Last week I received a call from a headhunter who had called me about six months ago. At that time she was recruiting for a financial wholesale sales position available with one of her client firms. She was pleasant to speak with, and the first time we talked I provided her with a contact that might be a good candidate for her search. When she called last week, she said there were two reasons for her call:
First, she wanted to thank me for helping her with her last search last October. While she did not place the position with the person I suggested, the lead I had provided to her in October was a good candidate.
Second, she needed help with a new search she was working for a position in the upper Midwest.
When we thank people for doing business with us, or helping us with a problem, do we thank them immediately or do we wait until we are looking for the next sale? While this headhunter is very pleasant, and I was impressed with her approach the first time she called me, it struck me that I would have been much more impressed had she called me in the interim to say thank you for helping her with the previous search, as opposed to waiting until a time when she once again needed help. Don’t get me wrong – she thanked me, and graciously at that, but it would have meant more after she spoke to my contact in October than it did when she needed another lead last week. In the past I have waited too long to give thanks, and I know it hurt my credibility. My guess is this headhunter was and is sincerely grateful, but her timing could have been better.
The moral of the story is to call your customers to thank them for their business – before the next sale.
Good selling!
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