One of the most important aspects of sales is the follow up. In my opinion, THE most important aspect of sales at a startup is the follow up.

Staying in touch with your prospects and building a foundation for a business partnership will show a great stream of revenue for the company (not to mention, it will definitely score you some referrals). How do you know when to follow up? When is it too much? When is it not enough? And how do you move the sale forward every single time that you speak to your prospect? Before I run through the answers to these questions, I’d like to point out that without follow up, you are letting the prospect come back to you when they are ready. This rarely happens, as competition will come in and snag the business 99% of the time.

How do you know when to follow up?

The best way to gauge the first follow up call, is to evaluate your success on the initial presentation. Was there legitimate interest? What work needs to be done on your end? What information do you now need from the prospect? You need to ask yourself these questions in order to figure out when a follow up call needs to be placed. When you decide it is time to follow up, I have found that a great way to ensure that a follow up call goes well is to have an E-mail waiting for them in their inbox when you reach out. Always give the prospect a way to follow along. Whether it’s sales collateral, case studies, or generic information about your product, the prospect will see the effort you are putting forth and is more likely to help you push the sale forward.

When is it too much?

NEVER. “But I can tell I’m starting to annoy the prospect…I can’t keep calling.” Wrong! Yes you can. Be nice. Show them how badly you can’t wait to help them. Figure out the road blocks. And always, be charming and informative. No one wants to hear from a sales call 3 times a week if all they are going to ask is “are you ready yet?” Find out why they are not ready.

When is it not enough?

People are busy. Presidents and CEO’s are extremely busy. This makes it harder to follow up sometimes. It can also discourage a salesman from making repeated calls at the risk of bothering someone. Please never let this thought creep into your head. The top dogs at these companies want nothing more than to make money and they want the tools that help them do this. You have this product or service, and they need this product or service, so pick up the phone because every second you spend contemplating when to call, someone else is calling and stealing your business. The easiest way to know if you are not following up enough is simple. See your book of business. Is it as big as you had hoped to this point? If the answer is “no” then you have a problem.

How do you move the sale forward every single time that you speak to your prospect?

Make a plan. You and your prospect should always have goals. For example, find out how much the prospect is currently paying for the product or service that you’re offering. How much is it being used? Can we get some more use out of it? Do some digging on your end. Read up on the company and more importantly, your point of contact. Find out everything, because it will drastically build your credibility. Always end the call by making the prospect take a step forward. Also, moving the sale forward can only happen if you remove any and all fear within the prospect. If they have no fear, then it is simply a matter of getting the deal done. This is very simple by having an open line of communication. Keep calling!

Now why is all of this more important when working at a startup?

Bigger companies tend to have a certain laziness and underlying boredom with prospects. If everything is not a home run, they tend to move on and do not show that much interest. There are exceptions to this, but unfortunately it happens more often than not. Never let yourself fall into this trap. It can be fatal. Banging phones at a startup is an absolute must. Building relationships with small, medium, and large businesses are vital. Treat everyone like they are the highest priority, and make sure they know this. A startup has a lot of goals, and one of them is the number of clients they get on board. The quickest way to throw a few more zero’s on the end of that number is to be attentive. Never put the phone down. Never leave a prospect wondering. And most importantly, keep everything moving forward.

In sales, if you are standing still, you might as well be free falling.