8 Effective Sales Follow-Up Process Tips to Close More Deals
Posted: Mon Jan 20, 2025 5:40 am
Following up with a lead is both science and art. You must understand your prospects well and develop creative ways to build rapport with them.
With an effective sales follow-up process, you can nurture a lead and turn a skeptical prospect into your customer. This blog post discusses tips on how to create a sales follow-up process that closes deals:
What is a sales follow-up?
8 sales follow-up tips
How often should you follow up with leads?
What is a sales follow-up?
A sales follow-up is any communication with a lead or dentist database after your first interaction. It’s a crucial step in your sales process to foster trust among your prospects by providing them support as they decide to purchase.
You can conduct a sales follow-up in various ways:
Email
Phone call
Message
Meeting
Why is a sales follow-up important?
A sales follow-up is critical to standing out among your competitors. That’s because an effective follow-up process builds rapport with your prospects.
In addition, it keeps your leads engaged with your business. When they have additional questions, you provide answers to help them make an informed decision.
A sales follow-up is not only meant to nudge your leads to buy from you — it’s also meant to create a trusting and collaborative partnership with them. In fact, sending out one follow-up email increases reply rates by as much as 220%.
8 sales follow-up tips
Here are eight sales follow-up best practices you can employ to nurture your relationship with your prospect:
Phone call icon.
Effective sales follow-up strategies
Respond to leads quickly
Space out your follow-ups
Use various follow-up channels
Specify the next steps
Keep your follow-ups short
Show value with each follow-up
Know when your prospect is no longer interested
Monitor and analyze your sales follow-up process
Let’s go through each one:
1. Respond to leads quickly
Fun fact: if you follow up with an online lead within 5 minutes of their inquiry, they’re nine times more likely to engage with you.
Show your prospects that they’re important by quickly responding to their inbound inquiries. Being responsive to their questions demonstrates that you’re a brand they can rely on.
2. Space out your follow-ups
Remember that sales follow-ups are meant to cultivate relationships with your prospects, not just to remind them to purchase from you.
Always consider your prospect’s timeline when scheduling a follow-up call or sending a follow-up email. Each prospect may have different timeframes, so note when it’s best to reach out to follow up. You can ask them during your call or take cues during your meeting.
For example, let’s say you’re in the business of providing software-as-a-service (SaaS) for dental clinics. If your inbound lead says they’ll discuss your offer with their management team in two weeks during your meeting, it makes sense to follow up after that meeting — not in three days.
To help with following up and keeping your brand top of mind, use a customer relationship management (CRM) platform like Nutshell to create an email drip campaign. Nutshell can automate sending emails based on your prospects’ actions.
3. Use various follow-up channels
Each prospect is different, so try various follow-up channels to discover their preference.
You’ve probably encountered a lead who responds to your emails, but rarely takes calls. Other prospects may answer your calls, but don’t respond to emails or SMS.
Use the communication method that your prospect is comfortable with. Ensure you provide them a consistent tone and experience across different communication platforms.
With an effective sales follow-up process, you can nurture a lead and turn a skeptical prospect into your customer. This blog post discusses tips on how to create a sales follow-up process that closes deals:
What is a sales follow-up?
8 sales follow-up tips
How often should you follow up with leads?
What is a sales follow-up?
A sales follow-up is any communication with a lead or dentist database after your first interaction. It’s a crucial step in your sales process to foster trust among your prospects by providing them support as they decide to purchase.
You can conduct a sales follow-up in various ways:
Phone call
Message
Meeting
Why is a sales follow-up important?
A sales follow-up is critical to standing out among your competitors. That’s because an effective follow-up process builds rapport with your prospects.
In addition, it keeps your leads engaged with your business. When they have additional questions, you provide answers to help them make an informed decision.
A sales follow-up is not only meant to nudge your leads to buy from you — it’s also meant to create a trusting and collaborative partnership with them. In fact, sending out one follow-up email increases reply rates by as much as 220%.
8 sales follow-up tips
Here are eight sales follow-up best practices you can employ to nurture your relationship with your prospect:
Phone call icon.
Effective sales follow-up strategies
Respond to leads quickly
Space out your follow-ups
Use various follow-up channels
Specify the next steps
Keep your follow-ups short
Show value with each follow-up
Know when your prospect is no longer interested
Monitor and analyze your sales follow-up process
Let’s go through each one:
1. Respond to leads quickly
Fun fact: if you follow up with an online lead within 5 minutes of their inquiry, they’re nine times more likely to engage with you.
Show your prospects that they’re important by quickly responding to their inbound inquiries. Being responsive to their questions demonstrates that you’re a brand they can rely on.
2. Space out your follow-ups
Remember that sales follow-ups are meant to cultivate relationships with your prospects, not just to remind them to purchase from you.
Always consider your prospect’s timeline when scheduling a follow-up call or sending a follow-up email. Each prospect may have different timeframes, so note when it’s best to reach out to follow up. You can ask them during your call or take cues during your meeting.
For example, let’s say you’re in the business of providing software-as-a-service (SaaS) for dental clinics. If your inbound lead says they’ll discuss your offer with their management team in two weeks during your meeting, it makes sense to follow up after that meeting — not in three days.
To help with following up and keeping your brand top of mind, use a customer relationship management (CRM) platform like Nutshell to create an email drip campaign. Nutshell can automate sending emails based on your prospects’ actions.
3. Use various follow-up channels
Each prospect is different, so try various follow-up channels to discover their preference.
You’ve probably encountered a lead who responds to your emails, but rarely takes calls. Other prospects may answer your calls, but don’t respond to emails or SMS.
Use the communication method that your prospect is comfortable with. Ensure you provide them a consistent tone and experience across different communication platforms.