In a typical sales cycle, after you close the sale, the next step is to deliver and evaluate. I am suggesting a new step to the cycle after making the sale. That is, “Enable the customer to sell”.
If a customer likes your product or service, they should be happy to talk about their experience and recommend it to others. This is the part in the process where you should ‘enable the customer to sell’ and make them into your volunteer sales force. Create ways to make it easy for customers spread the word about your product/service. Here are a few examples of companies who added ‘enable the customer to sell’ to their sales process:
- Included in the pack of your Moo business cards are 5 colorful cards the same size as your business cards with fun messages like, “You like my cards? Oh, thanks! Why not take this one too. You’ll thank me later. Probably.” Another card states, “I’d like one of *your* MiniCards! (You haven’t got any? Oh…umm take this, it should help.)” This cards easily enable the customer to sell, plus, include a discount for the new customer towards their first purchase.
- In the back of the book, The Dip by Seth Godin, there is a page that encourages you to read the book and then pass it along to a friend to spread the idea. There are multiple lines so you can track who has read the book (and how to return it to the original purchaser). Encouraging the customer to read and pass-on the book enabled the idea of 'the dip' to spread resulting in increased book sales making The Dip a NY TImes best seller for multiple weeks.
- Gilt Group is an invitation-only site that sells high-end luxury brands at steeply discounted sample sale prices. They entice members to invite their friends with the referral fee of $25 account credit when their friend makes their first purchase. They make it easy to evangelize by providing a personal invitation link and a way to send invites through their website.
Don’t let the sales cycle end once a person purchases your product or service. Find ways to make it easy to spread the word about your product/service and enable the customer to sell.
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