5 Reasons You Should Follow Up With Your Leads

Leads are the lifeblood of any business.

Have you ever heard of the business saying that the fortune is in the follow-up? This is 100% true.

Being consistent with following up on your leads is the best way to push your business further.

However, there’s a lot of intimidation that comes with following up. This makes sense. You’ve already put yourself out there once, whether you reached out to a prospect, scored the business card of an industry leader, or posted content online, taking another step after this might be scary. Simply put, people don’t like following up on these leads.

Rationally, you realize they’re not so bad. What’s the worst that could happen? They could either say no or they could simply not respond. That’s hardly the end of the world, so what’s holding you back? Another common misconception is that following up makes you sound like a scam artist or some kind of pushy salesman. We all feel like the slimy car salesman when we’re falling up, but is this really warranted?

As you probably already know, most of the things holding you back from following up are in your head. You miss all of the shots you don’t take. By not following up, you’re letting your leads fall by the wayside. In this article, we’ll explore the 5 reasons you should follow up with your leads if you want more business.

1. The Rule of 7

Did you know there’s science behind following up? It’s true. People don’t want to purchase services or products from people they don’t know. When you first land a lead, you don’t know this person. They don’t know you. Why would they trust you right off the bat?

So how does the rule of 7 fit in? The rule of 7 means that people need to hear from you an average of 7 times before they’re willing to purchase something to you. Take that in for a moment. This is a pretty big number, so that translates to a fair amount of following up.

The next time you think that you’re being pushy, remember that your lead likely hasn’t heard enough from you yet. Being consistent with your follow-ups give them time to learn more about you and feel comfortable making a purchase, scheduling a call, or even just responding.

2. You’re Losing Money

As we said before, you miss all of the shots you don’t take. If you’re chasing a client that’s worth $1000 for instance, you’re leaving that $1000 on the table and not in your bank account every time you avoid following up. Can you really afford to do that? You might have a big contact list but you'll lose them without getting in touch again.

If you skipped every money-making opportunity, you wouldn’t be calling yourself a business for long. Plus, if you consider all of the additional revenue you could earn from new networking opportunities from this one client or customer, that money on the table seriously adds up.

3. Someone Else Is Getting There First

The early bird gets the worm, or the sale, in this case. Let’s compare this to creating a strong SEO Strategy that lands you at the top of search engines. Why do you want to be at the top of search results? Because the first listings get the most clicks.

The same is true of following up with your leads. The first company who responds and follows up is very often the company or person that a business chooses. Inside Sales did a study that showed that 35 - 50% of sales go to the vendor who responds first. That same study discovered that following up within 5 minutes makes you 9 times more likely to convert those leads into customers — wow.

Sure, we might like to think that the best vendor or business is always chosen, but we also know the world never works that way. It truly is the earliest bird who gets the worm in this case. When you fail to follow up quickly, you’re giving other businesses a chance to snag your prospect.

4. It’s Easier Than Ever

Another key reason to simply follow up with leads is because it’s easier than ever before. There are so many tools at your disposal that can speed up your conversion process, from automation to proposal tools. Also, there are plenty of CRM, collaboration and project management tools to help you control the whole process, stay productive and store the information about each client.

When it comes to creating proposals to land the sale, you don’t have to worry about a complicated process. With Better Proposals, following up with leads is as simple as creating a custom, online proposal designed with your prospect’s needs in mind. With tracking feature of this software, you will be notified when your proposal is opened, forwarded or printed. You will also know what page has your client spent the most time on. This way, you will know exactly what the client was interested in and you can use that information as an input for your follow up email or a call. To be precise, you could be on your way to more cash in just a few clicks.

Similarly, setting automated follow-ups to any email signups or web leads can help you see results without even taking action yourself. It’s simpler than it’s ever been to follow up in a few clicks or no clicks at all. In fact, you don’t even need a cloud strategy or extensive digital marketing strategy to make your follow-ups work. Learn more about why you shouldn't have a cloud strategy.

5. People Are Busy

Last but not least, people are busy. If you’re waiting around for your prospects to respond to your messages, calls, and so on, you’ll quickly realize most just don’t have the time. Yes, you might be concerned about sounding too spammy or pushy, but think about how many things are fighting for your prospect's attention.

They have a million other emails in their inbox. They’re constantly flooded with new calls. Life happens, business happens, and you need to cut through that noise. There are so many things that could get in the way of a prospect reaching out to you, so take some of the stress off their plate and contact them yourself. Most likely, they’ll be glad you did.

Make the process easier for yourself by using a comprehensive strategic database - this enables multi-channel campaigns and outreach which will uplift your business visibility. Save your time and win deals to improve your sales pipeline with established database services such as ProDataLabs, TechDataPark, VisitorsList, and more.

Conclusion

Follow-ups are a key part of a successful sales funnel, and they don’t have to be the big event we’ve built them up to in our minds. In fact, following up has only gotten simpler in recent years. Let’s all agree to leave the anxieties and worries behind in 2019. People are busy. As a professional, you should be willing to take matters into your own hand.

It’s empowering to know you’ve got a grip on the follow-up process. Not only will your leads take you further, but you’ll have more money in your pocket to show from it. This is a win for you and your leads who don’t have to work as hard to find the business they’ve been looking for.

Wendy Dessler is a super-connector who helps businesses find their audience online through outreach, partnerships, and networking. She frequently writes about the latest advancements in digital marketing and focuses her efforts on developing customized blogger outreach plans depending on the industry and competition.