Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Say something relevant when following up

We worked with a business coach who wanted us to call sales leads on the same day every week.

Since 88 percent of leads are never followed up on, getting into a regular habit sounded like a great idea.

But, for us, it didn’t work.

We just weren't comfortable calling unless we had a reason.

We ended up setting a goal of calling weekly, but working diligently to find a reason to do so.

If we couldn’t find something, we decided to use our intuition as a guide of when to make the call.

I recently needed to follow up on an introduction.

I could have called to talk about a common interest of ours, but I wanted to tie it to work.

I looked at the name on the "To Do" list every day, but did not call until there was an article in the news that directly related to business.

As a result, we ended up meeting the next day so we could share ideas for public relations.

Not only did I follow up, but I felt good about the authenticity of the process, one we also use effectively with reporters, editors and producers.

For more information, please call us Dell Richards Publicity, 916- 455-4790, or visit us at www.dellrichards.com.