You may get a lot of word-of-mouth referrals from friends and family in the beginning, and that’s good! However, if you don’t have a process outlined for continual lead generation – including how to ask for and receive steady referrals and/or when, where and how to advertise, then it’s time to develop that process. You must ALWAYS be thinking of how to attract, capture, cultivate, convert and follow up with all leads and prospective customers.

Once you have a way to generate consistent leads, having a reliable process for capturing and converting leads into sales is crucial for your business. You cannot afford to let ANYONE fall through the cracks. If people are trying to find and contact you, it should be easy for them to do so on their first attempt. It starts with the initial contact that a customer has with your business. Make it friendly, personable yet professional, and ensure that every time they call the phone is answered. Every. Single. Time.

Exceptional customer service is exactly what is sounds like. It is the exception to the rule. Business owners are often asked, “what sets you apart in your business?” Most will say something like, “We provide great customer service.” Shouldn’t that be the standard, though? Don’t we all deserve ‘great’ service from everyone? The exception would be far superior to just ‘good/great service’ and be considered the best of the best. Dependable, reliable, available, personable, professional and most of all reachable. A virtual receptionist/assistant can make sure that your customer service is considered exceptional by way of your industry standards.

If you don’t already have a written process for how and when to follow up with your prospective and current customers then you could let people fall through the cracks! Automated emails and thank you cards only go so far. Create a plan for when and how you’ll follow up for each type of appointment you have.

Schedule Automation/management can include how and when to schedule certain appointment types (like having an online calendar to let people book themselves, or are you manually scheduling every appointment?) as well as knowing when to block off times to work ON your business. Whether you schedule, or your customers book online, you should have a way to track every appointment, confirmation email and more.

Doing a great job and satisfying your customer is one thing, but if you don’t ASK for a review, more often than not, you won’t get them very often. Build a creative but effective way to ask for, and process satisfied customer reviews. Statistically, about 80% of your customers would be happy to leave an online review, if you only tell them where and how to do it. Have a link that you can send via email or text, or even better – use our process for obtaining video testimonials that you can promote on social media and your website!