Sales are all about relationships and building long term relationships. 

Your goal is not to make a sale your goal is to acquire a customer.

A customer is someone who you build a relationship with, someone you provide solutions to problems for, someone you look to support and help over the long term.

Think about people or companies that you have bought from and were you just a sale to them or someone they wanted to build a relationship with.

Did they follow up, reach out after the sale?

Now, let's take a step back if you are reaching out to a prospect how often should you follow up an outreach email or call. 

For us, we like to show up every 5 days with value, something helpful, something that shows we are am interested in them and their business.

1. Communication

How should you communicate with your prospects?

Should you use email or phone or direct mail?

We use a combination of all three. Direct mail is something different. It sets you apart from what your opposition may be doing.

The combination of these forms of communication will depend on your audience, your product and what you want to achieve.

Let’s look at the pros and cons of these channels:

Emails

Emails are visual when compared to a phone call and give time for a prospect to think through what you’re stating. It can be bookmarked, labelled as “follow-up later” or “important”, or forwarded if the prospect feels like it could benefit their friends or colleagues.

Think about the number of emails you get in your inbox every day. Maybe 100 or 200. And how many of those do you actually read? 

Not a lot, just the ones that stand out to you and the ones from people you recognize. Any other message will probably get a quick subject-line glance followed by a trek to the archives, the spam folder, or the trash can. 

What you have to remember is that you may not get a response from your first email as inbox clutter is too common.

Be prepared to send multiple emails. 

You must give a lot of importance to the subject line, as it acts as the underlying factor to open your email or not.

Phone Calls

A phone call can easily grab a prospect’s attention and immediately establish you as a human being rather than a spam-bot. 

If you send an email and someone clicks the link you should give them a call. They have shown some interest in what you sent.

Prepare a script for your conversations so that you can determine if the prospect is worth building a relationship with.

A script will help you overcome objections, prepare for gatekeepers and keep you in control of the conversation. So work on your scripts and learn from every conversation. 

Keep testing and building your scripts so that you have a script that can be used by all your staff so you have a consistency of message. It will also give you a great tool for training new staff.

Have a script for voicemails as well. A voicemail gives you the opportunity to leave a specific message. Think about what you would say to a client if you had 30 to 40 seconds to speak without being interrupted. 

Direct Mail

Craft a sales letter to send to your prospect. This will give you the opportunity to stand out and do something different to your competition.

A well-crafted letter sent to your prospect will give you the ability to present your message or offer. Again you should test different letters to see which gives you the best results.

Combine All Three

Plan a schedule where you combine all 3 forms of communication

Start with a series of emails, then a phone call, then a direct mail piece then more emails.

We use a 90-day schedule for following up prospects. 

Look to add your prospect to your general email list.

Some people advise that you should break off after a period of time Our view is if you have taken the time to research and determine someone is a prospect then why not keep the value flowing. 

The use of software can make this process fairly simple and easy to implement plus you can schedule all your various contacts so that no one is forgotten.

2. Other Channels

Text messages: 

Nine out of ten texts are read within three minutes of delivery and are a fantastic medium for staying on the top of your prospect’s mind. 

You can have one-on-one conversations, follow-up for a demo after a call or to get them to convert. 

Social media: 

Interacting with prospects via social networks help develop an affinity to nudge a prospect towards chatting with you. 

So, connect and engage prospects on social channels through your posts. 

To really keep them engaged your posts should have a compelling CTA giving them a specific action to take. 

Referrals: 

If you can’t find your prospects via social media and cannot reach them through phone calls or email, you can simply talk to the sales team of the organization where your prospect works. 

Salespeople have a lot of influence in an organization, so getting a referral or introduction from them will help you close leads faster.

3. Provide New And Valuable Information

Most follow-up emails or calls don’t work because they sound like a sales pitch. 

Just like a marketing email, a sales follow-up requires an angle and a hook that makes it interesting to read or listen to.

If you want your prospects to engage in the conversation you’re trying to have, it’s on you to tailor it to what they need by providing relevant information. 

Your message must:

• First, focus on your prospect and their industry.
• Second, talk about their pain points, which ties to your product.
• Third, ask for something that‘s quick to complete, such as a short pre-scheduled call or a reference within their organization.

Share useful content, tell an entertaining story, or ask questions to keep the conversation going. 

Sending new and valuable information can increase conversion rates by 3 times.

4. End Each Conversation With A Clearly Defined Next Step

The best time to get a commitment to another discussion is at the end of each conversation. 

If the phone conversation went well with a prospect, get them to agree to take the next step. Since they have their schedules in front of them, capitalize on the moment and lock them down for a follow-up. 

If they ask for a proposal, ask them when they want to schedule a call to discuss it. And don’t let them get away with the good old “send it over and I’ll get back to you” line. Because once they leave without a commitment it becomes a game of cat and mouse.

5. Don’t Follow-Up Too Often

You want to get in touch with a prospect as soon as possible, which means calling them multiple times in a short period of time. But doing this can make you seem desperate and annoying. 

Create a follow-up schedule and stick to it. 

The schedule can differ based on your prospect’s location, the type of product or service you’re selling, or the season in which you call. 

Marketing automation software will allow you to schedule all the emails on a regular basis.

6. Be Persistent

If you haven’t got a response from your first phone and email combination, don’t give up.

Have your schedule. 

A number of studies have shown that it will take you at least 8 contacts before success. The majority of salespeople give up after 2 unsuccessful contacts don’t let this be you.

Continue to focus on offering a solution to a different problem that your product or service solves. 

Your third message could focus on one or two relevant materials from your blog that addresses a problem you think they’re experiencing. Make it clear you’re available to schedule a call to speak about their goals based on your expertise.

7. Work The Company, Not The Prospect

If you’re selling your product to small businesses, reaching out to one person could be enough. 

If you’re selling to larger organizations, multiple people are involved in the buying decision and you need to build relationships with all of them.

With all organizations, you must focus on differentiating your product or service from the hundreds of companies selling a similar product and emphasis on the support you provide post-sale.

Plus show that what you do it’s hard and that you are the only one capable of providing the solution. You have a unique point of difference which means you are the only logical choice.

8. Receiving No Response

When you have contacted the prospect a number of times you may try a break-up email. 

Here’s a draft break-up email you could try:

Hi Bill,

I’ve tried multiple times to get in touch with you via phone and email, and I hate to keep bugging you. If or when you’d like help finding {solution to problem}, let me know. 

For now, I’m closing your request for help. You can still get in touch with me at {phone number} and {email}.

Best,

Phil

Sending this email to unresponsive prospects almost always gets a response. Why?

It’s basic psychology. Prospects are busy people and they rely on you to keep trying to get in front of them. So, when you send the break-up email it reminds them you’ve tried to contact them, you’re closing the conversation, and it’s their last chance to get something, which motivates them to let you know whether or not they’re interested in your product.

Either way, the email is a good way to put the force of following up on your prospect.

You need to implement a follow-up system for your business. That way you have the consistency of message across your business and no customer or prospect will get left behind.

Persistence is the key to achievement. You don’t want to be wasting your time following up with customers who are not suitable so make sure when you do your initial research you identify clients that you want to do business with.

Persistence will deliver you results.  

Today there is no excuse with sending regular emails and following up as marketing automation will allow you to schedule regular emails.

You have the opportunity to test various emails to see which work. You can segment all your groups and test various emails to test which get the best results. 

So start today and begin your follow up

Photo by Artem Beliaikin on Unsplash

Photo by Adeolu Eletu on Unsplash

Photo by Alejandro Escamilla on Unsplash