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When you follow up with a customer by phone, email, or text, does it look like this?

“Hi, Mrs. Davis. Thank you so much for allowing me to give you a free quote. Let me know if you have any questions I can answer for you. I would really appreciate the opportunity to serve you.”

Obviously, the phone version of this sounds a bit different, but the same idea: have you decided? Do you have any questions? Will you please freaking buy from me now?

That follow-up looks pretty good, right?

Wrong.

Stop doing this. The follow-up is an amazing opportunity and the above is a waste. Don’t get me wrong; this kind of follow-up is 1,000 times better than NO follow-up, but there’s a far superior strategy.

You should be following up to provide value. You are following up to give the customer something new.

How do you do that? I’m glad you asked.

You should be following up by email, phone, text, and phone again… and email again.

The first email should come the same day as the estimate, or the next day at the latest. It needs to provide something useful to the customer, not mentioning the sale at all. Our Life Saver Pool Fence dealers have a Pool Safety Evaluation form they fill out while at the customer’s home and then email to the customer along with a nice message referencing something specific to the visit so they know it is personalized. I also suggest that they put it in an envelope with a business card and a short note and mail it to them. If you sell carpet cleaning, you could email them on avoiding stains in the first place. If you sell home security, you could send a link to a site that provides info on local crimes. If you’re a web designer, you could send them ten ideas on how they can improve their digital presence on their own, separate from the services you are quoting. Whatever your business, email something interesting or useful and do it right after your meeting.

The day after you email, you call. In the first phone call, I suggest to my Life Saver dealers to say that they are calling to let them know that they’ve looked up their closest ISR (or other swim survival training) instructor, with whom they should be BFF’s, they spoke to the instructor, and as a favor, the instructor is willing to offer XYZ discount/free lesson/extra thing/whatever that they give all their customers, and here is their phone number. If they don’t answer, this is left in a voice mail. And I stress to the dealers to not even bring up the pool fence until they mention it. Again, you’re calling to give something of value. To use the home security example from earlier, you could be calling to give them info on a local self-defense course that gives free lessons to all your customers. It’s not hard to come up with ideas for your business. If you need help, let me know.

A day or two later, you are going to text them. If you’re selling pool safety fence, first Google “free CPR classes in [city name]”. You’ll find a bunch. Send a text saying you don’t know if all the adults and teenagers in the house know CPR, but here is info for a free class coming up soon nearby. Even better, I recommend every Life Saver dealer becomes a certified CPR instructor and hosts a free class once a month or every other month for all their customers and prospective customers. Our home security example could text a link to a YouTube video on personal safety tips or a link to a coupon for a taser and night vision goggles (which is what one special forces soldier recommends having for home defense). The idea is still the same: you are providing value. You are NOT asking about the sale. If they ask/have questions, definitely answer. But don’t bring it up.

A day or two later, you’re going to call again to follow-up and discuss everything you’ve provided. For my Life Saver dealers, that includes the estimate, the evaluation form, the CPR class info. Now you ask if they have any questions. Not just on the quote, but everything you have sent.

And then you just keep this going. For a Life Saver, the next email could have the Pool Safety Guide ebook from poolfence.com attached. The next could be a blog we posted. After that, they could forward them our weekly newsletter. And then text them something you/we shared on Facebook. You keep following up, as you already know to do, but every time you provide something of value.

THAT is the right way to follow-up with a customer. Do this, and watch your close rate double.

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You get fired from your job. Your mom dies. You get dumped. You don’t get the sale. Your offer is rejected. You get a DUI. You think your spouse is cheating on you. You find out you have cancer.

There is a vicious cycle, a terrible downward spiral that far too many people are caught in at this very moment. You might be one of them.

Something terrible happens to you. Something like the list above. You’re hurt, crushed, disappointed, saddened, angry, devastated, or some combination therein. And because this negative thing has happened, you are now required to DO something. Choose something. Decide something. Action is necessary. And because this awful thing is consuming all of our thoughts, down to our core, we want to react NOW.

Scientific studies (and our own anecdotal experiences) tell us that we literally lose IQ points when we are in a negative mood — being sad, angry, disappointed, etc. makes us dumber, by as much as 50%!

We end up in this situation where we need to decide what to do after this awful thing has happened to us, we feel compelled to act immediately, but our minds are functioning at partial capacity. The path forward is challenging, uncertain, and requires us to be at our very best, but we are so far from it. What often happens next is a decision is made, with our incapacitated mind, and we do the wrong thing. We react incorrectly. And then the consequence from that makes us even more upset, cripples our ability to find intelligent, creative, thoughtful solutions, we do something dumb yet again, and the cycle continues. And it can continue for YEARS.

But it doesn’t have to. This entire downward spiral can be avoided by doing one simple thing that is tremendously easy to say, but far more difficult to do.

Wait. And do nothing.

It is absolutely imperative that you avoid making important decisions or reacting to a scenario when you are in this corrupt state of mind. You’re not as smart. You’re not as creative. You’re going to miss solutions that will be obvious later when you’ve had a chance to calm down, sleep, put some time between you and the problem, and improve your mental state.

Don’t skip over that sleep step, either. There’s a reason people suggest “sleeping on it.” Your brain does a fantastic job of coming up with good solutions while you’re sleeping. Sleeping also serves as a natural emotional reset, giving you back some of the IQ points lost by being upset.

So, that’s the lesson here: do everything possible to avoid making important decisions or taking new action when you’re mad or upset, when you are literally 20-50% dumber than normal. In most cases, the consequence for waiting won’t be as catastrophic as the fallout from doing the wrong thing. Give yourself time to get your mind as positive as possible, sleep on it, and then you’ll see the ideas and solutions start to come to you.

And then maybe you’ll realize it’s not so bad after all.

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