Following up with prospects and leads has become an art form but is still a very underused practice in sales and marketing. An inbound marketing strategy revolves around drawing customers in, but direct outreach is key to being successful. Many situations require prompt and continuous follow-up. In addition, there are more ways to reach out to your potential clients than ever before. Here we explore several everyday follow-up situations you’ll encounter with your prospects and how and when to reach out to them.

After A Content Download

A simple email outreach or placement into a nurturing email workflow will help guide those that download your content further through the funnel. If the content they download happens to be a case study, they are clearly interested in your product, which may warrant a phone call.

After An Email Click

A phone call to prospects that click on your email will help identify their interest level and open up direct communications. For email campaigns aimed at the top of the funnel prospects, placement in an email workflow to receive additional content may work best. 

After A Social Media Action

If a prospect likes one of your social posts, try to connect with them on that platform. If they comment, like and reply to the comment and send them a connection request with a personalized invite message. This will bring them into your network and get the conversation started.

After Filling Out A Contact Us Form 

If a prospect is showing enough interest where they’re requesting you to reach out to them, following up is a must. Generally, an email can get the ball rolling, and then once their intentions are clear, you can follow up with them using their preferred means.

After The Sales Call

After the completion of a sales call, a recap email detailing the meeting notes, providing any promised materials and guidance on the next steps will ensure sales opportunities don’t slip through the cracks. Send another email if you do not receive a response after a few days.

After Contract Is Sent

If a lead has made it as far as agreeing to look over a contract, the importance of following up becomes that much more significant. While you want to give them time to review and discuss the contract with their team, you should follow up with them after a few days to ensure they do not have any additional questions.

After Purchase 

Nurturing your current customers is one of the best ways to drive sales without the cost of discovering and marketing to new prospects. This can come in the form of email workflows with the occasional live touch. Ensuring their satisfaction and continuing to build the relationship can lead to more sales from them and possibly generate referrals. 

A follow-up for every situation is integral to any inbound marketing strategy and will help deliver higher quality leads, more sales, and loyal customers.

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