NEVER get off the phone without the next step planned. NEVER. The money is in the follow up and you’ve got to get good at this. In fact, the better you get at it, the more money you will make. Period. End of Story. Plain truth!
OK, got that? Now for the nuts and bolts. Prospects will rarely, if ever, call you back, even if they’re screamingly interested. Seems odd, I know, but it’s so true. So, the job is yours, always. I remember once doing a 3-way with a man on my team, and the call was to one of his best buddies. It had been more than 2 weeks since he got his friend some information.
When we called the first thing his friend said was: Man, I was wondering when you were going to call me – I loved the info you sent over, I’ve got a ton of questions! We got his questions answered, and he got started in our business. After the call my guy said to me: Wasn’t that weird? Why didn’t he call me? We’re really good friends. I don’t have the answer to that question, but I’ve seen it happen time and time again.
Over the years I got very good at follow up, and my goal was always to get an answer, either yes or no, and because I was building for the long-term, I was OK with someone taking weeks or even months to make the right decision. If someone is serious about building a business with as much potential as we offer, it can be a big business decision, and that’s not necessarily something that happens overnight. Especially if you’re bringing the idea to someone who wasn’t necessarily looking – in that case the idea has to grab them, but the timing also has to be right.
By being professional and continuing to follow up regularly without pressuring anyone or being attached to when they make a decision, you can really make a great impression that in some cases, will lead to people deciding to be in business with you.
So MANY times I’ve called and followed up with a prospect multiple times only to have them say they hadn’t had a chance to review the information. And, it genuinely wasn’t lack of interest, but lack of time.
Sometimes it’s not that the presentation is so time consuming, it’s that the person has to get in the right frame of mind to digest the information. My response when someone hadn’t looked yet was always the same: ‘No Problem. Hey, I don’t want to pressure you, I totally understand. If you’re still intending to look, I’m happy to give you a call back. What’s a good amount of time – just tell me and I’ll put it in my calendar’. I put it in my calendar, and I always called back exactly when I said I would. I wanted them to know if they decided to get in business with me that I was reliable and prompt – it’s a great way to build your brand.
I’ve gotten great feedback – people really appreciate being treated considerately, and professionally. I’ve literally had people get into business with me because of my friendly and considerate follow up. The reason I was able to do it so well so often is because I really was rarely attached to the outcome with any one particular person.
And, it helps if you’ve got a plan and enough people to talk to as part of that plan. If you’re only in conversation with a couple of people, what each of them does is way more important than if you’re in conversation with 10 or 20. So, talking to more people not only works in your favor because the numbers are in your favor, but it’ll make the difference psychologically and that’s probably 80% of the game for most of us.
When you do get to the point when the person has reviewed your information and is ready to ask questions – be sure you listen to what they’re asking and answer that question specifically. People have different concerns, and you want to make sure you’re addressing what’s important to them, not what’s important to you.
For example, you might make your decision based on the product, or on whether you feel you’re helping people with your business. Someone else might make a decision based on how much money they can make or what marketing tools are available. Someone else might be interested in what kind of support they’re going to get. Focus on what’s important to them.
It’s critical that at the end of each contact with your prospect (on the phone, in person, by email) you set up the next contact or event. Are you going to get them a website? Perhaps arrange a 3 way call? Set it up, and stick to it. Always ask them whether they’re ready to make a decision and if not, what other information would be useful to them to help them decide whether this is something they want to pursue.
And, remember not everyone is a fit, so you need the NOs as much as you need the YESes. Sure, you want to get ‘yes’ often, but statistically, you’ll hear ‘no’ more, so be grateful to those people who say no, because they get you closer to the ‘yes’. And, when someone does say no, always be gracious, and ask these two questions ALWAYS: do you know anyone else that might be interested? Would it be appropriate for me to be in touch down the road – say in a few months, or even six months or a year?
That one question has gotten me a ton of business and has often surprised me, because only once or twice out of literally thousands of people have I had someone say NO don’t keep in touch. What’s fascinating about that is it means they are interested, just not right now. But they almost never say that. So, I get the time period, and I put it in my calendar and I call them back. I make good notes so I remember what was going on with them so when I call in six months I can say: when we talked in January, you were swamped with your move and you asked me to call back some time in the summer….
Fortunes are made in being in touch, down the road and over time. I also ask: would you be open to receiving periodic emails from me if they weren’t too often or too lengthy? I’ve never had anyone say no to that.
Get an auto responder mailing system. It’s one of the best and cheapest marketing tools you can use. You can be in touch regularly, and it’s all on autopilot. Write some brief emails, or get them from someone you’re working with who’s already got something working for them, put them in the system and you’re good to go.
The cool thing is the prospect keeps hearing from you and it feels very personal, like you’re building a relationship with just them. I’ve had people call me months after they’d been getting emails from me and comment on some personal detail that I’d forgotten about. They’d say something like: You know, when you sent that email about how your product helped that one lady, that really got to me, and then I started paying attention to all the emails you sent….
People see your message enough and they finally start to feel like you’re real, this is solid and maybe it’s something they need to pay attention to or make time for. And, if some of your news is about your product, and you include some testimonials, brief videos, anything easy to look at, you may well get a new customer before you get a new business partner. It’s win-win. And especially if you’re buying leads, using an auto responder is a great way to really get much more out of your investment, because you WILL get more people over time than you’ll ever get just calling through your list.
I’ve worked with about a dozen auto responder companies over time and my favorite is aweber. Their customer service is phenomenal and your prospects don’t get kicked out of the system and lost for no reason like they do with some of the other top name systems. Here’s a link to try it for 30 days for $1 – and it comes with a 30 day money back guarantee. You can’t beat that: http://aweber.com/?329847
Finally, Great Follow Up boils down to these points:
- Be businesslike
- Do what you say you will
- Show up on time
- Stay the Course
- Don’t be attached to the outcome – follow up until you get a yes or a no
- Use an auto responder so you’re in touch with your prospect (essentially) forever
Keep a long term mentality
Remember, the Fortune IS in the follow up. Marketing research shows that most people don’t take action on any idea until it’s come to them in one form or another a minimum of 7-9 times. So, be persistent, focused and businesslike and your results will move from mediocre to out-of-the-park.
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