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Effective follow-up is similar to walking on a tightrope. You must balance between playing it cool and being aggressive. If you're too cool, you'll never close the sale. If you're too pushy, you'll inadvertently push the sale away. You must find your "follow-up footing” or else you'll trip and lose the sale every time.
If you’ve been searching for effective B2B sales follow-up strategies, you’re in the right place! In this post, we share how to follow up with your prospects in multiple ways so you can increase the odds of closing a sale.
#1: Time Your Follow Up
Did a website visitor just request a demo?
Has a blog reader just opted-in for your whitepaper?
Did a prospect that you've been engaging with just open your email?
Speed is of the essence. These prospects have shown interest, and data shows that the sooner you follow up, the more likely they are to close. So don't wait until tomorrow to follow up on the lead! Do it now.
Your Competitors Aren’t Waiting (& You Shouldn’t Either)
Keep in mind that you're likely in a race with your competitors. When in research mode, most B2B customers create a list of companies that they’re considering working with. They'll reach out to these companies to get more information, and if you happen to be in that list, the best way to outperform the competition is to reply first. It's a huge advantage. In fact, 30-50% of sales go to the vendor that responds first.
B2B customers are most likely to do business with the first company that contacts them.
Speed is important as you move deeper down the funnel as well. Do you wonder what happens after you hit send on follow-up emails to prospects? Wondering is costing you sales.
A good email tracking system like PhoneBurner's SmartSender notifies reps in real-time when someone:
- Opens an email
- Clicks a link
- Watches a video
- Opens an attachment
… And more. This helps you follow up at precisely the right time, and with the right message.
Don't underestimate the power of speed.
#2: Always Follow Up with a Goal
Don't follow up just to "check-in." That's annoying and disrespectful of the prospect's time. They're busy and they would appreciate it if you got to the point.
Instead, have a point to each call, text, or email. Do you want to find out if they've reached a decision about purchasing? Do you want to share more information?
Nurturing Goals Through Relationship Building
Don’t call a B2B prospect just to feel them out. Instead, take every opportunity to build a business relationship and get them one step closer to purchase.
Recording calls in your CRM can also be quite useful so that you and your team can refer to them to prepare for future calls or outreach. PhoneBurner integrates with 200+ CRMs and also has native CRM features to help you collect and leverage valuable information about each prospect.
#3: Personalize Your Outreach
Once you’ve developed and nurtured a connection with your B2B prospect, you can communicate with them in a more personalized way. These approaches might seem more old school, but that’s exactly what makes them effective.
Send a Handwritten Note
In a world where everyone sends emails and texts, sending a handwritten letter or card can help you stand out from the crowd. It also cements a more significant and tangible relationship with your prospect.
While the majority of your contact will be through phone or email, a handwritten note is a nice touch that demonstrates your willingness to go the extra mile. Here are some tips:
- When you choose to send your note can also further its impact—like just after a live conversation or a product demo.
- Personalize your note further by including tidbits from your conversation (e.g. "I really enjoyed learning more about your sales team’s Q1 goals").
There are also several third-party online services that can integrate with your CRM to simplify sending personalized notes at scale. At PhoneBurner, we’ve used HandWrytten with success, but there are a ton of other options in this space as well.
Consider the Care Package
Everyone loves a care package, especially one that shows you actually care. This can be especially worthwhile in high-value deals. Here are some tips for successful care packages:
- Be aware that some companies have policies about accepting gifts from potential vendors, and some industries like finance and healthcare have very strict laws—so use this tactic carefully.
- Use what you've learned about your prospect in your interactions thus far. A favorite snack, merch from a beloved sports team or college can be an easy way to send a custom gift they'll actually like (think a nice water bottle, coffee mug, or even a hat or t-shirt if the quality is excellent).
- Including a branded item or two helps you provide the prospect with a tangible reminder of your relationship—and what you’re ultimately selling.
- A prospect’s LinkedIn profile can be a great place to find the info that helps you create an effective care package.
