Chapter 8
Follow Up and Follow Through
Statistics suggest that we simply do not follow up enough times to give ourselves a good chance to make a sale or bring on a new business partner. According to MarketingUK, 80 percent of sales occur after the fifth contact (www.marketinguk.co.uk/Marketing/80-of-sales-occur-after-the-5th-contact-but-most-business-owners-only-reach-out-to-new-leads-2-or-3-times.asp). People around the industry often say the fortune is in the follow-up, but I would make a small change to that saying and suggest that the fortune is lost in the follow up.
In addition to a traditional follow-up meeting, here are some methods that will help you stay in touch with your potential customers and business partners:
- Send a short note (yes, I am talking about snail mail). You might even consider finding a brochure or picture of a dream or goal that your potential business partner spoke about.
- Leave a message. Call your potential business partner during a time that it is unlikely he or she will pick up the phone and just leave a short message, saying that you were thinking about him or her.
- Send an e-mail with an article or a special link. Remember that people receive a lot of e-mail every single day. Put some thought into your follow-up e-mail and don’t overdo it with a continuous flow of spam-like messages.
- Invite the potential business partner to lunch or a dinner party. This is a great way to get to know the person outside of business, and it shows that you are a real ...
