An effective following-up strategy is solely dependent on the execution thereof

Authored by; Rosa-Mari Le Roux, Content Manager at At That Point

Organisations spend countless hours on creating strategies and plans for following up with potential business leads, but often most of these efforts go to waste as organisations fail to follow through on their ideas.

In order to make your strategy work, you have to follow a disciplined process with a logical set of activities. Don’t allow yourself to get swept up by small issues that will interfere with the execution of your strategy.
Morris Chang once said, “Without strategy, execution is aimless. Without execution, strategy is useless.”

Set clear priorities
The key to a successful following-up plan, is executing each activity to the best of your ability and sticking to the plan that you set out for yourself and your team. By staying consistent and following through with activities, you create a solid structure for your workforce and yourself. 

Once clear priorities are established, each individual will have a clear grasp of their responsibilities, which will make execution thereof easier. Many organisations create elaborate plans and never follow through, which wastes time and cause the business to miss opportunities.

Map out your follow up strategy
It is essential to map out your plan when following up with leads from emails, social media or phone calls. Instead of taking a shot in the dark with your follow up call, have a script in hand, to make sure that you share the necessary information with your customer. Crafting a well thought out follow up script can go a long way.

These are the five most important elements to remember when crafting your follow up plan.

• Timing is everything; Deciding when to make a follow up call is one of the most important considerations in a sales plan. Ensure that you don’t make that call too early and annoy the customer, or too late and risk becoming a faint memory. Plan your call schedule carefully.
• Be prepared; Be prepared for any possible question or even rejection. It is important to stay composed and professional during interaction with your possible client. Don’t sound desperate or awkward when contacting your customer.
• Highlight the value of your product; Have a sales script ready to convince a possible client that your product is great value for money. It is difficult to convince a customer with financial stress, that your product will be worth their while. Your script will make this conversation a whole lot easier.
• Be the solution; Many people are swept up in their busy lives and don’t have time to listen to another sales pitch. If you can convince them that your product will essentially make their lives easier, you might have a better chance of getting a sale from them.
• Do it all over again; Many sales don’t happen on the first or the second follow up, but only on the fourth or fifth. Don’t lose patience with your possible customer, if they want to be contacted again in 2 weeks’ time, or even a month, respect their request and call back on the new date. Timing is everything!

Don’t skip a bullet
Executing your following-up plan when it comes to potential leads is a continuous process that takes time. Don’t expect instant results, be patient and trust in your plan.

Every activity should reinforce the previous one, don’t skip a bullet point. Persistence and patience are key to successful following up with leads 

Make time to follow up
Creating a follow-up schedule will keep the process efficient and effective. This includes follow-ups on employee activities and possible customers. By staying up to date on progress and possible leads, you will create a seamless process that will start working automatically, once everyone is comfortable with their responsibilities.

Collect and analyse results
Develop a system for tracking and monitoring your results, in order to know whether your activities are working and worth continuing. Without analysing your data, you won’t know if you are wasting efforts on a certain activity.

Make time to meet with your team, in order to evaluate their progress. These strategic meetings will also allow you to have an in-depth understanding of current activities and whether the plan needs changes or additions. 

I will leave you with the following quote from Naveen Jain, to inspire your future plans; “Success doesn’t necessarily come from breakthrough innovation, but from flawless execution.” Don’t miss out on a great sales opportunity by not being prepared!

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