Mastering the Art of Follow-up

You might think with all the topics I could possibly write about that I would choose the topic of follow-up. It sounds so intuitive, right? But it's amazing how much follow-up is not happening out there. Do you know that over 80% of sales leads are not followed up upon properly? That's a staggering number especially for companies looking for additional incremental revenue. There are many reasons, but the biggest reason is that we are all maxed out, carry multiple responsibilities multi-task way too often. 

So here are a few tips to think about when following up, because follow-up starts after the very first meeting.

• Listen up: You can't follow up appropriately if you were not listening. Every meeting should have 3 to 4 areas of interest that are worthy of follow up in your discussion. Take notes for sure, but make sure that every interaction nets you 3 to 4 major points that have context for the prospects

• Time: Most salespeople wait too long to follow up. The key is the follow up within the first hour of some important major interaction. And it doesn't matter which follow up method you use, phone, text, email or handwritten note which is my favorite. The key is to avoid the melt, and make it happen. 

• False Fear: Many salespeople are afraid of the follow-up stage of the sales process. This is because they fear annoying the prospect, being seen as a spammer, or even losing a potential sale due to following up too much.

• Email blast: Use a variety of follow-up methods.So, you’ve sent two or three follow-up emails to your prospect and heard nothing back. It may be time to pick up the phone. Alternatively, if you keep calling and they’re always too busy to speak to you, you might have more luck by sending a social media message (i.e., LinkedIn).

• Let it Breathe: There’s no exact formula for correctly spacing your follow-ups. In most circumstances, every day is too often, and once a month is not often enough. Once per week or so is appropriate in most circumstances. 

• Content is king: Include a link to a relevant article, blog post, or video in your follow-up email — the content must relate strongly to the prospect and the problems they’ve told you they are facing. By providing them with useful content, you prove that you are interested in a mutually beneficial relationship as opposed to a quick sale.

 For more quick hitting sales tips, visit www.billwaltonsalestraining.com