From Prospect to Customer: The Right Way to Follow-Up Effectively!

Hello everyone,?

I hope your productivity levels are off the chart this Wednesday!?

In this edition of The Growth Flow, I’ll talk about one of the most overlooked aspects of business communication: following up with your prospects.?

All of us are running some kind of marketing initiative to either promote our offerings or put our business in front of the right audience to build brand awareness. However, only a few businesses are dedicating resources to actively follow up with their prospects.?

Why is that? Because following up is considered a low-return investment, where your time and money might not bring you the conversion you are hoping for. On top of that, the fear of getting rejected by potential customers and harming the overall brand image restricts many businesses from following up on their initial conversation.?

That is only the case if you follow up using an incorrect strategy. In reality, it takes multiple follow-up attempts to convert prospects into customers. As per research, 80% of deals need five follow-ups, in general, to finally reach the conversion stage. But 44% of agents mark the deal as lost after just following up once.?

These numbers don’t mean you need to create an effective sales pitch that can convert prospects from the get-go. In fact, studies have shown that you just get eight percent of qualified prospects from the initial conversation even if it is your best sales agent. This goes to show how important it is to follow up with prospects.?

Just like any other business process, you need a strategy for following up with your leads. Without a plan of action, you will miss out on making the most of your investment, ultimately leading to lost deals and revenue drop.?

So, what is the correct way to follow up with your prospects for driving revenue??

Here, I’ll share with you the process that I learned and find best for reaching out to leads after each point of contact:

Use various communication channels

One of the first steps in implementing an effective follow-up process is to figure out which channels you are going to use. You might think that connecting back with prospects on the channel they used to reach out to you is the best way to go out, but that is not the case.?

For example, if a prospect gets in touch with you via phone call, it is not necessary that you also have to follow up over a call. Your prospects are busy people and you are not their first priority. So make sure you follow up on the channel they prefer to increase your likelihood of getting a conversion.?

Now you may ask, “How can I identify my prospects’ preferred channel of communication?” That’s a legitimate question. Not everyone uses the same modes of communication, and the channel that works for a number of prospects might not work for everyone.?

In this situation, what I do is ask my leads what their preferred means of communication is. It’s just that simple! Your prospects are ready to provide this information if you show them that you are genuinely trying to help them.?

In addition to that, people nowadays are drifting away from traditional communication channels like email or SMS, and are using social media platforms, like WhatsApp, Viber, Line, and Messenger for daily conversations.?

It’s not a surprise that these platforms are allowing brands to connect with their customers by offering business communication capabilities. So, if you haven’t already, now is the time to think about using these solutions for sending timely follow-ups.?

Provide meaningful information with each follow-up?

Product-centered follow-ups that revolve around getting sales don’t work anymore.?

Today, the way to build a successful business is by adopting a customer-centric selling approach, where you focus first on helping prospects resolve their problems and then pitch them your product. And to achieve that, you need to provide them with useful information. ?

How can you do that??

Start by evaluating your prospects’ requirements and pain points. This will give you an idea of how you can assist them. Next, you can ask for a quick meeting to showcase your findings and suggest to them how your offerings can help them fix their issues.?

And on the off chance they decide to not go forward with your business. Thank them for their time and point them in the right direction using your expertise. Even if you fail to get a deal, there’s no harm in building valuable relationships. You never know what can happen in the future.?

Keep it short, sweet, and effective

Follow-ups are reminders. You are reminding your prospects of your previous interaction and asking them to take the next step. So, it doesn’t make sense to write a page-long follow-up message.?

Your follow-ups should be brief and to the point. A simple follow-up, referencing the past interaction and compelling your prospects to take action is more than enough.?

For instance, you had a conversation with a prospect about your product but they didn’t schedule a demo after saying they were interested. In this case, you can send a follow-up like this:

Hey Tim, hope you’re having a great day!

We talked last Wednesday about getting a CRM solution, and you were looking forward to trying out our platform.?

I know life can be pretty hectic so, I didn’t want you to miss out on that. You can schedule a personalized demo using the following link at your convenience.?

Thanks

And that’s it. You can convince your prospects to take the next step using a brief follow-up if they show interest in your offerings and believe your product can help solve their problems.?

Be patient and space out your follow-ups

I know the idea of reaching out to prospects and closing a deal is too appealing, but you cannot rush them into making a decision. If you follow up too quickly or often, you may come across as pushy. And that is the last thing you want them to think.?

Whether it's a business or a prospect, it takes time to come to a purchasing decision. And it can take even more time for a bigger commitment. So you have to ensure you don’t push your prospects to make quicker decisions.?

The best way to avoid doing that is to create a follow-up flow. This flow will allow you to space your follow-ups, nurture your leads, and maintain constant contact with your prospects. Here’s an example of a typical follow-up flow:?

Day 0 - Initial conversation?

Day 1 - Follow-up email?

Day 3 - Follow-up phone call

Day 5 - WhatsApp follow up?

Day 7 - Follow-up SMS

Day 10 - Final break-off email?

Know when to break off?

Lastly, knowing when to break off is also a crucial part of an effective follow up strategy. There’s no point in wasting resources when the prospect has stopped interacting with your messages.?

So, when is the right time to tick a prospect off your qualified list??

Well, there isn’t a certain number set in stone for the number of follow-ups you should send before stopping. If they say they are not interested in your offerings, that’s the end. But if they haven’t replied to you, then you have to consider multiple factors, such as in which stage of the sales pipeline the prospect is, do they have any objections, or whether they are simply not interested.?

However, as I said before, it takes five follow-ups, in general, to close a deal. So, you should use this number as a standard.?

Also, I would suggest following up a final time with your prospects, saying that you will no longer be contacting them. This is because a break-off message might compel them to take action if they actually were busy with something. If there’s still no activity from their end, you can start focusing on other leads.?

Conclusion

Following up with prospects can be a challenging task. You have to continuously worry about not looking desperate for closing sales, frustrating leads with your follow-ups, and hearing the dreaded “no”.?

At the same time, if you don’t follow up, you are guaranteed to lose all the deals you couldn’t close after the initial interaction and it is a huge number of deals to let go of due to the fear of annoying people.?

Think of following up as a way to help prospects find solutions to their problems and build meaningful connections instead of selling your product. Once you realize how grateful a prospect is because you resolved their problems, you will never let go of one without following up with them!

Let me know in the comments how you follow up with your potential customers to boost revenue.?

And as always, subscribe! Your support drives me to come up with informational topics to help you simplify processes and scale your business.?

I’ll see you all next week!

Prem Saini