How To Powerfully Plan For Effective Sales Follow-Up

You wouldn’t just show up at your dentist’s office without an appointment. You wouldn’t start cooking without checking to see that you have the proper ingredients. You wouldn’t go on a trip without packing first.

In both life and in sales, proper preparation is everything. You need a plan, and then you need a dedicated time frame in which to execute that plan.

You work at your maximum when you are in the zone, totally focused on the task at hand. I want to recommend that you create exactly such a zone.

When it comes to sales follow-up, that zone is something I call the Lead Conversion Hour.

I am a staunch proponent of focusing on your follow-up in chunks of dedicated time rather than making one call now and another in a couple of hours.

I recommend this strategy because so much of follow-up is about your mental approach, and it is simply too difficult to gear up mentally for every individual call. Better to get in the zone and stay in it.

Begin with the end in mind. Think about what you want to accomplish by the end of the session.

How many people do you want to reach?

How much time are you allotting to this follow-up session?

How many times will you ask for the order in the next 30 or 60 minutes?

Who are your highest value targets?

When you take a moment to jot down your goals, you are far more likely to stay mentally strong just when Resistance comes along and tells you to have a cup of coffee and check Instagram rather than make another call.

While you may be 100 percent committed to your Lead Conversion Hour and have the right mindset and the appropriate determination, beware the nuisances that will get in your way and make you less than effective.

Watch out for these three:

Complexity

Your goals for each call must be simple. If you add too many objectives, you will lose track mid-call of what you were trying to accomplish. What is the next logical step to advance this sale along? Focus on that.

Over-planning

Don’t wait for the lights to all turn green before you leave the house. When you stare at a prospect’s CRM entry for too long you lose some steam. Set the goal, make a plan, and dial the number.

Don’t get bogged down with minutia such that the quality of the call diminishes.

Distractions

It is always best to find a quiet place at an uninterrupted time. The world is full of disruptions; you must shield yourself from them. Turn off all unnecessary devices. Close web pages on your browser.

Put up a sign for those around you. Close your blinds so you can’t see squirrels. Do whatever you have to do to protect your focus.

Proper planning produces peak performance.

Approach your follow-up sessions with preparation, with confidence, and with positive energy. Let’s do it!