Following up on prospects

Should I ask a prospect when and how I should follow up with them?

Great question! If you have the opportunity to ask for a follow-up, take it. Asking your prospect for a follow-up will increase the odds that they’ll respond. If you have them acknowledge your upcoming follow-up in person, they’ll feel more obligated to get back to you later.

During the meeting, I like to say something like: “What is the best way for us to keep in touch? I’m guessing you get 200-300 emails a day like I do. Is email the best way to contact you? Is there something I can put in the subject line that will help my emails stand out?”

By asking permission to follow up, you lower your odds of being an annoyance. But most importantly, you hear right from the horse’s mouth what the most effective way to reach them is.

This gets many steps ahead on your follow-up. You’re not just focusing on how to conclude a meeting when you’re on your sales call, you’re also paving the way to future follow-ups that you’re going to have with this prospect.

Just ask your prospect what works best for them and they will usually just tell you.

The key is paying attention to what works for a given prospect, and just doing that thing. I once had a customer that I figured out I could always catch at like 5:15 in the evening on a Friday, because that was the only time she was free. I’ve had other customers that would have been 3 drinks deep at the bar by then, but she was available.

I actually made a video on how to follow up after a meeting that covers the dos and don’ts of sales follow-ups. You can check it out here: https://www.badgermapping.com/blog/sales-follow-up-guide

Thank you Steve!

I have tried applying your feedback this week by asking if they would like me to follow up on them. I noticed that they appreciated me asking and some even set an appointment at a time that was most convenient for them.

Asking for permission really changed the way how they received my email or my phone call.

Thank you for these tips!

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Good points! I also keep my notes on each prospect very clear and updated because everyone works differently like you said. Some of my customers like to only talk on the phone so if I email them, they will just not see it. For all of my customers/prospects I have a section in Badger called “contact preference” where I put that information.