I’ve been in business long enough to know that the phrase “I’ll remember to do that later” has probably cost American businesses several billion dollars.
I have absolutely no scientific evidence to support that number, but after decades of dealing with customers, leads, employees, phone calls, emails and the general chaos of running a company, it feels about right.
The problem isn’t that people don’t care.
People forget.
A potential customer calls at 10:15 Monday morning. There’s a good conversation. An estimate gets discussed. Somebody makes a note to follow up Thursday.
Then Thursday arrives.
Three employees have questions, two customers need something, somebody can’t find a password, the phone is ringing and Microsoft has decided this would be an excellent time to install an update.
That follow-up suddenly becomes Friday.
Then Monday.
Then never.
Meanwhile, the potential customer hires somebody else.
That’s exactly why I believe consistency matters more than memory in sales follow-up.
Memory Is Not a Sales System
There’s nothing wrong with having a good memory. Mine is pretty decent.
But memory isn’t a process.
As a business grows, the number of things requiring attention grows with it. There are leads coming through the website, emails, phone calls, text messages, social media messages, estimates, appointments and existing customers who need attention.
Expecting somebody to remember every next step is unrealistic.
Even the most organized salesperson can forget something when enough things happen simultaneously.
That’s where service automations become useful.
Instead of telling somebody, “Remember to contact John in three days,” a system can automatically create the reminder.
Better yet, depending on the situation, the system can actually handle part of the follow-up.
Now John doesn’t have to live inside somebody’s brain for three days.
John has officially been outsourced to technology.
What Service Automation Actually Means
The word “automation” sometimes makes business owners imagine robots taking over the company.
It’s usually much less dramatic.
Service automation simply means creating a rule that says:
When this happens, do that.
- Someone completes a website form.
- Send a confirmation text.
- Someone requests information.
- Send the appropriate email.
A new lead comes in.
Add the contact to the CRM and notify the appropriate employee.
An estimate has been sitting for three days without a response.
Create a follow-up task.
An appointment is tomorrow.
Send a reminder.
A customer completed a service six months ago.
Trigger a maintenance reminder.
None of this requires a Terminator walking through the front door.
It’s simply technology handling predictable, repetitive actions.
The First Five Minutes Shouldn’t Depend on Somebody Checking Email
Consider what happens when someone fills out a website form.
Traditionally, the form sends an email.
That email lands in somebody’s inbox.
- Hopefully somebody sees it.
- Hopefully that person isn’t at lunch.
- Hopefully it doesn’t get buried beneath 47 other emails.
- Hopefully the person remembers to respond.
That’s a lot of hope.
Automation changes the process.
A form submission can immediately trigger a confirmation, enter the contact into a CRM, categorize the inquiry and alert the appropriate person.
The human conversation can still happen.
The difference is that technology handles the boring stuff surrounding it.
Follow-Up Is Usually More Than One Follow-Up
Another common problem is assuming that contacting somebody once counts as a follow-up strategy.
Sometimes people don’t respond because they aren’t interested.
Sometimes they’re just busy.
Maybe the email arrived while they were picking up the kids. Maybe the text showed up during a meeting. Maybe they intended to respond later.
Sound familiar?
A structured follow-up process can account for that.
Maybe an inquiry receives an immediate acknowledgment. A reminder goes out the next day. Another action occurs several days later. If the person responds, the automation stops or changes direction.
The important part is that the process happens consistently.
No sticky note required.
Automation Should Support Humans, Not Replace Them
There are plenty of conversations that should involve an actual person.
Complicated questions, unusual circumstances, negotiations and important decisions require judgment.
Automation isn’t supposed to turn a business into a vending machine.
I look at it differently.
Let the technology remember things.
Let people handle people.
A computer is perfectly capable of remembering that an appointment is Thursday at 2:00.
- It doesn’t need coffee.
- It doesn’t take lunch.
- It doesn’t suddenly remember at 4:45 that something was supposed to happen at 10:00.
That makes automation particularly useful for repetitive tasks.
Existing Customers Matter Too
Service automation isn’t limited to new leads.
Consider businesses with recurring services.
HVAC maintenance. Roof inspections. Dental appointments. Pest control. Vehicle maintenance. Annual reviews. Equipment inspections.
A customer may need another service six months or a year later.
Without a system, somebody has to remember that.
Good luck.
With automation, the completed service can become the beginning of another workflow.
Six months later, the system knows it’s time for another communication.
That creates consistency without requiring somebody to spend Friday afternoon digging through last year’s spreadsheet.
AI Is Making Automation Smarter
Artificial intelligence is adding another interesting element.
Instead of every inquiry following exactly the same path, AI can help identify what somebody is asking about, categorize the inquiry and route information appropriately.
A roofing inquiry doesn’t necessarily need to follow the same workflow as a billing question.
A current customer may need a different response from a brand-new prospect.
Technology is becoming increasingly capable of recognizing those differences.
That doesn’t mean setting everything on autopilot and disappearing to a beach somewhere.
Although I admit that part sounds pretty good.
Build a System That Doesn’t Have to Remember
The biggest advantage of service automation isn’t speed.
It’s consistency.
A good business process should continue working on Monday morning, Friday afternoon and during the week when everything seems determined to catch fire simultaneously.
- People forget things.
- I forget things.
- Everybody forgets things.
That’s human.
The solution isn’t demanding that everybody suddenly develop photographic memories.
The solution is building systems that don’t need one.
Because in sales follow-up, the person who remembers occasionally will usually lose to the system that remembers every single time.