Following Up a Lead

Everyday leads all over the world go unfulfilled. Why? Because the sales person simply can’t get hold of the leads.

So … If you meet a lead via an event, show, networking, or referral, here is the easiest way to follow up:

STEPS ACTION
1 Tell the lead directly (if you can) that rather than playing phone tag, you will just send them an email (Outlook) invite with a date/time for a phone meeting.
2 Send an Outlook invite email requesting a phone meeting including a date & time. Here is my recommended wording:

First Name,

It was a pleasure meeting you (state how you met them). To minimize phone tag, I would like to propose you and I have a preliminary phone discussion on x date & time. Please have a look at your schedule. If this does not work for you, please let me know, otherwise I look very forward to our meeting.

(NOTE: Do not offer multiple dates or ask them to tell you when they are available. This will cause delays.)

List or attach a set of questions &/or an agenda for the meeting.

If the lead was a referral: Cc: the person who made the referral … thanking them in the email.

NOTE: When choosing a date, pick one 5-10 biz days out to increase the odds of them being available.

NOTE: You may want to also leave them a voicemail letting them know about the email to avoid your email getting lost in Spam.

3 Send a meeting reminder (via email) 2 days prior re-stating or
attaching the agendaNOTE: The email should state it’s a “reminder” … NOT a
“confirmation”.  Confirmations provide them an out.
Scott's Directories

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