Following-up: The Missing Step to Finding Clients

I recently had a conversation with a friend who helps people make sales in a non-pushy way.  We were discussing a project she’d been doing and how she’d doubled the number of clients for the company, just by following up on enquiries.

How many prospective clients are missing out on working with you, just because you haven’t reminded them you’re there?  How much of your marketing effort is going to waste because you’re not maximising it?

Selling isn’t something that comes naturally to many complementary practitioners.  It is, however, necessary if you want to earn enough money to pay your bills through your work.  Fortunately, there are ways of selling that are filled with integrity.  Following up on enquiries in a helpful way is one.

Your client ‘bucket’ is leaking

If you imagine your practice is a bucket and a thriving practice has a full bucket of clients.  If you don’t have enough clients, your bucket is almost empty.  Most practitioners think there aren’t enough clients flowing into their bucket and do more and more marketing to try and fill it.  Still, the levels don’t rise.

Then you notice you have holes in your bucket and no matter how many clients you try and flow into the bucket, they’re falling through the holes.  Instead of throwing more marketing into the equation, you need to start blocking the holes.  This will allow your bucket to fill up with clients and your business will start to thrive.

Make the most of your marketing

Marketing’s focus here is to fill your bucket with amazing clients.  If you’re getting interest but it’s not converting into paying clients, your problem isn’t your marketing.  Spending more time and money on marketing to fill the bucket won’t work if you’re not following up on the interest you have.

Create a follow-up system

You need to create a follow-up system that works for you and fits with your style of communication.  Having a checklist as a reminder of each step will help you to implement it with every enquiry you receive.

An example checklist for a website enquiry:

• Receive an enquiry about your services through your website.
• Answer the enquiry and offer them a phone call to discuss their requirements.
• Make a note in your diary to follow them up in a week if you haven’t heard back.
• Send a helpful email asking if they have any questions about your services? Is there any more information they need?  Ask if they would like to join your mailing list and send them a link to your free guide etc. if you have one.
• Keep in touch with them through your regular emails or newsletter (if they signed up for them).
• If they haven’t signed up, make a note in your diary to follow them up in 2 weeks with links to useful information relevant to their enquiry and where they can sign up to your email list. Offer them another opportunity for a phone consultation.

Depending on where the enquiry came from, your checklist would vary, e.g. connecting with someone you met networking on LinkedIn.

Adding a follow-up system to your marketing efforts will help you to connect with potential clients and build faster relationships than waiting for clients to come to you on their own.

If you're struggling with your follow-up system, book a discovery call and find out how I can help you.