Don’t Give Up on Your Leads – Follow Up! | Sales Strategies

Salespeople notoriously do not follow up with leads that they are working on. They get distracted by new promising leads coming into the pipeline and they forget about the leads they are pursuing. Simply put, they give up too soon. They are concerned about being perceived as stalkers, resulting in the neglection of good leads.

What Should the Follow Up Strategy Be?

If the leads and opportunities you are working on have not yet made a decision—perhaps they forgot or have gone silent—your follow up plan needs to be professional, albeit assertive.

The Follow Up Plan I Utilize

In the first week, I call on day one, leaving a voice mail and sending an email as well. Two to three days later, I replicate the same process. However, I might substitute the email for a LinkedIn message just to be different. Now they have around six contacts from me over a seven or eight day period. You can extend it to nine, but that would be the maximum. I then take a week break and start the process again. Then, I take a two-week break and start the process once again. And then, I take a three-week break and start the process one more time.

If I still don’t get a response after that, my next and final email and voicemail is a professional way to take the business away. For example, I might say something such as, “[Lead name], I’m guessing this is a bad time for you. I don’t want to be a follow up pest. How about if I don’t hear from you by [a certain date of your choosing—ideally just a few days after], I will consider the file closed for now and you can reach out to me when the time is better.” When you tailor your message in that manner, you are giving the opportunity for the prospect to call you back, regardless if they are interested now or in the future. It’s professional, but assertive.

These follow up strategies will dramatically improve your closing ratios because you will be keeping more deals alive and people will start calling you back with a decision.