The Secret to Strategic Lead Follow-Up

Are you tired of losing leads? Do you find yourself scrambling at the last minute to get your prospects on the phone?

Follow-up is the key to a great sales cycle, and yet it's often overlooked. This guide will help you take back control of your leads and turn more of them into clients!

Follow-up is a way to show you care.

The most important thing you can do is follow-up. It’s a way to show your customers that you care about them and their business.

If you’re not following-up with your service leads, then it means that you aren't interested in helping them out. This will make them feel like they are just another lead for your company and not special enough to receive assistance from a specific salesperson or team.

It's all in the timing.

There's a lot of advice floating around about follow-up. Some say that the most important thing to do is follow up quickly. Others say that delaying your follow-up will help you stand out from the competition. But these points are all valid, so how do you know when to take action?

It's all in the timing!

A good follow up should....

Be personalized and relevant. It’s important to follow up in a timely manner, but you also want to make sure that the timing of your messages are appropriate for your audience.

If someone is really busy with a client and can only check their email every 30 minutes, don’t send them a message asking if they can schedule an appointment with you. Instead, wait until they have finished their current task and then reach out again at that time.

Follow up should focus on the customer's needs and value of working with you, not just on getting another meeting or sale right away. Think about what motivated them in the first place. Was it price? Was it convenience? How can you continue to show how valuable your products or services are going forward?

Don't underestimate the power of following up through a direct social media message.

Have you heard the saying, "it all goes down in the DMs"? Well, these days it does (depending on your target audience). Some target audiences check their direct messages on social media more than their email inbox.

If you haven't already, make sure your social media platforms are set up to send and receive direct messages. This way, when someone sends you a message via Facebook or Twitter (or Instagram), the DM icon will appear on your profile page so that others can see it.

If you're sending direct messages to potential customers, make sure they know how to find you. Be sure to include your website or social media handle in any message so that people can easily follow up with more information or questions.

If you're using the direct message to follow up with leads, be sure to use it as a way to keep in touch. Don't just send an automated DM that says something like "Hey there! Hope this helps." Instead, try sending a personal note that shows you’re interested in what the person has been up to lately. This can help nurture relationships and build trust—a surefire way to get people closer to becoming customers.

Reiterate your value by discussing how you fit into their business model.

Send them a short, simple email asking if you can get together to discuss how your products or services can help them. Be specific about what it is you want to talk about and why it’s important for them to do so now.

If you get a positive response, try to set up a quick meeting or phone call.

If you don’t hear back right away, wait a few days and follow up with another email asking if they received your initial email or would like to set up a time to talk.

Ask open-ended questions to continue the conversation.

You can't just ask "How are you?" and expect to learn anything. You need to get your customer talking about their experiences, goals and challenges.

Some great open-ended questions include:

• What do you like about our service?

• What do you wish we could change about our service?

• What do you think we should do differently?

• What is your biggest challenge right now?

• How can we help with that?

• What were the outcomes from our last meeting/call/email?

• Was there anything in particular you liked or disliked about them?

Provide helpful and relevant resources and information.

You want to provide your customer with the tools and information they need to be successful. If they're struggling with a problem, send them helpful links or articles that might help them solve it.

If they have questions about your product or service, show them how it works in action! Provide resources that will help them see your value. You can:

• Provide links to articles, videos and other resources that can help them.

• Provide information on upcoming events, webinars and other educational opportunities.

• Provide them with a list of helpful resources that you have found valuable.

Make yourself easily accessible.

It's a sad fact that many service professionals don't provide their phone number, email address and social media accounts in their lead follow-up systems.

By doing so, they are making it hard for potential clients to find them when they need them. If you want to get more business from leads that come through your system, don't be afraid to give them a call or send them a message when you have time.

Don't leave things up to chance. After all, if the customer is not contacting YOU then there's no chance at all!

Follow up with your leads quickly!

You can be as strategic as you want to be with your follow-up, but if you don't follow up quickly, it will all be for naught. Service professionals need to step up and get after it when it comes to following up with leads.

This isn't just a good practice because it's polite and professional—it's also what will keep your sales pipeline full of new opportunities.

The longer you wait before following up with leads, the less likely they are going to end up buying from you or referring others. So make sure that when they're still interested in hearing more about what your company does, give them the information they need!

Here are some things to keep in mind:

• A good follow up should reconfirm the lead's interest by speaking to the value that you offer, and ask open-ended questions to continue the conversation. For example: "Can I ask what is most important to you when looking for a handbag?" or "What type of bag do you usually carry?"

• Provide additional resources and information that are helpful and relevant for your business' industry or niche. These could include blogs or articles about trends in handbag design or even links to similar products on other websites like Etsy where people can buy handmade goods from individuals (which may be better suited for those who aren't ready yet).

Conclusion

Follow-up is a critical skill to hone and perfect as a service professional. If you are able to find the right balance between being persistent and being too aggressive, then you will be able to convert more leads into customers. The key thing is that following up with your leads should be an ongoing process, not just something that happens once at the beginning of the sale cycle.