Some business problems are wonderful to have... like when you have too many customers and you don’t know what to do.

Other kinds of business scenarios can be confusing as well, especially where you have no clear frameworks around what the answers should be, and what the next steps are.

Let’s explore one of the later scenarios!

Imagine you are a caterer and you’ve just done a really stellar job for a corporate client.

Let’s imagine that your specialty is grilled foods, open baked meats, rice, plantains, snails etc... anything that can be grilled!

Let’s also imagine that because of your service delivery and the poise and conduct of your staff, one of the directors of the company calls one of your serving staff aside.

This company director commends her for the service and hands over their business card to be handed over to you the business owner.

In this scenario as the owner of the business, what should you do?

It’s understandable that most people wouldn’t know what the next appropriate step should be.

Should you hang on to the card?

How should you follow up?

When a prospect hands over their card, what are you supposed to do?

Isn’t it usually the other way round? Shouldn’t the person be asking for MY card?

Before we begin to examine answers, we have to give props to anyone who finds themselves in this situation.

You need kudos and praise if you’re in this situation because you’re not just a “run of the mill” professional.

You have found a way to distinguish yourself from the crowd.

In this instance, this caterer ONLY cooks grilled food and serves things that can be grilled or cooked over an open fire.

Here there’s a strong reason for people to enquire and book your services.

The people who get in touch with you will either crave that kind of cooking or they won’t. I doubt you’ll run into too many “indifferent” customers that way.

In this scenario the caterer stands apart from other cateres in town and in her space.

Here there’s a reason apart from “price” that customers have to pay special attention to her.

So kudos if you’ve found a niche, or a strong way to differentiate yourself in the market.

In today’s world of commoditization of products and services, differentiation is the key way to survive.

Also kudos and props if your staff are so well trained and professional that they stand out to the customers.

This is a power move because you have realized that your staff are extensions of you and your brand and because of that, it has implications for the sales process.

If your staff appear professional, then you as a service provider and business owner now seem more credible than most of your competitors.

You have now achieved differentiation on two fronts 1. Your product or service is unique from others 2. Your service delivery also stands out from the rest.

Now to answer the question!

What do you do when a potential customer or prospect hands over THEIR card and they talk about how they’re impressed with your service?

From a sales perspective, the answer is fairly simple.

Pick a day and call them!

The purpose of the call should be 1. To thank them for the business 2. Get details about parts of the service they loved 3. Get details about things that could be improved 4. Make a request for repeat business and referrals.

A simple conversational outline could begin with...

“Thank you very much sir, it was a pleasure serving you guys last weekend. I hope you don’t mind if I ask you a few questions? It would help me greatly improve my service because I value the opinions of customers such as you”

You don’t have to sound this formal. Any way of saying the general gist of something like this would be fine.

This conversation also doesn’t have to be in English.

If you guys are vibing in Hausa or Yourba, it’s fine as well.

The reason why you’re going to ask questions about what they loved is because the things they loved are the things you should continue to do!

Ask questions about the things you could’ve done better so that you know what you need to improve upon.

If you’re constantly doubling down on things people like and improving on aspects of your service that fall short, you’ll be slowly biulding up on the aspects of your services that are unique.

This will greatly help your sales and marketing efforts because you now will know what you are a super star in.

Once you figure out what makes you a superstar, that data should be the part of your messaging that you emphasize.

The final part of the conversation doesn’t have to be daunting.

They handed over THEIR business card for a reason. It’s okay to ask about that.

“Is there another event you would like me to cater for?”

“Did you want me to add you to my mailing list?”

“Is it okay for me to keep in touch once in a while?”

“Do you have any friends and associates that would love this kind of experience?”

“Do you know anyone planning any special celebrations soon?”

“Which other of your friends and associates would you like me to call sir?”

You don’t have to ask all of these questions at once, but any of them would be a good opener. It will give you an excuse to slide into the reason why they handed over their card to your staff.

All this seems well and good, but what if they don’t answer their phone? After all lots of “big people” in society don’t like to answer numbers they are unfamiliar with.

The solution is simple! After the phone rings out leave a WhatsApp or a text message.

The message should have a few elements 1. Appropriate greeting 2. State your intention 3. Ask a question 4. Move to close.

What’s an appropriate greeting? That depends on how you talk and the context of how you met the client.

“Good afternoon Sir. This is Kemi the caterer from last Saturday’s event. You gave my server your business card and I tried calling in response. Let me know when you’re available to talk and I’ll call you back. I’d love to see I can be of service to you and the organization in the future.”

You don’t have to sound this formal, and it doesn’t have to be in English (assuming you can text in Yoruba!)... but the gist is the same.

Your message should greet and say who you are, why you called, and gain a commitment so that you guys can talk at a future date.

That is what “a close” is. It is getting a commitment to do something in the future.

There is a lot more that can be expounded on from a sales perspective, but this should serve as an overview of what to do when you find yourself in this situation.

Sales, business conversations and phone conversations don’t have to be scary.

So long as you have simple conversational frameworks, you can have fruitful conversations with total strangers and use those to bring in more business.