Why so often, after our first few emails, do we hear crickets? Despite our best follow-up attempts?

In my practice, I see most outreach is seller-focused. The beginning of the email is full of “we” … we want to meet them; we are the #1 provider of… We are sharing an update on our product/service, and we are in town with our boss. WIFM is playing in our buyers’ ears, What’s in it for me?

When crafting our message are we looking at things from the OPP, Other Person’s Perspective?

Are we tapping into our buyer’s mind? Trying to understand their role?

How are they measured, influenced, and make a decision?
When we can see things through their lens, we become more buyer-focused.  Allowing us to get a better sense of what their true day-to-day looks like, especially if we have never done their job.

When we can get into this headspace, our message resonates and is on point. It is balanced with empathy, relatability and disarms them, they feel we understand them and are looking to help vs selling them something. Big difference. Using buyer language is important, take excerpts from past customer exchanges, use cases from their website. Look for conferences, podcasts, and articles that were written by someone from within their company. What are they talking about? Trends, language?

How to Follow up?

If what we are doing is working, then by no means am I telling you to stop. In my opinion, following up with “Thoughts? Or “Bubbling this to the top of your inbox” is an easy delete for me.
Back to the first point, how can we ensure our follow-up is not screaming “seller” … Checking In, circling back, did you sign the agreement. Did you get my proposal? This is all for the benefit of us, the seller.

If we have acknowledged their challenge, the impact of not solving it, we have ensured this is their #1 challenge and we have engaged with all the key players then we should get a response. We also need to remember, nothing is guaranteed.In the follow up, can you share an article, a post, let them know you saw something related to past conversations, projects they are working on or a piece of information they would find helpful. When reading it, it delivers value it also acts as a reminder they have to get back to you. This is the approach I have taken for many years and 9/10 I get a response.

Take a Multi-Channel Approach

If we started with email, change it up. Follow up with a phone call, leave a voice mail keep it to 30 seconds. Let them know, there is no need to call you back, point them to your next step. Our job is to set expectations. Let them know we will be mailing them something, sending an email with subject line …, phoning them on this date and time… to discuss X.
This Increases our chance of a response, sales is a long game, the fortune is in the follow-up.  

I highly recommend using video as part of our follow-up. Record a short 45-second update, share a document highlighting FAQ’s T&C’s and walk them through it.  It is a chance to educate them, start building trust, and differentiate ourselves. This level of connection trumps someone sending a PDF with no tone or emotion.   They can also share your video with others in their organization, increasing your reach and visibility, Win-Win.

If we know we can help them and have helped others like them, persistence is key. If they are not responding to us after multiple attempts, consider a few things:

• Do they fit your ideal customer profile?
• Is our message focused, targeted, and timely?
• Does this email only make sense for this buyer or is it a universal problem?
• Is the timing off? What stage are they at in the buyer’s journey? In their company, funding round?
• At some point, we can take our foot off the gas, put them in NRN, “not right,” and start a nurture campaign.  
• We also have to detach from the outcome. If we have done everything within our control, we have to let them rest. Create some separation and breathing room.‍
• I add visualization techniques to my day-to-day,  speak as if they are clients, update them on our progress, and envision the transformation their team is having as a result of our partnership.

Buyers seek partners, someone who they connect with, someone who understands them and their challenges and can confidently solve them.

It takes intention, research and persistence to achieve this. I encourage you to consider these tips and iterate where necessary. Avoid changing too many things at once, we will not know what is making the difference.

Good luck in playing the long game!

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