How often do you visit leads, only to discover a few months later that they never became a customer? They were not interested, the timing was not right, there was no potential or no budget... the most diverse conclusions are often drawn in the absence of results. And that is strange and unfortunate. The follow-up of a sales conversation is often at the bottom of salespeople's priority list, while that follow-up is crucial. How do you avoid investing time and traveling miles without results?

Hitting the right chord

You think about Sales, then you think about hitting the right string with your lead. By sensing exactly where the company's bottlenecks lie, and by clearly substantiating how your organization can help, you gain trust. And trust, that may account for 75% of the final award. However, we must realize that we almost never strike exactly the right chord during the first conversation. Often one lead conversation an initial introduction, in which you try to break the ice and give the impression that you can bring added value to the company. Also, the absolute need is often not identified in the first conversation, and your lead tends to ignore things a bit. But what is that about? Were you prepared well enough and did you ask the right questions? Don't immediately blame the lead. Why couldn't you understand the lead's needs? We often don't ask ourselves enough and the lead is lost. A shame!

We let it run

The conversation is over…are you satisfied? The lead has gotten to know your organization well, knows what you do, and has indicated that he or she will discuss internally. Then you don't hear anything for a few days. And those days turn into weeks. You decide to email your lead again. Even then, no response... It happens all too often. After an encouraging first conversation, a lead bleeds to death. There could be many reasons for this. I believe that as salespeople we let things slide too often. Based on previous experiences, we assume that the lead is no longer interested. So at a certain point we stop calling or emailing, sometimes completely wrongly. Even if you have not sufficiently identified the customer's needs. Numerous practical examples show that you can still achieve success up to 2 years after an initial introduction. By continuously acting as an advisor and maintaining contact, you can: maintain trust so that once your lead is ready for a decision, it still ends up with you. These actions must be followed consistently!

Concrete tips for follow-up

In this blog we give a number of tips that you can put into practice tomorrow.

1. Provide online contact

The first thing I do after a successful conversation is to establish a relationship via LinkedIn. By inviting your conversation partner(s), you create a digital link that you can use later.

2. Send a wrap-up

Conversations can sometimes be chaotic. Many issues are also often discussed. Send your lead an email within the first few days with a wrap-up of the meeting. This also gives the signal that you have listened carefully. In that wrap-up you can already come up with suggestions and solutions. Be critical of yourself and analyze your questions, are they good? Does this give me the information I want?

3. Follow up, don't email

An email is easy to ignore. So call the lead again a few weeks after your conversation to catch up. This way the contact remains fresh and you stay 'top of mind' of your conversation partner(s). Here too, think carefully in advance about how you will approach this conversation, because valuable information can emerge here too.

4. Make yourself heard

Write down a number of fixed moments in your calendar (for example once a month) when you will let yourself be heard. This could be a nice practical example that you send, a new case, or perhaps a tip. You can use events in the market that you can respond to. This gives the lead the confidence that you will continue to keep a close eye on the market.

Do you have any additional tips of your own? Let us know, we never stop learning!