Been Working Through "follow up guilt"

Real Estate Agent · Columbus OH · Member since 2018 · 1k+ posts · 1k+ votes

Like all good (recovering) Catholics, I have crippling guilt that comes with most things I do in life somehow. Only have joking, but the mental battle or work lately has been around "followup" and finding where the line between being persistent and being annoying or pushy is. The struggle for me honestly has been not imposing my own personal feelings onto the other person I'm interacting with, and letting them actually tell me.

Writing this I realize this is the struggle/work I'm doing even in my personal relationships, the jumping to the end out of anxiety or guilt or whatever concoction, just to "fill in the blank" when in reality leaving the result as an unknown and letting that person express themselves is the real key.

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Don KonipolBusiness Member
Investor · The Woodlands TX / Avon, CT · Member since 2009 · 6k+ posts · 10k+ votes
1h
The bottom line is profitability. If the most profitable activity you can do at any particular moment is follow up, then you follow up. If there’s a more profitable activity, you do that and then see if you can either outsource or automate follow up PROFITABLY. If you can you do that, if not you leave it alone.
Your worry about annoyance of the recipients is well founded. This too gets into the profitability equation. If the loss of potential income from loss of clients due to excessive communication is greater than the income it can generate, that needs to be included as part of the overall profitability equation.
As a baseline, you need to establish some general rules for all your marketing; many profitable strategies may not be utilized by certain people simply because it goes against their personal bias. I’ll give you an example of my own, while I send direct email in a monthly basis to my business contacts at their business email addresses, I’d never send a business email to their personal addresses. Why? Because to me personal is for personal, not business. I’m not claiming there’s anything wrong with sending business purpose email to a personal addresses, or that others shouldn’t. I’m just saying I won’t.
Further, other than the emails, I’ve centered all our marketing on “inbound” activities; SEO, SEM, social media marketing, etc. Not only do we get more “bang for the buck”, but we are able to operate leaner and “meaner”. Again, personal preference.
Specifically on follow-up - two different theories. I’ve read that it takes NINE contacts to make a sale - and that great salesman do at least that many on all prospects. Which explains why I’m NOT a great salesman! I do one follow up and that’s it unless there’s a specific acknowledgment where the prospect ASKS me to follow up, and even then I probably won’t. But I have established a certain “go to “ reputation over my 50 years in the business that most others don’t have, and hence with my substantial deal flow I can afford to play “Hard to Get”.
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Cory KingBusiness Member
Real Estate Agent · Knoxville, TN · Member since 2021 · 166 posts · 77 votes
48m
if you're coming from contribution @Michael K Gallagher no guilt should be had. Out team works off a framework you might find helpful.

4 reasons we reach out

Save them money (insurance rate change/find a deal to help save on taxes)
Make them money (send a deal or opportunity to jv on something)
Make them smarter (share an article they might find helpful)
Invite to an event - straightforward. you don't even have to be the host of it, just put it on their radar and offer to have them come with you.
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Marc Winter
Real Estate Broker · Northeast PA · Member since 2017 · 2k+ posts · 2k+ votes
47m
@Michael K Gallagher

If you're providing some value to the followup target, it shouldn't be seen as being another 'pushy' salesperson. Establish a personal connection by letting them talk, and actively listening to what they have to say. Repeat back some key points you hear so they feel understood. That will go a long way towards a good working relationship.

Business is built on relationships.

Last pointer: get out of your own head and focus on what the prospect is actually telling you. Unlock their motivation (or lack thereof) and you will be further along to making the sale, or simply saying "next!"
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