Compelling Reasons Why You Should Be Politely Persistent and Follow Up With Your Prospects

Do you make phone calls and then sit wondering why no one calls you back? You may think you're being nice by not bothering your prospect, but not following up can seriously kill your sales. Need more inspiration to get back on the phone and try again? Today sales trainer Jim Domanski shares some very compelling reasons as to why you need to be persistent and follow up!

Has this ever happened to you?

You've made the call. You generate interest. Maybe you send a proposal or quote. You make a follow up call and leave a message and wait for reply. And wait...Maybe you make another follow up...no reply.

In a short while you are convinced the client was stringing you along. Frustration sets in. Anxiety. Uncertainty. 'Do I call again? Won't I look like I am stalking? He's not interested. If he were, he would have called right. Why waste my time? Forget about it. Let's move on."

This negative self-talk is repeated every day, every week by hundreds of reps. It gets easy to convince yourself not to make that extra follow up call.

The trouble is there can be any number of reasons why the prospect has yet to get back to you. You should follow up because:

1. The squeaky wheel often gets the oil
2. The contact lost your number
3. The contact inadvertently deleted your voice mail message
4. The prospect/client simply forgot to call you back
5. Your e-mail was sent to their SPAM folder and never seen
6. Your e-mail was lost "in space" and never made it to the client.
7. Your e-mail was lost, misplaced or forgotten in a pile of other e-mails received
8. Your client is swamped with work and has been too busy to call
9. The contact is putting out a major fire and her priorities, for the moment, have changed
10. Your prospect inverted a number or two when copying down your phone number and was not able to reach you
11. The client or prospect expects YOU to follow up and keep them on track
12. Your prospect or client is grotesquely disorganized and needs someone to keep them on track
13. Your contact figures if YOU don't show interest in following up, you and your product can't be all that important
14. Your prospect has had a minor delay and needs to someone (you) to get them on track

So what are you waiting for? Get back on the phone!

By Jim Domanski of Teleconcepts Consulting. Please visit Jim's web site at www.teleconceptsconsulting.com for additional articles and resources for tele-sales professionals.