follow up

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Familiar Prospects? – Don’t Follow Up with Them

February 22, 2010 in Advice | 2 comments

Busy Businessman on Cell Phone

Have you found yourself in this scenario?

1. You meet someone who is familiar with your business.
2. They ask you for more information.
3. You follow up, answering their questions.
4. Prospect stops following up.
5. You worry you will lose their interest.
6. You bombard them with emails and phone calls.
7. Still no response.
8. You lose a potential new partner.

I have found myself in that situation on several occasions. What I've learned is that sometimes NOT following up works just as well. I had a new prospect contact me not too long ago who was already familiar with my business. This person asked several questions and I made sure to follow up promptly.

After some time, I didn't hear from this person. I decided to try something different from my usual follow up routine. Since this person was already familiar with the business, I felt there was no need to persuade with information overload. Sometimes we are overly eager and give out way too much information. The natural tendency is to follow up too much because the thought of no response makes you feel rejected.

After a week or so, this prospect followed up with me again and was ready to start their own business within my network. This person thanked me for not being pushy and giving time to make a decision.

You see, people who are already familiar with what you do will do comparison shopping. They may reach out to others who do the same thing to get a feel for who they want to work with in the long run. Other people may have been pushy and continued to press for someone to join their network. Often, that tactic pushes people away.

When someone makes it clear that they have an idea about your business, you shouldn't treat them as someone who has never heard about it before. Following up with prospects who have never heard of your business should be handled differently. Give a someone who is familiar more time to make their decision.

Chances are they are doing more research and if you are disrupting them during this process, they will not view you as someone pleasant to work with. Put yourself in their shoes. While it is exciting to think that you could possibly have someone new in your network, sometimes you need to step back and let the person come to their own decision.

Constantly following up is not always the best answer.

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Get Over Your Fear of the Phone and Call Your Leads

August 27, 2009 in Marketing | No comments

Even if you get most of your leads from the internet or through word-of-mouth, eventually you may have to follow-up with individuals over the phone. I don't believe in cold-calling but I still have to call leads when they request for me to call them. Often, I even ask if they would like to discuss details further over the phone.

At first I would be really nervous about following up over the phone. It was all new to me and I felt like I was stepping out of my comfort zone to call a stranger. I still get nervous when calling someone but not as much as before. Below is how I helped myself to get over the fear of the phone call follow-up.

Don't Stress Over What to Say

In the beginning, I would worry so much about how the conversation would go. I'd wonder what to say if this question is asked or that question is asked. You can't stress over what will be said. You can't predict a person's questions. The best thing you can do is have confidence in your knowledge of the business and be yourself. Remember that most people love to talk about themselves so when you have the person on the phone, ask "get to know you" questions. Ask where they are located, what the currently do, etc. Eventually they will bring up questions about the business and then just take it from there.

It's Your Business - Be a Leader

Change your attitude about your business. It's easy to get into the mentality of wanting to beg this person to sign up. You don't want to come across desperate and only after a new sign-up. This is a business and treat it as such. You don't want a somewhat interested person joining your team. You want a highly motivated individual who has the same goals you do when it comes to running the business. Take charge and be a leader in your business.

Enjoy Getting to Know Someone New

When you call up a new lead, enjoy the process of getting to know them. This makes it fun to speak with them because you are genuinely interested in what they have to say. This will come through in the conversation and chances are they will feel the trust factor they may have been looking for. Having a pleasent personality and caring about what the person on the other end has to say will make the chance of them joining your team increase significantly.

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Don’t Let That Person Get Away

August 26, 2009 in Uncategorized | No comments

One thing that I've learned so far since I've been a network marketer is to not take a new lead for granted. Yes, you will run into people who ask for more information and then blow you off after you have given it to them. Yet, there are those you will get in contact with who are truly interested in the opportunity.

Once you get into the hang of things, you will begin to get requests for more information and you'll need to do some following up. Below are some tips to take advantage of every lead that you get.

An Email Request for More Information

If you get an email requesting more information, respond to it as soon as possible. A good way to save time is to have a basic email template which briefly describes your opportunity and personalize it for each person. At the end of your reply, ask if they would like to chat over the phone or if they have any more questions. End the email with some type of call to action so that the urgency is there to at least reply to you even if they are not interested.

Phone Call Follow-Ups

If your lead says yes to a phone call, find out when a good time would be to call them. Keep in mind the time differences depending on their location. It helps if you set a specific time, however, if they tell you anytime is fine, try to call before or after dinner hours. If you call at an inconvenient time, ask for another time to call or have them call you when they have the chance. Most people have cell phones and free long distance so they may not mind calling you back at their convenience.

Following Up After an Initial Phone Call

If you call and they are unable to speak with you at the moment, be sure to send a follow up email thanking them for their time and letting them know that they can contact you anytime. Let the person know that you are available by email, instant messenger, phone, etc. Make it as easy as possible for them to reach you and get the information that they need. If they are truly interested, they will reach out to you again.

Don't be tempted to blow off a potential lead. It's easy to think that they are not truly interested but chances are they really want to learn more. The one you let get away could have been a shining star for your team. Make contact and follow up!

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Replying to Email Leads

August 17, 2009 in Marketing | No comments

Since I've set up my main business web site, every now and again, I will receive an email via my contact form asking for more information about the business. So far I have written out a general response and of course with each email, I personalize it and ask my own questions in my reply. However, the overall information is pretty much the same.

Some people do not reply once I've responded and some do reply with further questions or to let me know they are not interested. It led me to wonder if I am giving out too much information or not enough. I do my best not to come across "salesy" because all they are asking for is for more info, not a sales pitch.

How Much is Too Much Information?

In my replies for more information, I start off by explaining more about the company such as its history and what they are about. I briefly touch on what is required to run the business and how you can make money. I keep the email fairly short because I've learned in a webinar that you should let third party tools do all of the marketing.

That means leave it to the videos, web sites, etc. to explain everything. I kept that in mind as I created my reply message but maybe I am still providing too much information. I'm debating on whether or not to make the message even shorter and link to a video which explains it much better.

The problem that I may run into with that, is that the person on the other end may feel I am passing them off. The other issue is that I have is that I've explained everything on my web site already. Everything you need to know is right on the home page but I am guessing most people do not take the time to read or want me to explain it in a different way in my reply.

Email Experiment

I think the only way I will get my answer is by testing. Since my current way of replying is not having the best response, I will try using more of the third party tools method. I will create a stand alone page which has a video that provides an overall explanation about the business.

I will also place a FAQ underneath the video to see if that helps as well. I think this will not only save me time each time I reply but the person can get the full run-down about the business and if they have more questions, they can always reply back to me.

I'll follow up on what happens as I get more people contacting me via my web site's contact form.

How do you follow up with people via email? Do you write long replies or send them to other resources?

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