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.

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