5 Foolproof Follow-up Strategies for Better Sales

Did you know that 80 percent of non-routine sales close after 4 follow-ups, on the 5th contact or beyond?*

The vast majority of people give up before that.?

You might be shocked by how many people I’ve spoken to who don’t follow up with their prospects at all!

Here’s the kicker. These people know how important following up is. And they still don’t do it!

Why is that?

Why Don’t You Follow Up?

There are many reasons that someone might feel resistant to following up.?

You don’t want to be a pest. We’re all busy and you don’t want to be just another email someone has to respond to.?

Of course, it’s far more often that people appreciate that you remind them about your offer. Life is busy and most of the time they will want to reconnect with you.?

But the biggest reason I see is fear of failure.

If you follow up and directly ask for the sale, you’re much more likely to be rejected.

No one likes the sting of rejection.

And reaching back out to a prospect you haven’t heard from in a while is putting yourself out there big time.?

Sure, they could say yes. But they could also say no.

Or they could ask you not to contact them again.

They could tell you to go F yourself.

(I’ve been in sales for a long time and I’ve never gotten that response, but I suppose anything is possible.)

So you wait passively, hoping that your prospect will reach back out to YOU. But it’s much more likely that they’ll forget you and move on with their lives.?

So today I’m sharing a few tips for following up. Because the easier you make it, the more likely you are to do it. And that means you’re more likely to get those sales!

5 Tips to Overcome Followup Resistance

1 - Remember your impact.?

Don’t make following up about you. Make it about helping your prospect. If they work with you, how will their lives be better? What problems are they struggling with now that you can help them solve? If you don’t follow up with them, they’ll keep struggling with those problems. But you can’t help them if they don’t take the next step. You’re simply reminding them that you can help them.

2 - Make following up a part of your sales process.?

This doesn’t have to be complicated. It can be as simple as knowing that you always follow up with a prospect a week after your initial call, then a week later, and so on. When you have a system, it takes the guesswork out of it so you’ll be more likely to follow through.

3 - Schedule the next call or follow up before you hang up and put reminders in your calendar.?

Ask your prospect when would be a good time to follow up with them, then schedule it right then and there. That way there will be surprises for either of you.

4 - Use a template for follow-up emails.

Of course, you want these messages to be as personalized as possible. But the gist of them will be the same. So, why not make a few templates for yourself so you can fill them in quickly before you have time to doubt yourself??

5 - Schedule the follow-up emails as soon as you get off the call.?

Most email providers will allow you to write an email and schedule to send it out at a later date or time. Schedule those emails as soon as you’re done with your call so they will go out automatically—and the resistance that might stop you otherwise won’t be a factor.

I’d love to hear from you. How many times do you usually follow up after a sales conversation? What systems do you have in place to help you keep track so you aren’t letting potential sales slip through the cracks? Comment below.

P.S. Did you know there are tons of things you can do in just 3 minutes a day to increase your sales numbers? I made a whole list of them just for you. Grab the free guide here.

(*source: Marketing Donut)