Today we’re going to talk about a skillset that many people are absolutely terrible at. It doesn’t matter if you’re a traditional networker, someone who’s really great at networking, or you are naturally a little bit reclusive and don’t feel comfortable around people. In either case this could be a skillset you desperately need to work on.
The skillset I’m talking about is following up, and I’m going to give you 10 tips for dominating follow-up and increasing revenue. Let’s get to it.
1. Face reality – there’s always room for improvement. Have you ever really looked at your follow-up strategy? Is it working or not? Figure out what you’re good at and where your weaknesses lie.
2. Monetize how much each lead is worth, whether it’s qualified or unqualified. Look at the lifetime value of a client. Before you get started, it’s important to know how much it’s costing you if you don’t follow up.
3. Establish the amount of touches before you begin following up. For example, if you know how much a prospect is worth, you can decide the proper number of times to follow up, whether it be 3, 7, 15, or more. The actual number depends on the long-term value of each client. Obviously, the higher the value, the more you should follow up. When you don’t have a number in mind, you’re likely to quit way too soon.
4. Establish different ways to follow up. Are you going to send a text message? Call? What about an email? If you’re on Twitter, are you going to send over a tweet? Or maybe you’ll just pop by their office. Mix up the different ways that you follow up with people. Have a plan, a strategy for following up.
5. Follow up immediately – ideally within two hours. This one tip alone can make you a LOT of money, even if you simply call and say, “I’m in between clients, and I just wanted to touch base. Can you talk later today or first thing tomorrow?” Those first few hours, in my opinion, establishes everything for the future.
6. Schedule time in the week to follow up. Mark off a block on your calendar, because most likely this is more important than networking. The time you invest in following up will almost always give you a better return, so make sure you prioritize it.
7. If you just can’t get it done and you know it, outsource or have assistants follow up for you.
8. Work on your head first. If your mindset isn’t in the right place and you’re scared to follow up, or you have some other deep-seeded reason for not following up, fix that first. Or else it doesn’t matter how much we talk about strategy.
9. Have fun with it! Create a game. Have a follow-up contest with someone in your industry, and you’ll both be motivated to try harder.
10. If you have a sales team, make sure the people on it are following these tips too.
So if you want to increase revenue, this is one of the quickest and least expensive ways to do it. Go out, make it happen, and have fun today!
