The Power of Following-Up Your Sales Leads

Do you make goals? I am a "goals girl" for sure. I think goals are important to achieve success. Author Dr. Donna Galante whose book It's All About the Millimeters breaks down the idea of goals into "millimeter steps," which is much like eating the elephant one bite at a time. I like to set daily, weekly and monthly goals. I have a desk calendar in which I write down 5 positive marketing moves in a day. Another author Heidi BK Sloss whose book Fortune is in the Follow-Up evangelized the idea that money gets lost by not following up with prospects.

 

I've begun the daily practice of follow-up. Let's discuss how hard it can be to keep the follow-up engine going. Why don't you follow-up with people you've met who have prospective work on the table? Want to know my no. #1 reason (which I have gotten over)? 

 

I felt like a pest.

 

Yes, I felt like I was pestering people by following up on a consistent basis. I had my imaginary friend who goes by the name of "Embarrassing" holding me back. I thought that if I created consistent follow-up programs, people would become annoyed. "Ah man ... not her AGAIN." Right? You know what I mean.

 

Sloss points this out in her book. People are busy. When you let your ego run your marketing and somehow assume "Hey, the world DOES revolve around me" then you're losing out on the "fortune". If we can be brutally honest here (and since we're Friend-Os I feel like I can say it), no! The world actually doesn't revolve around you! "Ah, man! Are you kidding? Really?" Yes, really. Busy people (and we all are) are most likely not avoiding your emails out of some personal reason to make you uncomfortable. Reality is that it's about distractions, business, family, events. A lot of your prospects may actually be strongly interested in working with you, but simply forget.

 

Following up with prospects and staying persistent  yields amazing results. Follow-up doesn't have to be about pestering. Here's the nugget of information:

 

Follow-up is really about communicating.

 

You can create individual follow-up programs or you can do things like keep your brand on your client's radars. One way I stay in the forefront of my prospects' minds is through this newsletter. If you're a business owner or author, a newsletter is an excellent way to stay on the minds of your prospects. I've been doing First Word for almost 10 years. Can you believe it? First Word has been landing in some of your in-boxes for almost 10 years. I've been consistent with it, too. I'll admit right here, right now: I've gotten a lot of business from this little newsletter, too! People may not need marketing, public relations or publishing services today, but they might tomorrow. And look who's still here! My persistent marketing method pays off.

 

My other follow-up method is through personalized emails to those who have express past interest in doing work with us. I stay at it. Here is my philosophy:

 

Until the prospect says I'm a pest, my belief is I'm just doing my job and staying in contact.

 

Understand, people who get annoyed will in fact say STOP. Also understand that if no one is truly being annoyed by your consistent follow-up, they're NOT annoyed. Now if a prospect does say you're pestering then respect what they've said and stop. Only when you disrespect and keep trying to sell to someone who doesn't want to be sold to do you become a "shoo fly".

 

Tip: Make a habit of doing 5 follow-up emails to prospects per day.

 

As the owner of my company I make it a daily habit to follow-up with 5 prospects a day and/or generate a new prospect. I call this "The Rule of 5". I find this rule particularly important when business is declining. Don't focus on the decline! Focus on the incline! I said the other day to my life partner Chris Carter, "I feel like it's one step forward and one step back." He said, "Focus on the forward until it's two steps forward and only one step back." He's absolutely right. The more you focus on moving ahead, the more results will come from moving ahead! So ...

 

MOVE AHEAD!

 

So Friend-Os I've now given you my sage wisdom of the day. As Chris also says, "Keep it moving! Keep it real!" So onward I go! Don't forget to follow-up and in honor of the idea, please contact me to do business!!!! I can be reached at 916-300-8012 or info@3LPublishing.com.