SFR 278: Do I Have Too Much Follow-Up?

I'm frequently asked how you know when you’re following-up too often? Here's my answer, some stats, and a few guidelines to consider…

 

 "Steven, how much is too much emailing? How much is too often to follow-up with somebody after I try to sell them?" 

 

(Those of you who are experienced might be chuckling just a little bit here…)

 

But or those of you who are brand new at this game or haven't had success yet - this follow-up question is pretty common for me to get asked!

 

And funnily enough, the answer is very, very simple - so I wanna give you a few examples to illustrate. 

 

SALES FOLLOW UP?

 

I recently heard Frank Kern talking on Instagram. 

 

He had this bowl of mints and he put them in 3 different piles…

 

1.  A small pile of mints = people who are ready to buy.

 

1. A medium-sized pile of mints =  people who are ready to buy in the next 60-90 days.

 

 

• A HUGE pile of mints =  People who will buy sometime in the future. 

 

 

He said that one of the biggest mistakes people make is ONLY targeting those who are ready to buy immediately. 

 

Funny enough, he said that it's not actually those who are ready to buy right now that you need to be focusing on…

You should actually focus more on the second group who’ll be ready to purchase in 60-90 days 

 

 And I totally get what he's saying. 

 

By all means, #GetTheSale by focusing on those people who’re ready to purchase…

 

 But don't neglect those who need to wait 60-90 days in order to buy…

 

 

… because it’s actually a much larger pot. 

 

I was like, "Oh, that's super clever." 

One of the major benefits of publishing frequently, (if you've chosen to follow my advice and do that), is that it allows you to warm up the 60-90 day pot.

 

HOW TO FOLLOW UP WITH LEADS...

 

So here are the general questions I  tend to get asked:

 

• How much follow-up is too much follow-up? 

 

• How many emails are too many? 

 

• Can I send more than a few follow up emails a day?

 

My standard follow-up sequence for a funnel is usually about five days long...

 

However, there are other scenarios where the follow up is much longer than that.

 

I was talking with Trey Llewellyn, (we both went to Myron Golden’s speaker training event)...

 

I was like, "Holy crap, that's Trey." 

 

And Trey looks up and goes, "Oh, my gosh, that's Steve. Look at those eyes." 

 

Anyway, we were chatting and he told me about one of his webinars where he's got something like a two-month follow-up sequence.

 

I was like, "Holy crap, that's BIG!"

 

He goes, "Yeah, yeah, I know." 

 

He told me that he ALWAYS gets a few more people buying because of the length of the sequence. 

 

There are A LOT of marketers who will wake up and add an additional email at the end of a massive email sequence... 

 

...so now they have this year-long email sequence. 

 

Follow-up is EVERYTHING. 

I FOUND THIS IN MY CUPBOARD!

 

When I was doing door-to-door sales, they handed us this manual, and I still have it. 😂

 

I found it in my cupboard ...and it has some really interesting stats about follow up. 

 

This is actually from that old door-to-door sales manual:

 

“If you've ever watched a four-year-old, “No!” doesn't bother them. 

 

So the next step is just to keep asking. 

 

Don't be stopped by the first ‘No’ - continue to ask for the sale until they give you a ‘Yes!’”

 

Now, if you’ve studied any kind of sales, or if you are a salesperson, you know that the first “No” is actually when the sale begins. 

 

 

 

When your prospect says “No” ...it actually guides and helps you know what you should be doing next. 

 

So this is a powerful principle to understand 'cause most people think “No” means NO!

 

But usually, ‘No’ means…

 

• "Not right now." 

 

• "Hey, I can't focus on this right now." 

 

Most people are NOT ready to purchase right out of the gate. 

 

To illustrate my point, I'm just gonna read you a few stats... 

 

F

 

47% of salespeople stop after the first “No”…

 

That means that ALMOST half of salespeople NEVER follow up.

 

You might be thinking, “Well, Steve, that doesn’t apply to me, I’m NOT a salesperson!”

 

BUT…

 

If you're an entrepreneur, make no mistake, you ARE a salesperson.

 

That means that almost half the people who are out trying to sell their things never ask more than one time, EVER!

 

Think about that… that's crazy!

 

YOU’RE LEAVING MONEY ON THE TABLE

 

Most people never even do just one follow up and, let me tell you, the majority of my money comes from follow up. 

 

But most people don't even follow up once…

 

#CRAZY

 

Twelve percent of people will fail to follow-up after the fourth rejection. 

 

However, statistically, it takes six to eight follow ups before MOST people are willing to say “Yes.”

 

Now, there...