Always Follow Up

Perhaps one of the biggest complaints I hear is some version of “We left them a message, but they never called us back.” It is self-deluding to assume that prospects will call you back, although you can be pleasantly surprised on the occasions when they do. It is far more effective to assume prospects will not call back. Because you are selling a product or service, the responsibility for making a connection and then following up on it is solely yours.

The task of identifying prospects, assembling appropriate contact information, and identifying an actual level of interest requires far too great an investment of resources to allow success to depend on the whim of busy people. Generally, the prospects will have every intention of returning a call but simply become sidetracked by other responsibilities. Put yourself in a prospect's shoes. Prospects are constantly interrupted, distracted, or confronted with unforeseen emergencies and have to prioritize their time accordingly. Returning sales calls may not be high on their to-do lists. It isn't that they aren't interested; they just need you to pursue them to keep the dialogue going.

If a client doesn't call back, never take offense or assume interest isn't there. You don't want to read anything into it. As far as you know, the client could be busy, out of the office, or sick. A better follow-up model is to reach out every day to see if you can catch clients at their desks and a couple times a week just to leave a message. “Hi, this is so and so with XYZ Company. I left you a voice mail the other day, and I don't know if you got a chance to get to it. I was calling because….” You can end the message with a brief reminder about the discussion you had or what it was that generated the initial interest. When you finally make contact, the client will know who you are. Your voice-mail serves the purpose of letting clients know you are trying to connect and it keeps your name fresh to them. They may or may not call back—but don't give up.

Another good practice is to date stamp your calls so you know where you are with the prospect. Don't quickly set a prospect aside until you have made contact, no matter how many attempts you have to make. Sometimes you'll find that prospects are passive in their efforts to connect with you, but there is still an opportunity there. If you know they have interest, but you are having a hard time reaching them, just “zero out” to their assistants and ask if they are around this week; you may find out they aren't. Executives are busy people. Continue reaching out until they call back or you reach them at their desks. Don't leave anyone hanging. Passivity on your end is a key to failure.

One of my clients is a very large network services provider and one of the sales reps asked me how we get people to call her back. She was amazed at how we could get through to people whom she was unable to reach. I told her that we call every day and leave a couple voicemails a week. Within a few days of adopting this approach, she connected with someone who had been very difficult to reach and had discussed the opportunity she was pursuing. He actually returned her call—proving that consistent effort gave her the result she wanted. Remember, it is not the prospect's responsibility to make the contact happen, it is yours.

How consistent is your follow up? Do you follow up on all your leads?

© 2013 Laura Lowell