‘No follow up’ plan pays off

If you ask any sales trainer, networking trainer or referrals guru, they will all say that when you receive a lead or referral, you should follow up on that immediately. I tend to agree, but my own process for signing up new clients takes a different angle on the subject. I ask my advocates or introducers to let their contacts know that they need to call me. I don’t follow up or chase. The line they use is “You need to prove to Mindy that you are serious, by taking the first step and calling.” It’s amazing how many people never call and you could argue (as my good friend Philip de Lisle did), that it’s not professional not to follow up. It’s also a bit scary in this kind of market to leave the ball in the prospect’s court.

However, I have to trust the universe and over the years, I have found that the right clients do self-select and I end up working with those people that I’m meant to work with. And they have already made it through the first test!

Yesterday I got a call from Brad Burton, visionary thought leader and founder of 4Networking. It turned out he was most impressed with the filter process. Brad is going to be working with me to write and publish his excellent book, and it’s going to be a fantastic resource for small business owners. Very exciting!

The funny thing is that the ‘filter’ actually came about because I do not have the best organizational habits, I sometimes forget to call people and I lose their business cards! If it were up to me, I wouldn’t have half the sales conversations I currently have. I told Brad the truth and we laughed about it. A lot. We’re both going to be laughing all the way to the bank.