Why Aren't You Following Up?

***After you read this post, be sure to visit me at my new home here.***

In my post The Fortune is in the Follow-Up, I shared how long I feel you should follow up with a qualified prospect. The short answer: until. Head over there in a couple of minutes to get a handle on your fortune, but first let's discuss what's getting in your way.

New short answer: you.

Sometimes the question isn't how long to follow up or even how to follow up ... the real question is, "Why aren't you following up?"

There are a few reasons I've discovered in my coaching practice that people fail to follow up. The funny thing is, the reasons aren't all that valid. They are a smoke screen for what's really going on in a person's mind, and one layer deeper than that, their belief system.

Here are the reasons you're not following up and following through, and how to stop what's stopping  you:

• You're afraid. There is a possibility, even with qualified potential clients, you're going to get rejected. You are going to hear no, and you're going to hear it a lot. The only time to get upset about a "no" is when the person says "No" ... and ... "You're ugly." Then you can get offended, and tell your prospect their mother would not be very proud of them. But seriously now, you need to not only get used to hearing no, you need to hear no about a million and a half times a day. Or at least a dozen times a day. Let me short-hand it for ya: the more you hear no, the more often you get to hear "YES!" You increase the odds by increasing the number of times you ask. I get it, I really do ... you're afraid of hearing no, think you're probably going to hear no, and have other things to do. But you need to get over it and get on with it ... it being your follow-up.
  Nobody has a better handle on no than the authors of "Go for No" Richard Fenton and Andrea Waltz, so hop over to Amazon.com and download it right now. {I'll wait.}
• You're "too busy." Alright, I've had about enough of this excuse, so I'm going to call bullshit right now. About every day one of my clients says to me, "I just didn't have the time to do 'X', because, because because." Here's the truth: you have all of the time you need to do everything you need and want to do. You're just procrastinating, doing tasks and activities that don't get accomplish anything real, and that's not getting you what you want, now is it? Once you know someone {and/or their company} meets your criteria for revenue, you've got to put time on your calendar to call them, email them, send them gifts, presents or bribes. Do whatever it takes, but follow-up and follow-up in a timely fashion.
• You're waiting until the "right time." When would that be, exactly, since you're not reaching out to your prospect? How could you possibly know when they're ready, and, what if when they're ready, they don't even remember you have what they want? That would be tragic! You must stay in regular, positive touch until they are ready. I will say this: their timing is very rarely your timing. You want new clients and revenue like, yesterday, and unfortunately you will have to wait on some folks. Let their right time coincide with a call or email from you and that's when the magic will happen.
• You've hit your success ceiling. This one's a biggie. You will never exceed the internal beliefs you hold about what's possible for you. If you find yourself making about the same year after year, wanting and hoping for more but never quite reaching the next level, this is a strong indicator your self-esteem and psychology could use some work. You have to believe something is possible for you before it could ever happen for you. I suggest you do some regular {daily} self-improvement. If you haven't read the classics, like Think & Grow Rich, or Psycho-Cybernetics, start with those. Then head here for a list of some of my favorites. As your confidence soars, your follow-up avoidance will literally melt away and what what once hard becomes easy ... including follow-up.

You owe it to yourself, and those you can help through your products and services, to be in touch and stay in touch. Follow-up until ...

I promise you'll enjoy the fruits of your labor as much as your clients enjoy them.

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