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The Delight Stage: Keeping Customers Happy After You Close

Whew! The hard part is over. You’ve nurtured your buyer persona from the awareness stage all the way through the decision stage. You did such a great job educating your persona throughout the process that they decided to purchase from you. Great job! You’re done now. Just kidding.

 

Where the delight stage falls into your inbound marketing strategy

Sales reps usually have one goal in mind:Closing. Although this may be true, today’s buyer is more educated than ever before. In reality, it is just as important to nurture them after the sale as it is throughout the buyer’s journey. The good news is you can use some of the same tools you used throughout the sales process to make sure your customers are happy post-purchase.

Workflows are your friend.

If your new customer initially converted through a content offer on your website, chances are you’re familiar with workflows already. Any time someone fills out a form, or signs up for a gated piece of content, their information should go directly into your CRM. One sizable advantage of inbound marketing  is it allows you to track your efforts throughout your strategy. Any customer you acquire through through this strategy can be traced to a certain piece of content such as a contact form, landing page, blog post, etc.

Once someone becomes a customer, they should be entered into a separate workflow designed for keeping customers happy. There should be both internal and external components of a ‘delight’ stage workflow. The timing of the workflow depends on your sales cycle. For example, if you know that every two years your product needs to be replaced or maintenanced, then that workflow would look different than someone who is purchasing more frequently.

For the sake of this example, let’s assume you’re a sales rep for a company that manufactures riding lawn mowers. If successful, your customer may order multiple times each summer. Your ideal customer is the owner of a store that sells lawn mowers.

Here’s a look at what a delight stage workflow can look like:

  1. Landscape Lenny purchases a 20 new riding lawn-mowers in January
  2. Set a reminder task to follow-up via phone and make sure the lawn mowers arrived on time and everything came as expected
  3. Delay the workflow two months
  4. Workflow email #2 is sent out.
    1. This email asks how the lawnmowers are moving in the  store and what customers are saying about the product
    2. Offer literature on maintenance tips for your product
  5. Delay two more months
  6. Workflow email #3 is sent out.
    1. We’re now into the summer months and foot traffic is increasing in the store. Offer to go out to the store and do a demo day.
  7. Delay two more months
    1. An email to just check-in and make sure there are no issues
    2. Include an educational blog post or whitepaper about your product or the landscape industry
  8. Delay two more months
    1. Follow-up with a phone call and an email to ask how the season went
    2. Include educational content for preparing to store your lawn mower this winter
  9. Delay until December
    1. Happy Holidays email
    2. Briefly mention new pricing or new products for the upcoming season
  10. Landscape Lenny orders just as many, if not more lawn mowers for the upcoming season.
  11. Repeat the workflow

This example can easily apply to businesses of all kinds across many different industries. Whether you’re selling lawn mowers or some obscure part that goes into an elevator, your customers should be happy. As the sales rep, it’s your job to make sure you’re doing your best to turn your customers into happy, referring, repeat purchasing fans of your product.

Don’t be pushy

When creating your delight stage workflow, it’s important to remember the goal is to help, not to sell. You’ve already made the sale. Your job now is to make sure the customer is happy with his purchase, and that he or she has all the information needed to help push those lawn mowers out the door. Remember: If you’re constantly following up to inquire about repeat orders, the customer is going to get annoyed.

However, if you’re following up with educational content related to your product or his or her industry, the relationship will flourish. Today’s buyer doesn’t need to be asked to buy. They know what they want. Focus on making sure they don’t regret purchasing from your company.

Overwhelmed with delight?

If you’ve read this to this point and are now asking yourself how to implement an inbound marketing strategy within your business, please give us a call. We’ll be happy to walk you through the inbound methodology and demonstrate how it can be beneficial for your business.

Chris Vendilli
About the Author
Chris is the founder and CEO of Vendilli Digital Group. In his free time, you’ll find him camping, fishing, or playing beer league ice hockey with a bunch of guys who refuse to admit they’re already over the hill.
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