How much is too much to Follow up? I get this question a lot. People are worried about doing it too much or too little. Are you being too harassive, or are your clients left wondering what happened to you? How can you find the sweet spot for your business and clientele?
Rule of Thumb
I have a general rule of thumb, but I do think it’s dependent on your business and each individual that you’re working with. Once you’ve engaged with a client, they’ve called you or reached out, maybe opted into something on your website, I reach out then. After a phone call or meeting, I always send a follow-up message reiterating what was discussed and next steps. This helps to keep us both accountable as well as set proper expectations. Sometimes we can hear something completely different than what was said, so it’s important to keep things clear. From there, if the ball is in their court, I will follow up 2-5 more times, with 3 being my typical go-to number.
What kind of Follow up?
Determining what makes sense for the situation is next. An email, text, phone call could be a sufficient way to touch base, but I always ask my clients what they prefer. If they don’t say, I use the medium that they’ve used with me. If they’ve emailed me, I email them, if they prefer to text, I will text them. Stick to the medium that makes sense for the situation as well. If you have a long-winded thought, a call or email might make more sense than a text.
I’m not a Stalker
I realize following up can feel a bit stalker-ish, but if you are providing value in the touchpoints, then your clients will be happy to hear from you. “Hey, just following up?!” It might not be the best way to approach it. Something more like, “You mentioned Wednesday might be good for a meeting, does that date still work for you? 3:30 pm at Starbucks works on my end.” If you’re at a loss for what to say, use what you’ve learned from your initial meeting to send them something thoughtful. They mentioned they are going to the mountains in a couple of weeks, send them a restaurant you heard was good. You don’t have to know yourself from experience, just read trip advisor or google to find one. IT’s really simple to create thoughtful engagement with your prospects.
They’re Ghosting Me
This happens, you might have followed up 3 times or five times with absolutely no responses. In this instance, I put them on a list so they receive a monthly update or quarterly update from me. This allows me to be top of mind for when they are ready to buy/move forward with our communication.
