One of the questions we get asked a lot is, how long do I follow up with someone? One of our favorite sales experts, Colleen Francis said in a recent blog post, follow up on your leads at least 7 times by email and 7 times by phone before you give up.
That's a great rule to operate by. And then, continue building the relationship. Create a long term follow up campaign
where you 'drip' - call, email, text, mail, call... every 3-4 months.
Too often we make the whole follow up thing about the other person. How long should I follow up with them? The better question is, how long do you plan on being in business?
In
1960 a field worker named Manjhi was living in the hills of Bihar, India. A small mountain sat between his village and the closest town with a hospital which was a 43 mile trip.
When his wife was injured, he clearly decided that enough was enough. Manjhi sold three goats and purchased a hammer, chisel, and a crowbar.
By day he worked his fields as usual.
By night he worked on the mountain, chipping and digging away.
His neighbors, of course, said he was crazy. No one helped him. He worked for days. Actually months. Which turned into years.
Manjhi did not stop until he created a corridor that was thirty feet wide and twenty-five feet high. This meant everyone
in the village enjoyed a direct route to the hospital.
And it only took 22 years.
(*Thanks to MentalFloss for the
article!)
