How to Radically Improve Your Sales Follow-Up With One Simple Tip

Follow-up. Ugh. Even the word sounds boring.

I believe if you were to look it up in Webster’s, “follow-up” would be defined as : A tedious task dreaded by sales professionals far and wide but mandated by cranky, power-hungry sales managers as a form of cruel and unusual torture to inflict upon their already overworked sales team”. Sound about right?

Listen, I get it.

Salespeople (for the most part) despise follow-up for a variety of reasons. A biggie is that salespeople are in-the-moment kind of folks, aren’t we? And, if we are really (I mean really) honest with ourselves, we are totally into buyers when they are right in front of us and pretty much over them when they are not. Am I right?

Okay then, if “follow-up” is so awful, and if sales managers know you hate it, and they know you don’t usually do it very well, why do they continuously hammer you about following-up with your buyers?

For this simple reason: effective follow-up produces more sales!

I want to take a moment here to brag on a new client of mine. I won’t mention them by name, but they reside in the state where the motto is “Everything is bigger in Texas.” Their ‘go big or go home’ attitude about sales training made me like them immediately.

At the beginning of January, (about a month and a half after my two days with their sales team) I was on a coaching call with the sales leadership team. One manager excitedly shared with me that her team just delivered the third highest December sales numbers in the company’s history! Impressive!

When I asked what inspired these great numbers, she said, “Well, it was something you told us to do in training.” (Side note: this is every trainer/coach/consultant’s dream answer! I felt like Zig Ziglar reincarnate, but played it cool.)

“Really? What, specifically?” I asked.

“You told us to start doing same-day follow-up, and we did. And it worked.”

I was a little taken aback because the training wasn’t specifically focused on follow-up – I just covered a few quick tips on follow-up when a side question came up during the day. Wow! This group was paying extra close attention!

Here is the follow-up tip I gave them: If a buyer comes in during the day, you should follow-up with them the same day.

You heard me: The. Same. Day.

Not 24, 48, or my goodness sakes, 72 hours later—that is waaaayyyy too late. The buyer has moved on by then.

You have to get back with them while their emotions are still high and while they still feel excited by their visit. And here’s the kicker that you might not expect: buyers actually WANT to talk with you again on the same day.

Think about it. When someone is serious about making a big purchase, such as a car, a home or wedding ring, it consumes their every waking moment. It’s all they can think about.

So when you, the helpful and excited-for-them salesperson, calls them back to check in, answer questions and reignite their emotions, the customer actually feels thrilled to talk with you!

So don’t take it from me, take it from my friends in the great state of Texas: effective follow-up is fast follow-up.

Follow up in the afternoon with the person you had a sales conversation with that morning and you might just change their world.