Admittedly, following up can be such a chore. It’s repetitive, and most sales reps feel like they sound like a broken record, repeating the same script over and over again.
This is probably why many sales reps avoid follow-ups—as much as 90%, in fact. Here are other follow-up stats:
- 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
- 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
- 12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
- ONLY 10% of sales people make more than three contacts
This is unfortunates since, as other stats prove, persistence is really key in sales:
- 2% of sales are made on the first contact
- 3% of sales are made on the second contact
- 5% of sales are made on the third contact
- 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
- 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact
Sales reps must follow up. Many buyers do need the extra push, and a bit more sales talk.
Follow-ups are usually done via email or phone calls. For this post, we’ll focus on the former. How, exactly, should you write and send follow-up emails?
First, let’s elaborate on what you should do:
1. Set a sales cadence for following up—and set reminders
Your follow-up must follow a strategy and that includes building a sales cadence. A sales cadence is a timeline or sequence of sales activities, involving different touch points, that sales professionals follow to engage and, hopefully, convert a lead. Establish that schedule and cadence first so you have something to refer to, and use as basis for feedback and performance monitoring.
And make sure to set reminders so you don’t fall behind on your sales cadence. Better yet, why not create, automate, and track your emails through your CRM?
2. Combine email follow-ups with other touch points
While this post is all about follow-up emails, it would be foolish to not highlight the importance of other follow-up touch points: phone calls and even social media (if and when appropriate). When we say that 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact, we don’t just mean email contact. The important thing is to use different touch points.
Sales expert Mike Brooks says that when he’s following up, on average, between emails and phone conversations and meeting reminders, his prospects get between eight to twelve contacts within the first two weeks.
3. Send more than one follow-up email
The verdict is still out on the exact number of follow-up emails to send. Some say that sending two to three emails is best, but others would stretch it to four to five. It would really depend on the goals and scale of your business. Of course, sending more emails means using up more of a sales rep’s time. You also don’t want to overdo it and be marked as spam by your prospect.
4. Plan the frequency
While the number of emails is debatable, the frequency is clear. You should give your prospect time to read, digest, and think about your first email before you send out the next. Setting the email frequency to two to three days between each email is recommended.
5. Personalize
Data shows that advanced personalized emails, that is those which included custom snippets beyond the most basic ones, such as or Lucrativ, account for 17% reply rate. Meanwhile, emails without advanced personalization resulted in 7% reply rate. And why not double the impact with hyper-personalization?
6. Send quality emails
Quality trumps quantity. You can follow up until you are blue in the face, but if you have nothing important to say, it will be a complete waste of time and resources. Below are tried-and-tested strategies for writing a quality follow-up email.
How to Write a Quality Follow-Up Email
- Again, personalize. It bears repeating because it’s important. Personalized emails make for better lead nurturing.
- Be specific. What exactly are you hoping to accomplish with the email? What is your ask? Is it an in-person meeting? A schedule for a demo? A quick phone call to discuss? An invitation to your event to further show off your expertise? Connect via social media? Click on a link to a blog post that’s relevant to the prospect? Whatever it is, specify your intention.
But when you do specify what you’re asking for, don’t make it seem about you. Establish the value your prospect will receive from what you’re asking. For example: I would like to invite you for a quick chat over coffee so we can streamline your processes for generating more business leads.
Also, don’t ask for too much. You’re really still trying to build a relationship with the prospect with each email.
- Create a compelling subject line. First, keep the subject line short. A study suggests that subject lines with no more than seven words (or 41 characters, to be exact) have better engagement rates. The short email subject line also keeps it optimized for mobile phones. Try to create a sense of urgency too by saying words that reference time (“tomorrow,” “in 2 days,” etc.).
- Keep it short. Most business people receive dozens of emails a day, a lot of them like yours: following up for business. So keep it concise yet convincing. Aim for a paragraph or two, and anywhere from three to seven short sentences.
- Offer something new each follow-up. Don’t keep repeating what you say in each email. Change up your offer or your ask for every follow-up.
Sending follow-up emails is a must if you want to make the sale. Try these tips to improve your open and engagement rates. Good luck!
Photos from Pexels
