How do you stick to a follow-up schedule?

1 Set your follow-up goals

Before you start following up, you need to have a clear idea of what you want to achieve. Do you want to book more appointments, close more sales, generate more referrals, or build more relationships? How many contacts do you need to make per day, week, or month to reach your goals? How do you measure your follow-up success and progress? Setting your follow-up goals will help you focus your efforts and prioritize your actions.

2 Use a follow-up system

To stay on top of your follow-up schedule, you need an efficient follow-up system to organize, track, and manage your contacts. This system can be as simple as a spreadsheet, a calendar, or a notebook, or as sophisticated as a CRM software, an app, or a tool. It's important to choose the one that best fits your needs, preferences, and budget. An ideal follow-up system should enable you to segment your contacts by stage, interest, or category; schedule reminders and tasks for each contact; record notes and feedback from each interaction; and automate or streamline some of the follow-up steps.

3 Choose your follow-up methods

When following up with your contacts, you have a variety of options, such as phone calls, emails, texts, social media messages, cards, letters, or gifts. The method you choose should depend on the situation, the purpose, and the personality of the contact. To stay on track with your follow-up schedule, you must think about the contact's preferred communication channel, the tone and style of your message, the frequency and timing of the follow-up, the value and relevance of the content, and the call to action or next step.

4 Be consistent and persistent

Maintaining consistency and persistence in following up is one of the biggest challenges for direct salespeople. To stay motivated and accountable, it is important to develop a follow-up mindset and habit. Set a regular time and place for your follow-up activities, use a checklist or script to guide your steps, reward yourself for completing tasks, seek feedback and support from peers or mentors, and learn from successes and failures to adjust your strategy. These tips can help you be consistent and persistent with your follow-up activities.

5 Follow up with value and integrity

The quality of your follow-up is as important as the quantity, as you don't want to pressure your contacts into buying or joining. Instead, you should focus on building trust, rapport, and loyalty. To do this, make sure to respect the privacy and preferences of your contacts, personalize your messages and offers, provide useful information and resources, solve problems or answer questions, show appreciation or gratitude, and ask for feedback or referrals. Having a follow-up schedule can make a big difference in your direct sales results and relationships. By following these tips and strategies, you can create and maintain a successful follow-up schedule.

6 Here’s what else to consider

This is a space to share examples, stories, or insights that don’t fit into any of the previous sections. What else would you like to add?