The Fuss About Follow Ups
I recently received an email from speaker Amanda Lea Kaiser, who inspired today’s topic. She wrote:
I’m having lots of client theme calls these days, and I’m submitting lots of proposals. A large portion of potential clients get back to me immediately… And then there is everyone else—people who don’t confirm receipt and don’t get back for weeks.
I’ve just been waiting them out, and some book me. Others I never hear from again. How active should I get about follow ups post-proposal submission? And if more active is the answer, how do you follow up in an interesting and helpful way, not a salesy and pesky way? (Maybe I’ve been burned by too many pushy salespeople.) Details like timing would be helpful, too!
Okay, sure.
It would be incredible if we got a nice chipper reply from every email we send, every voicemail we leave, and every text message we carefully thumb into our phones.
But unfortunately – in the business world – that’s not how things work out.
Like Amanda, you might have a really great client theme call, send along your session description, and feel like everything is on the right track. Then, days or weeks go by without a word back.
So, here’s our question for the day.
How active should you really be during follow up? How can you carefully balance the line between getting the info you need from potential clients without teetering into the realms of pesky and annoying salesy-ness?
It’s a great question. First, in the spirit of our roaring football season, let’s look at the three main follow up “fumbles” speakers make.
Follow Up Fumble #1
Maybe you’re just bad at time management.
You’re already pretty darn busy working on your speeches, posting on social media, managing your marketing, and traveling back and forth between places like Texas and Boston… LA and DC… etc, etc.
Doing basic follow up to potential clients who haven’t made any solid commitments feels like a task you really don’t want to do. In order to actually get the follow up done, you’d have to schedule specific blocks of time… and quite frankly… it’s just not high enough on your list of priorities.
Follow Up Fumble #2
Maybe you have a fear of rejection.
When I first started out, I remember that sinking feeling I’d get in my chest when it came time to follow up with a potential client. Negative thoughts would start racing through my head.
“What if they chose someone else? What if my price was too high? Why if they tell me I’m not good enough for their event? Man, that would be such a bummer. Maybe I’ll just put off that call and deal with it tomorrow.”
When you let a fear of rejection take hold, it becomes much easier to let follow up tasks disappear into the background.
Follow Up Fumble #3
Or maybe you don't know what to say.
Honestly, I think this third one is probably the most reasonable one. Often, we don’t follow up simply because we don’t know what to say or how to say it.
Which brings us back to Amanda’s original question… How should we follow up? What do we say – especially on that third or fourth contact? How often do we get in touch without becoming a pain in the butt?
Four Reasons You MUST Follow Up
Before we tackle exactly HOW to follow up, let’s make sure we’re clear on the reasons WHY every speaker should learn to follow up confidently with blocks of dedicated time.
1st - Maximize your Won Gigs
When you follow up correctly, you’ll give yourself a better chance of winning more gigs. Without follow up, you’re really just winning the easy-to-win gigs that you probably would have won regardless.
2nd - Discover Objections
Sometimes, it’s easy to overcome an objection, but you never would have known the objection existed without your follow up.
For example, I had an event organizer who knew I was speaking in Amsterdam and worried that the distance from that gig to their gig would increase the travel expenses they’d have to pay. It was an easy thing for me to explain that I cover all travel expenses.
Once they were clear on that issue, they could re-engage in the conversation. But I never would have known to clear up that concern without my follow up.
3rd - Look Like a Pro
Great follow up is really just part of being a professional speaker. The people who are “just” speakers don’t follow up. The pros do.
That’s just one more example of the great experience you can deliver as a professional and why you are worth more to your event organizers.
4th - Maximize Your Revenue
This is probably the most obvious one. You’ll earn more money when you master the art of the follow up.
Ready, Set, GO!
Don’t wait. Tackle this skill now to differentiate yourself, close more gigs, keep your demand high (because you’re closing more gigs), and position yourself as a true professional speaker.
Many speakers don’t follow up because of the fumbles we discussed above. But now, you know better.
Start right now. Go through all your recent inquiries and contact the ones who haven't sent you a signed speaker agreement. A quick follow up phone call or email today could earn you a high-paying gig tomorrow.
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