A two-step magic formula for excellent follow up with prospects

Following up with people who express an interest in your services can make a tremendous difference in your bottom line. I call these prospects “low-hanging fruit”. That’s because they have already shown some interest in what you do which makes them more valuable to your business than others who haven’t. Makes sense right?

So, you want to follow up with these inquiries and stay in touch. But how you do this is very important because you don’t want them to feel pressured. You don’t want to bug them or follow up unnecessarily. For example, you don’t want to contact a person every two weeks, asking, “Are you ready? Are you ready?” No one wants that.

Mostly, follow up depends on the person. I’ve been asked this for more than 10 years and I know that some entrepreneurs want a system to handle these strong prospects. That’s why I recommend checking in using a variety of methods.

1. Invite prospects to have a get acquainted conversation. After the two of you speak, if she or he doesn’t make the decision to work with you, ask when the right time is to follow up. I call this “book-ending” which gives you permission to call back and check in.

2. Put prospects who don’t sign up during the initial get acquainted session on your “low-hanging fruit” list to be contacted periodically in the future in any of the following ways.

• Send prospects a “just checking in” email once a quarter to remind them you are there when they are ready. - Invite them to other talks or free teleclasses you are offering so they can get to know you better. - Add prospects to your “warm letter” campaign sharing business updates, testimonials and success stories from happy clients. - Send an occasional note via snail mail with an article the person might be interested in. This is a great way to connect on a personal level.

The key to excellent follow up is that your tactics need to be soft and non-pressuring. You don’t want prospects to feel like they are in a “system”. You want the process to feel more organic and provide gentle reminders that you are there when they are ready.

Your Client Attraction Assignment:

How is your follow up going? If you want to make the process more systematic, then select the methods you will use and be consistent. Just know that sometimes the process needs to be flexible to maintain a no-pressure approach.