Most of your business鈥檚 prospective customers will not buy from you instantly. You cannot simply introduce someone to your products or services once and expect that they will go the rest of the way by themselves. Unfortunately, this simply isn鈥檛 true.
The first point of contact is important, of course. You never get a second chance to make a first impression. But many salespeople and marketers make the mistake of crafting a perfect sales email, holding a great meeting, or running a fantastic product demo, and then sitting back and doing nothing.
If you鈥檙e guilty of this, you might need to perfect your sales follow-ups. Read on to learn how to do this, and why it matters.
Mastering your sales follow-up is a critical skill for reps however, many are not following up enough.
According to , 80% of sales require an average of five follow-ups in order to close the deal. However, 44% of sales reps follow up with a prospect only once before giving up. After four follow-ups, 94% of salespeople have given up.
That鈥檚 an awful lot of potential sales that are never being closed, and potential revenue that is being left on the table.
Reticence over following up is understandable. Salespeople are very aware that their profession can carry a reputation for being pushy or aggressive. You don鈥檛 want to be seen as annoying or not taking the hint, so you simply stop following up.
However, do you know the number one reason why a prospect won鈥檛 get back to you? It鈥檚 not because they are not interested, it鈥檚 because they are busy. Decision makers have a lot of conflicting priorities to juggle and many different demands on their time. , professionals have on average over 200 emails in their inbox at any one time.
In other words, they鈥檙e (probably) not ignoring you because they don鈥檛 want what you have to offer. You just need to be tenacious to get their attention because they have a lot going on. In the next section, we鈥檒l learn how to perfect the art of the follow-up.
So you鈥檝e 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鈥檙e always too busy to speak to you, you might have more luck by sending an email instead.
Don鈥檛 stop at just telephone and email, either. Obviously I鈥檓 not suggesting you track someone down on every platform you can think of, but if you鈥檙e connected on a professional platform such as LinkedIn, there鈥檚 no reason you can鈥檛 use that to follow up.
In short, if you鈥檙e not sure what someone prefers, try different follow-up methods. People prefer different methods of communication, and what gets one person鈥檚 attention will go ignored by another.
On the other hand, if someone specifies a particular method of communication, respect that. You won鈥檛 endear yourself to a prospect if you keep calling them after they鈥檝e said they like to do all business by email.
The quickest way to annoy your prospect and put them off is not following up too many times 鈥 it鈥檚 spacing your follow-ups too closely together.
Purchasing decisions often move slowly, and even more so when the product or service is of a substantial value. Therefore, you probably cannot expect prospects to make a decision instantly, or even overnight.
At my , clients typically spend thousands of dollars with us on a project. This is a major purchasing decision and cannot be rushed. Therefore, we need to be aware of longer lead times when we follow up. For those who sell B2B, there are often multiple stakeholders involved in the decision making process.
There鈥檚 no exact formula for correctly spacing your follow-ups. In most circumstances, every day will be far too often, and once a month is not often enough. I find that once per week or so is appropriate in most circumstances.
The best thing you can do in terms of spacing out your follow-ups is to understand your prospect鈥檚 timeframe. For example, let鈥檚 imagine you鈥檝e hosted a product demo to introduce a prospect to your software solution. They say they will raise it with the Board at next week鈥檚 meeting. In this situation, following up with them the next day will only annoy them.
Here鈥檚 an extra tip for you: Take the guesswork out of follow-up timing with 探花精选's , which notifies you instantly when prospects engage with your emails. You can set reminders for yourself on your calendar to ensure you never miss the opportunity to follow up at the right time.
Even though you are a salesperson, your prospects don鈥檛 want to feel as though they are on the receiving end of an aggressive sales pitch. Hard selling simply does not work any more. Instead, you can get better results by engaging the prospect with each follow-up and ensuring you provide them with value.
In other words, it鈥檚 not about you or even about your product. It鈥檚 about them.
Here are some ways to provide value with your follow-ups:
Remember that 鈥渧alue鈥 does not have to be financial. You simply need to ensure that you are offering something useful to the person every time you speak to them.
One of the biggest follow-up mistakes salespeople make? Not clearly defining the next steps in the process with the prospect.
For example, if the prospect says they need time to discuss your offer with their team, agree to follow up with them a week or two later. If you鈥檝e held a successful product demo and they have expressed interest, arrange another call soon to move things along.
Be as specific as possible. 鈥淚鈥檒l call you next week鈥 is vague. 鈥淚鈥檒l call you on Wednesday 鈥 how鈥檚 9:30 for you?鈥 is much better.
If you鈥檙e following up by email, the subject line can make or break the success of your follow-up. As we鈥檝e previously discussed, senior executives and decision makers have hundreds, if not thousands, of emails in their inbox at any one time. Therefore, you need to grab their attention enough to make them want to open your email in the first place.
A generic subject line like 鈥淛ust checking in鈥 or 鈥渇ollow up鈥 won鈥檛 cut it. These are easy to ignore or send straight to the trash folder. Instead, you鈥檒l need to craft something enticing that will make them want to know what you have to say.
Perhaps the most important thing to do is personalize your subject line by using the recipient鈥檚 name. One study showed that this increased open rates by around 29%:
Here are some other follow-up subject line best practices to be aware of:
Remember that your first hurdle is to get them to open your email, so take the time to craft an irresistible subject line.
As we鈥檝e discussed, your prospects are busy people. They do not have time for rambling emails, long phone calls, or endless meetings. Instead, cut to the chase and keep your follow-ups brief and to the point.
An email follow up should be no more than about six lines in total length. And a follow-up telephone call should generally last no longer than around ten minutes.
Doesn鈥檛 sound very long? That鈥檚 because it isn鈥檛. You have only a short timeframe to grab your prospect鈥檚 attention and make them want to take action, so be direct.
You can鈥檛 keep following up forever. At a certain point, it becomes aggressive, pushy, or just pointless.
When is enough enough? It鈥檚 hard to say, because it depends on the circumstances. Some marketers recommend following up endlessly until you receive a definitive response. I do not subscribe to this model, personally.
Since 80% of successful sales require five follow-ups on average, I recommend using this as your baseline. Certainly send no more than six or seven in total. At a certain point, a lack of response is a no.
I recommend sending one final email before you stop contacting the prospect. This is known as the break-up email. If the prospect was interested but hadn鈥檛 got around to replying to you, this will spur them into action. If not, you have closed out the pitch and they know not to expect to hear from you again. Check out this post for sample break-up templates.
It goes without saying that you should stop following up immediately if the prospect comes back with a firm 鈥渘o鈥 or otherwise indicates a clear lack of interest. Continuing to contact them at that point is simply spamming.
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.
You might even be afraid to follow up in case you hear a definite 鈥渘o.鈥 But here鈥檚 something you should understand: a clear 鈥渘o鈥 is a gift. It means you can cross that prospect off your list, stop wasting time, and move on to someone who is interested in what you鈥檙e offering.
However, failing to follow up is one of the quickest ways to lose up to 80% of your potential sales. That鈥檚 an awful lot of revenue you鈥檙e not making. Therefore, stop being afraid of the follow-up. It is a crucial part of doing business.
I recommend reframing it in your mind. You鈥檙e not following up with the prospect to spam them, annoy them, or pressure them into making a purchase. Instead, you鈥檙e being persistent because you have a product or solution that can help them fulfill a need.
If you start to see following up as part of building a relationship with a prospective client, you鈥檒l come to understand its importance and stop being afraid of it. Good luck!