I was online the other day looking into cruises with a cruise line I’ve sailed with before and the very next day I get a call from an agent to follow up.

They noticed I had signed in to my account and wanted to see how they could help.

Note: This is both creepy and brilliant. There, I said, let’s continue.

I was upfront with the dude and told him that I was most probably going to do something else this summer. After a few well orchestrated rebuttals from the agent, I was back to the other 60,000 things that like to pile up on my plate.

Without sounding like a total ass, I can tell you, that I had already forgotten about our discussion within 5 minutes of ending that call.

It wasn’t his fault, that’s just the way life works. Is it safe to say, its the same for your prospects?

Any who . . .

That night, I receive a follow up email, thanking me for taking the time to speak with him.

Time Out: Your prospects receive tons of phone calls each day. Do you send a note (preferably handwritten) thanking them for their time? You should because nobody does this and its an opportunity for you to stand out.

The very next day, I start thinking “cruise” again and go back online.

I receive another call and truth be told, It’s starting to take on a really bad “I’m stalking you Castain” vibe but he does something brilliant, he diffuses the “this just got weird” thing by saying( in a funny tone) “You know its my duty as your cruise agent to call you when you visit the site” I had these images of my cruise agent being sworn in and solemnly swearing an all that.

I still didn’t buy from him yet because I need to coordinate schedules and still being a start up, I’m not crazy about taking 8 days off any time soon but . . .

It does make you think about the extremes of follow up.

Some people are just a flat out pain in the ass. The blow up your phone, blast your inbox and become real “SALESY” in the process.

Others abandon their prospects to the point of creating an “orphan” that someone else comes along and adopts.

This happens for a variety of reasons, one of the top ones is that the rep doesn’t want to dance on that “Pain In The Ass” line.

Another reason is that the rep doesn’t know how to without the endlessly clichéd “I’m calling to ‘check in’”

Here are a few thoughts . . .

1)    When you meet with prospects, assign “homework” that you, yourself need to do and then give them some too. This way they remain engaged, it requires a commitment and lets (all parties) see what its like to work with each other. It also gives you something very specific to follow up on when you call back.

2)    Consider mapping your follow up communication immediately after your appointments (whether face to face or by phone) I did an entire podcast on this subject and you can access it by clicking here.

3)    Sales Managers: This is a great topic for your next sales meeting “How do you typically follow up after a meeting” Obviously, this will vary from prospect to prospect but it will give ideas and also give you an idea of how your reps follow up.

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about how you can create a greater sense of urgency with your prospects but meanwhile . . .

How do you typically follow up with your prospects?

FYI . . .

Enrollment is now open for our May/June Sales School program. Click here for a course outline and all the details!