Last week I spoke at a luncheon and I offered to answer marketing questions emailed to me within the next day. I had some great questions and am editing them a bit in hopes that this helps answer questions you might have as well! This first question comes from someone in direct sales who has inherited clients from other sales reps that have gone on to other endeavors and how to best approach them.
I have names on my current customer list that I did not add as they have “risen” up to me as their consultant became inactive or as in one case died. I would like to build a relationship with them. Plus we are going over to a new system soon so I want to have everyone know who I am etc.
As for the clients that you have collected from other folks, I would send an individual email (as long as it’s not a ton of individuals) and introduce yourself, offer to meet if they’d like to review any new products or refresh their memories, make sure they have the link to order from your page (or their page/login info if it works that way) and offer to answer any questions.
If it’s been a delayed amount of time since they were handed to you and you dropped the ball, that’s OK, just be honest about it. And in that email you can mention that your company is going to a new system in January and you want to make sure you have all their contact information correct for the system transfer (it’s a good excuse to get them to respond to you too!).
