FOLLOWING UP - YOUR EVANGELIST MARKETING MINUTE

By Alex Goldfayn, Marketing Evangelist

The Evangelist Marketing Minute is a weekly thinking launch point written by Alex Goldfayn specifically for executives, and always takes less than 60 seconds to read. To learn more about Alex, visit

Evangelist Marketing Institute, or call 847-459-6322 if you'd like to discuss applying my concepts to your work.

Following Up

I teach my clients how to systematically implement various combinations of about two dozen fast, free, simple communications actions. As such, my average client grows by 15-20% in their first year with me.

Three of the actions generate the most revenue the fastest. One of them is the simple act of following up on quotes or proposals. The customer is interested in buying from you and has asked you to send a price. You've done the work and sent it. And then, frequently, we never hear from them, nor they from us.

We assume they are not interested, given the silence. But in reality, they could simply be busy. Or other priorities have leapfrogged this one. Or they already awarded the business to someone else. Or they've decided to hold off until next month. We don't know.

Why don't we call? We don't want to impose. We don't want to be rejected. But the client often simply assumes we are not interested enough in the work. When there's silence, assumptions is all we have.

Recently, I had three companies come to quote an insulation project at my home. Only one followed up on his proposal. He wasn't the cheapest. But he got the work because he was interested enough to follow up.

Many times my clients get additional opportunities from customers when they follow up on their quotes and proposals. And always, at the very least, they learn what's happening with the business. If someone else got the business, they find out why. If it hasn't yet been awarded, they learn when it will be.

The quote or proposal follow-up is one final, simple step at the end of a lengthy journey for each piece of business.

Will you take the step?