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I am asked the question a lot of how often we should follow up with a prospect who’s not responding.
So they could be at any stage in the sales cycle, right? Maybe you’ve already got to the end and you’ve made a proposal, or maybe you’re just at the beginning and you’re trying to gain access to a first meeting.
My advice is always more often than you think.
I like to follow a formula that uses three different kinds of media for all of my follow ups.
Of course, voice mail is important, right? And I’m assuming that the person isn’t returning your call in these kinds of scenarios.
So I would call and leave a voicemail and I’d say, sorry I missed you.
I’m calling because I promised to reach you today, or I’m calling because we had a meeting scheduled or you promised to reach me…
very short.
Then I send an email.
Sorry I missed you as the subject tried calling today.
Sorry I missed you.
We’ll try you again in a couple of days.
I might also try a LinkedIn connection if I’m not already connected with them on LinkedIn.
And I’m going to follow that call and email – call first, email follow up so business days.
So, you know, I might start on Monday and then make a second call Wednesday or Thursday.
And then repeat that a third time and then wait a week.
Then I’m going to repeat the process again, and then I’m going to wait two weeks, and then I’m going to repeat the process again.
And then I’m going to wait three weeks.
And then I’m going to repeat the process again as a final approach.
But you can see that this is 6 or 7 different weeks of follow up.
Now you may need to follow up more than that, but for the average sales people you need to follow up at least that number of times.
But I will give you this tip…
If all of that follow up is happening because you’re trying to get one single person to call you back, then you’ve missed a golden opportunity to close this sale.
You’ve created a situation in which you are the gatekeeper.
Never put yourself in a situation where you rely on one single person to get access to the opportunity.
Call wide.
Always have somebody else to call on if your contact is ghosting you.
Always have someone higher or lower or on the sides of them to call in case you can’t get a return call.
Maybe that person is busy.
Maybe they’re on vacation.
Maybe they’re out sick.
Or maybe they’ve left the company and haven’t told you.
But if all your information is coming from that single source and you’ve created a gatekeeper in yourself, then your chances of closing the deal are down dramatically.
Don’t forget to check out: This Word Hurts Your Sales!