Take A Look At These Follow-Up Stats...

Take a look at this...

These statistics (even if partly true) are simply mind-blowing. Software companies have attempted to tackle this problem by creating tools, reminders, apps, integrations and a whole slew of widgets to help prompt salespeople that it's 'time to follow up' with prospects.

Despite trendy software programs, automation tools and all that cool art on the walls telling us that 'the fortune is in the follow up' - salespeople suck at following up, if they even follow up at all.

Well. Here's why.

1. Salespeople know that they aren't providing any value throughout the follow up process. 

Salespeople love using lines like 'I'm just following up on...' and 'I wanted to check in on...' and 'I wanted to touch base on...' while following up with prospects. One of the main reasons salespeople fail to follow up is because they know that they aren't providing anything of value or substance and then usually just stop following up with their prospect who never responded (shocker!). In longer sales cycles, salespeople often deploy the same boring follow up approaches, yet get the same result because they make the mistake of spreading the same lazy follow up attempts over a longer period of time (and in case you didn't know, time kills all deals). Salespeople who are unable to deploy creative, entertaining and educational follow up approaches do their prospects a favor and quit following up.

2. Salespeople are soft.

Most people understand the importance of persistence but most people aren't persistent enough to see things all the way through. Today's society has done an excellent job of softening up our population into believing that persistence isn't an admirable trait when nothing could be further from the truth. Persistence is a beautiful thing when it is deployed in conjunction with creative approaches that help keep sales interactions interesting. When top producing salespeople are told 'no', it just means 'not now' and is usually just the beginning of 'the show' as they deploy thoughtful, meaningful and valuable follow up to keep their potential buyer engaged over time.

3. Salespeople lack commitment.

Although the majority of sales professionals are committed to earning an income to support themselves and their families, they aren't usually fully committed to their prospects. It's no secret that most people enjoying receiving more than they enjoy giving. So, it shouldn't be any surprise that most salespeople fail to provide their customers with enough value throughout the sales process to receive their prospect's business. Salespeople who prioritize their relationship with people always outproduce salespeople who prioritize money. Fully commit to delivering value and solutions to your prospect before the deal gets done.

4. Salespeople are afraid of rejection.

Salespeople that have the discipline and work ethic required to build a full sales pipeline don't experience rejection the same way that salespeople who don't have a full sales pipeline experience rejection. If you're too scared to follow up with your prospect because you might get rejected is a sign that you need to make more calls, knock more doors and create more opportunities. Working with a full sales funnel also enables you to deploy more frequent follow up techniques because you know you have a full sales funnel and are not relying only on one deal.

5. Salespeople spend too much time 'checking in' on the deal.

Unless you are reaching out to dramatically lower your price or offer some type of financial incentive to your prospect, you are going to not only educate your buyer, but you'll also have to establish a relationship with them. 'Checking in on the deal' is NOT how you establish a relationship. There's no reason to 'check in on the deal' if you actually care about the person signing the deal. 

So, how do we fix this?

We are proud to introduce The Follow-Up Black Book! With over 30+ effective, creative, engaging and unique follow-up approaches and a full breakdown of the creative, value-driven follow-up approach, you'll never struggle following up with clients. Make sure to grab a copy!