FOLLOW-UP

FOLLOW-UP

Most everyone has heard of the monumental importance of follow-up in sales and business as a whole. There isn't much to add which hasn't already been said. Nevertheless, in the spirit of words from Alex Hormozi, "Most times humans don't need educating, but rather reminding."

*General Note: The below statistics are a rule of thumb and will vary based on sales skills, and individual circumstances."

1). VOLUME OF FOLLOW UP

It is a fool's errand to believe that prospects will be closed on the first touch. This begs the question of what touch they will be sold on. On average 95% of sales that close, are reached on the sixth follow-up and on. Paradoxically, however, roughly 45% of salespeople quit after the first outreach. In my opinion, one of the main reasons for this is that the salesman eventually loses touch with what the market is doing. What I mean by that, is this: less than 5% of prospects are actually in the market to buy or sell. That number is irrespective of whether or not they expressed interest in your goods or service. Interestingly, 56 or so percent of leads will bite but are not there yet. The remainder of the lead pool is not going to buy no matter what you do - it's on them.

Despite this, there is such a thing as hitting a lead too many times. The last thing you want to do is irritate them, or worse to come off as desperate. Doing so is shoving your conversion rate in front of a train.

So, where does the just-right goldilocks bowl of follow-up frequency lie? Part of it will depend on the industry and product, but as a rule once every 24 hours for the first week is solid pacing. For the second week, reach out once every 48-72 hours. Past that, attempt to get a hold of them once a week. I know people who closed deals after following up for over a year. If you have a good product, it really does work.

2) SPEED TO CONTACT

The latency between a lead entering your pipeline and it having first outreach should be measured and monitored. Per the Kellogg School of Management, reaching out within the first 5 minutes will increase your likelihood of closing the deal by 341% compared to an hour-long response time. Responding in the first 60 seconds increases the closing odds by 500%. Inside the first hour of getting a fresh lead, your chance of getting ghosted goes up by 10% for every 5 minutes you wait. Speed is critical because you are not the only company the prospect is reaching out to. The more fishermen who have lines in the water, the harder it is for you to catch one fish.

People have a psychological bias to do business with the first person they speak to. About a 240% bias. That said, make sure you have the first line cast.

3) BEST PRACTICES

When calling a number for the first time, always double-tap it. Many individuals I know who do this professionally call three times, because it works. ALWAYS LEAVE A VOICEMAIL, include the callback number as well because some people's phones will not display that. You can also leave this voicemail in the form of a text. Different angles yield more opportunity. Finally, make sure that you have an alternative email and phone number to do outreach from. Occasionally your phone may be marked as spam from a carrier, or be blocked by a prospect. Having a Google voice number will obviate this from killing a deal.

I will close this somewhat disjointed write-up with a phrase I first heard from Vince Del Monte on an Apogee call. "The fortune is not in the follow-up, it is in the frequency of the follow-up."