messages and actions include sending a thank-you note or survey after a visit or purchase, offering a free car wash, oil change, or inspection after a sale, sharing valuable information related to your product or service, asking for referrals or testimonials from satisfied customers, inviting customers to events that showcase your product or service, and celebrating customers' birthdays, anniversaries, or milestones with a card, gift, or discount.

5 Monitor and adjust your results

The final step is to monitor and adjust your follow-up results based on your data, feedback, and goals. You want to measure the effectiveness of your follow-up system by tracking metrics such as open rates, response rates, conversion rates, retention rates, and referral rates. You also want to collect and analyze customer feedback to identify their pain points, expectations, and satisfaction levels. Based on your findings, you can tweak your follow-up schedule, tools, segments, frequency, timing, messages, and actions to improve your performance and outcomes.

Setting up a customer follow-up schedule is not a one-time task, but an ongoing process that requires planning, execution, and evaluation. By following these steps, you can create and manage a follow-up system that helps you stay connected with your customers, increase your sales, and grow your business.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?