If there is one thing that has helped me in my business (especially converting contacts to business deals), that would be following up. You may think that I’m using a complicated system to automate and stuff like that but I will reveal this simple and yet easy to use technique that will help you remember to follow-up with everyone you want.
Is following up really that important?
Before going into the exact method how I follow up, I just want to highlight that following up is the key to business conversions. It is extremely rare for any sales to take place during the first introduction. Normally it will take three to five meetups / contacts / inquiries before any conversion will happen.
In my own experience, the first introduction is mainly to understand what the other person does and how I can help them. I will then follow-up with an email and action on the things I have promised during the meeting (this will show my credibility). And using the method that I’m going to use below, I schedule reminders to followup every-time an email is sent. Now, let’s see what is this all about!
Using FollowUpThen (It’s FREE)
I have been looking around for a system that reminds me to follow-up with someone (especially if that person didn’t reply my email) but just couldn’t find any. And I find it is invaluable to follow-up with your contacts.So I continue searching… and found FollowUpThen
So this is how FollowUpThen works:
Patrick (for example), asked me for some information about my workshops. And I dropped him an email with the information. In this same email, I do a CC: to 3days@FollowUpThen.com to indicate that if Patrick didn’t reply me in three days, FollowUpThen will email and notify me. This is how simple it works =)
Just want to share with you some results after consistently and remembering to followup with my contacts:
- I managed to sign up 30% more students based on the same amount of email inquiries I get every month through my website by remembering to follow up with everyone using this method.
- I got a collaboration project with a organization after following up with them twice, they didn’t reply my first two emails (in the past, I will forget to follow up based on my memory).
- I follow up with people who forgot to follow up with me! Ok, this may sounds strange but occasionally there will be students asking me how to do some WordPress stuff. After I email them some steps and asked them to get back to me, they forgot.. Now, I am able to ‘remember’ and send them an email asking them if the steps work. This simple gesture has delighted some of my students!
I’m sure you are just as excited, do check out FollowUpThen and learn what are the other notifications you can use. You can set to send you a reminder at a specific day and time as well. And you can even set recurring reminders! How great is that!
I want to use this opportunity to thank the FollowUpThen team and the Creator, Internet Simplicity for developing such a great tool!
Note: There are other tools that work like FollowUpThen but I find them not as user friendly and straight-forward, for example:-
1. Boomerang Gmail – It is an addon for Gmail and Google Apps to function like FollowUpThen but you need to install in your browser. And it is not totally free.
2. NudgeMail – NudgeMail is free and works 90% like FollowUpThen but there is one thing I don’t like – it won’t disable the notification even if your contact replied you within the days you set.
Do let me know Is this tip useful for you?
Hi KC, thanks for your interesting post. I don’t usually comment, but in this case I have concerns regarding this website you’re featuring.
The idea of CC-ing/BCC-ing private business e-mails to a third-party is not something I would be comfortable with – and I think, neither should you. And the fact that they can send you the original message in the reminder means that they are holding on to your e-mails.
A cynic would say this could be a huge phishing/data-mining/spam goldmine front. And even if we trust the company would honour its privacy policies, if its servers get compromised, so will your private correspondence with clients, quotations, confidential discussions, etc.
A convenience at such a heavy risk is not something I am willing to take. Will be following up through offline methods for now! Just my thoughts. Cheers! ;)
Thank you for your comments, Kang Heong. I guess we have to be mindful about using third-party tools and you are right. Depending on personal preference, I will not use followupthen for all my emails, especially confidential content.