If you want to go to dinner and the movies with your friends, you need to make plans and then follow up to make sure it happens. If you want to play tennis or baseball you need to make some calls, coordinate everyone and follow up. If you go to a conference and meet a few prospects, in order to turn that into revenue and a new client you need to follow up. When you are in the middle of a client presentation and one of your contacts asks a question that you might not be 100% sure of the answer, you need to follow up in a timely fashion. If not, your customer service will take a hit and frankly your contact will probably be unhappy.
To me it’s all about follow up. You interview for a job. Send a follow-up email/letter. You win a project . . . send a follow-up email/letter. You lose a project . . . the same thing should happen. Someone gave you a birthday present . . . Guess what? Follow up.
The question is, how is your follow-up?
- Are you really good at it?
- Do you have some best practices you could share?
- Do you have friends that you make plans with and they never follow up and you never see them?
- How do you feel when you give a gift and there isn’t any follow up?
- How are your vendors/partners follow-up skills?
I look forward to reading your comments.
Fee Sepahi says:
Hi Merrill,
Yet another great topic on this day when the Phillies will “follow-up” their 2008 World Series win, with a clinch of the NLCS
This is one of those skills that I struggle with, every day. In the personal realm I do ok as far as setting plans, keeping dates, etc. When it comes to trade shows and networking events, I’m at a loss, even though there are tools (CRM, Outlook etc.), to help with this particular task, and is an area where it is critical, as our company and my revenue stream depend on it! I seek ongoing training and look for mentors and further development, constantly.
I have run across reps that are incredible, especially this one online vendor, as I would think of something I needed to buy and he would be on the phone, before my thought was through. He moved and on and his replacements just didn’t have the same notion, which made me think it was him and not the system they had in-house.
I do get annoyed when I send an email with an action item, or request for receipt or an estimate or quote, that the recipient does not respond and find myself calling and that doesn’t always land right, as I think I’m pestering…
It’s an ongoing dialogue and I hope to read some tips that will make this process more fluid!
Thank you as always,
Fee
Lynn Kelly says:
Hi Merrill – We’re good at it. We use Conference Reports after all major meetings and telecons to document decisions and who needs to follow up on what. The Report goes to everyone in the conference. (of course, this doesn’t necessarily ensure that everyone does their part – and then the Project Manager becomes the nudge.) Also, our weekly status reports track progress and what’s the priority for the week on each project. These reports go to the client and our project team. They also keep me informed on what’s hot for the week in house. Sounds like a lot of paperwork? Not really. These are lifesavers when a multi-phase project can extend for six months. And appreciated by clients – so they know where we are on their projects!!
Best,
Lynn
Bo Mullan says:
Hi M,
I hear you loud and clear. Having come from the east coast where follow up is a way of life, and now living on the west coast where flaky is a way of life, it does take some getting used to. The interesting thing is when you follow up out here people are often very surprised, and sometimes actually think you are being a bit of a freak. They often don’t know how to take it and you get one eyebrow raised as a result of your timely follow up. For example, dating norms dictate that you don’t follow up right away, and when you do, make sure it is half ass. Break that rule and you run a major risk of scaring off the other party. My point is the west coast can be so laid back, where if you follow up too aggressively, you will often freak people out, so following up on the left coast is as much an art as is a science.
Best,
Bo