5 Ways To Follow Up Better and Grow Relationships
Learn to Be Remarkable at the Follow Up
I like to think of sales as the ability to gracefully persuade, not manipulate, a person or persons into a win-win situation.
Bo Bennett
How to Grow Sales With the Follow Up
One of the reasons that many marketers are missing the mark with their networking efforts is that they simply neglect to follow up afterwards.
It really is quite simple if you think about it.
You go through all that effort to start a business relationship, you get all the contact information and create engaging conversation, you even discuss meeting up again in the near future, but for whatever reason - that follow up call doesn't materialise in a timely manner.
The conversation runs cold or dry, and the progress that was made is all but gone.
Reaching out to a contact is so easy many marketers miss the mark here and simply focus on more challenging issues.
Here are some simple tips for learning how to be remarkable at the follow up:
1. The Same Day Follow Up
The ideal situation for calling back your contact is a few hours after the meeting. While that initial meeting is still fresh on their mind, give them a quick call.
Too many marketers wait a few days or even a week to follow up with a call, but the contact has already shifted their attention on to other pressing issues. There are going to be hundreds of things that need your attention each day, the same is true for your contact. You can not expect them to remember your conversation days later after having dealt with so many other issues.
A simple call will go a long way in growing that relationship.
2. Recalling Something Important
If there was a particular highlight of that conversation, bring it up during the follow up call.
It might have been as simple as the two of you having a common friend or acquaintance, but remind your contact about the subject so they can easily connect again with you. If you were able to create an emotional connection with your contact, this call can be especially powerful. If you can evoke some memory from the initial meeting you can easily nudge that person to respond or read the email you are sending.
3. Creating Immediate Value
If you can create value for the other person in the follow up, you won half the battle.
Being able to show value will set you apart from all the other people trying to get this persons attention today. Whether that value is in savings they will make long term by working with you or simply the fact they like working with you as a person, highlighting the benefit will make this process go much easier. The contact almost feels obligated to help you because the connection is so strong.
4. Social Media Follow Up
If you want to give the contact a way to connect with you on a more personal level, reach out to them through one of your social media profiles.
This way you can make the follow up and leave them with the chance to look around on their own time and get to see what you are really about. A contact can learn quite a lot about a person by simply interacting on the social profile.
Send them a friend request through your most used social platform so you can interact with them in a timely way if they do respond via that forum. Your contact will learn more about your strengths and how you conduct business more from looking at your profile that your words could ever say.
5. Scheduling the Next Meeting
The first meeting is the most challenging for several reasons.
Now that you have your foot in the door, the next meeting is much easier.
You have developed some rapport with the new contact, so now you need to strengthen that new relationship by setting up your next meeting. Choose a meeting time that is beneficial for your contact, and confirm the time and date in a follow up message.
Keeping that momentum going is the key to growing this relationship.
Most networkers drop the ball here, they do all that initial leg work, then simply sit back and wait for the contact to come running to them. Your contact is busy in their own world, so if you think sitting on your hands is a good strategy, you are going to be waiting a long time.
Keep the ball rolling and reach out to meet again.
ARE YOU GROWING YOUR BUSINESS WITH PERSONAL NETWORKING?
At Roundhouse, we understand that trusted relationships and working effectively with people one to one - are the cornerstone of every successful business. Every person you meet has the potential to become a lifelong customer - or recommend your services to their network. If you would like to learn more about the value of personal networking and the follow up, please get in touch for an informal chat.
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If you enjoyed reading this article, you may also enjoy the following:
1. Social Networking for Business
2. 3 Ways to Leverage the Power of Social & Mobile Marketing
3. 3 Ways to Boost Your Social Media Marketing with Hashtags
Roundhouse - The Creative Agency
Author - Saul Edmonds
Connect with Saul Edmonds on Linkedin here