There are few things more exciting for a business owner than hearing a potential customer say, “I’m interested.”

It means something worked. Maybe they saw an advertisement, visited your website, received a recommendation from a friend or met someone from your company at a networking event. Whatever brought them to you, they’ve taken the first step toward becoming a customer.

But here’s something many businesses overlook: Getting someone interested and getting someone to buy are two completely different things. And the space between those two moments is where an enormous amount of potential revenue disappears.

 Think about the last time you contacted a business because you were interested in purchasing something. Maybe you needed a contractor, wanted information about a vehicle or were looking for a professional service. How quickly did someone respond? Did they seem interested in helping you? Did they ask good questions? Did they follow through on what they promised? If you didn’t make a decision immediately, did you ever hear from them again?

For many consumers, the experience of trying to become someone’s customer is surprisingly frustrating. You would think businesses would make it as easy as possible for people to give them money. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case.

 I’ve seen businesses invest significant amounts of money into advertising, lead generation and business development without having a consistent process for what happens when someone responds.

A potential customer fills out a contact form, and the message sits in an inbox for two days. Someone calls asking for a quote, but the person responsible for preparing it is busy. An estimate gets sent, and nobody checks whether the customer received it. A salesperson has a promising conversation, makes a note to follow up and then gets distracted by something else. A week passes, then two, and eventually the opportunity disappears. The business may never know whether the customer chose a competitor, changed their mind or simply got tired of waiting.



When sales numbers fall short, leadership often assumes the company needs more leads. Sometimes that’s true. But before spending another dollar trying to generate additional interest, I would encourage business owners to look carefully at what happens to the interest they’re already receiving. How many people contacted your business last month? How many received a response? How many were given an estimate or proposal? How many became customers? How many never received a second conversation? If you don’t know the answers, you’ve identified a place to begin.



Consider a company receiving 100 inquiries each month. If 20 of those inquiries become customers, the company has a 20 percent conversion rate. Now imagine that instead of increasing advertising, the company improves its response times, follows up consistently and trains employees to better understand customer needs. If those changes increase the conversion rate to 30 percent, the company gains 10 additional customers from the exact same number of inquiries. No additional advertising required.

Depending on the value of each customer, that improvement could be significant.

 One of the biggest misconceptions about sales is that follow-up means pressuring people to buy. It doesn’t have to. In fact, the best follow-up often feels more like customer service than selling. A simple phone call asking whether someone has questions about an estimate can be helpful. An email explaining the next steps in a complicated purchasing decision can provide reassurance. A reminder that an appointment or proposal is waiting can save someone time.

Most customers have busy lives, competing priorities and dozens of things demanding their attention. Just because they haven’t responded doesn’t automatically mean they aren’t interested.

 Of course, there’s a difference between thoughtful follow-up and becoming a nuisance. Calling someone every day after they’ve clearly declined isn’t good salesmanship. Neither is sending an endless stream of generic messages. The goal is to create a consistent process that respects the customer while making sure opportunities don’t disappear simply because nobody remembered to reach out.



That process doesn’t have to be complicated. Start by deciding how quickly your company should respond to a new inquiry. Determine who is responsible for that response. Establish what information should be collected during the first conversation. Decide when estimates should be delivered and how follow-up should happen. Most importantly, create a way to track every opportunity so the process doesn’t depend entirely on someone’s memory.

A customer relationship management system can help, but even a simple shared spreadsheet is better than having important sales opportunities scattered across sticky notes, email inboxes and personal cell phones.

 There’s another benefit to creating a consistent sales process: You begin learning why people aren’t buying. Maybe your pricing is too high for the market you’re targeting. Maybe customers don’t understand your proposal. Maybe competitors are responding faster. Maybe your salespeople aren’t asking the right questions. Without tracking those conversations, you’re left guessing.

With even a basic system, patterns begin to emerge that can help you improve the entire business. 

Business owners also need to recognize that the sales process is part of the customer experience. People begin forming opinions about your company long before they make a purchase. If communication is slow, confusing or inconsistent while you’re trying to earn their business, what should they expect after they’ve paid you?

On the other hand, a company that responds promptly, communicates clearly and follows through on commitments begins building trust before the transaction ever happens.

This is especially important for businesses that depend on relationships rather than one-time transactions.

Banks, healthcare organizations, professional service firms, contractors and countless other businesses are often asking customers to make decisions that involve significant money, trust or long-term commitments. Those decisions aren’t always made immediately. Sometimes the company that wins isn’t the one with the lowest price or the flashiest advertising. It’s the one that stayed engaged, answered questions and made the customer feel confident.



There’s a simple exercise worth trying this week. Pick 10 potential customers who contacted your business during the last 60 days but never purchased. Review what happened. Did someone respond promptly? Was a proposal delivered? Was there any follow-up? Do you know why the opportunity didn’t close? You may discover that some of those people are still interested. More importantly, you may discover weaknesses in your process that have been costing your company opportunities for years.



Marketing creates attention. Sales turns that attention into opportunity. But consistent follow-through is often what turns opportunity into revenue.

 Before you spend more money trying to get people interested in your business, make sure you’re doing everything you reasonably can with the people who already are.



Question of the Week: How many potential customers have expressed interest in your business during the last 30 days, and how many of them are still waiting for someone to follow up?