One Way To Make More $$$ in 2010: Follow-Up Better

Want to make more money in 2010 than last year? Learn the art of the follow-up.

When you get an email from someone asking for some advice or something they need or want from you, how long do you take to get back to them? What is your defined process for follow-up?

A simple one could be, “I return all phone calls within 24 hours” or “I return all calls by EOD.”

I am in a position where I’m going to have to express to business acquaintances that they need to step up. The world is moving too fast anymore. Next time :O your blackberry goes down, go to Twitter Search and watch how fast the Tweets come flying in. Frankly, you need to be on it to survive – especially in this environment.

For context, these aren’t “cold call” emails. My emails are going to folks with whom I have a relationship and the end results will be beneficial to both of us. [If you care to know, when approaching someone for the first time, I always ask if it’s ok to email them x or y and get their PERMISSION first.]

More times than not, I end up having to instigate a second email to get a response – after a week!

“But Michael, I’m really busy watching my 1-minute bars.” I know…they are beautiful, but I have to believe that a lot of business opportunities get lost or missed altogether because emails are left on the perimeter of the dance floor. My guess is that you’d capture more business leads with a massively fast follow-up process for all communications: email, phone calls, Tweets, IMs, and BB Messages. Here’s the real deal though:

I’m really impressed with people when they get back to me quickly. It makes a good first impression when meeting face-to-face is not or was not possible.

Here’s another tip: If I get an email from someone where the content or the person are really important, I always touch back immediately and say, “Got the email. Slammed now. I’ll be back to you by {defined period of time}” or something to that degree. Now you look like a pro and most importantly, you’re managing their expectations.