Related: 9 Pieces of Sales Advice from Experienced LinkedIn Professionals
Care packages don’t just help you make an impression—they also open the door for you to follow up with them in the future.
#4: Use Your Prospect's Preferred Communication Channel
Some prospects prefer email. Others favor phone calls. A few value face-to-face conversations. If your prospect wants to be emailed but you insist on calling, you may push them away.
Simply ask your prospect which channel they prefer and then use that channel primarily for your follow-ups. This will play a key role in your success, and the prospect will feel both heard and respected.
How to Follow-Up via Email
The majority of professionals prefer to correspond by email so they can respond when they have time, so it's crucial to nail the follow-up email. Here’s how to approach it:
Related: 5 Mistakes that Derail Your Cold Email Strategy
A Short & Punchy Subject Line
Typically only 15-30% of people will even open your email, but you can improve the effectiveness of your cold email outreach with a short, punchy subject. Example formats include:
- “Quick Question, [Name of Prospect]?” (vague but sometimes effective).
- “Idea for [Goal of Prospect]” (ie. an idea for generating more malpractice clients).
Get to the Point
You have seconds to capture their attention. Quickly explain the purpose of your email.
The ideal email length is a lot shorter than you think (somewhere between 50 to 100 words). That's basically two paragraphs long.
Make Your Email Scannable
Even though your email won't be long, it can still be intimidating if you try to cram everything into one humongous paragraph. Try this instead:
- Break up your emails to make them easily digestible.
- Create mini-paragraphs (1-2 sentences in length).
- Use bullet points and numbered lists.
- Include subheadings if you're covering multiple topics.
- Keep the text conversational in style—it’s okay to be casual over email!
Deliver Value—Not a Sales Pitch
Compose your email from the prospect's point of view. What do they need to hear from you in order to move forward? What can you do to increase their level of trust with you and your company?
By sending resources that they can make use of right away (such as a case study or demo video), your prospect can learn more about your product without feeling pressured to make a snap decision.
End with a call to action—Always give the prospect a clear next step with a call to action to take at the end of your email. Don't leave it up to them with multiple options.
#5: Follow-Up on the Phone
If your prospect prefers to use the phone for communication, here's how to follow-up:
Give a Specific Reason for Your Call
Don’t call to simply “touch base” or “check-in.” While “touching base” may sound harmless to you, to your prospect, it sounds like you're either wasting their time or putting them on the spot. The result? Immediate defensiveness.
However, if you give a specific reason for your call, your prospect is more likely to respond favorably. You can discuss an idea that you think will benefit the prospect or you can share recent news about your product or business that's relevant to the prospect. You can also call to ask them for the sale—but don't beat around the bush.
Be Prepared to Hit Their Voicemail
The majority of follow-up phone calls will not be answered, and you need a plan. With PhoneBurner, you can leave a message live, or leave a pre-recorded voicemail in one click (no need to wait for the beep). That same click can also send an email and even an SMS, improving exposure and chances of a callback.
Learn more about our workflow automation feature here.
How to Follow Up via Text
After you've left a voicemail, you can follow up with a text as well. Text messages have incredibly high open rates—98% of texts are read.
By comparison, according to the 2019 Email Benchmarking Report from the Data & Marketing Association (DMA), B2B emails have an average open rate of 20.8%, while B2C messages average 21.9%. Not great.
Because your follow-up text messages are much more likely to be seen than your emails, sending a text message is a no-brainer. Just make sure that you have consent and A2P 10DLC approval (now an industry requirement for business texting).
In addition to texting after leaving a voicemail, you can also follow up a sales call conversation with a note of thanks or an invitation to contact you with questions.
Fortunately, sending a follow-up text is simple also with PhoneBurner. You can compose and send a text from the dialer window. Plus, Phoneburner keeps track of all SMS correspondence so that you maintain detailed notes on your prospect.
Learn about PhoneBurner's SMS Text Messaging feature here.
#6: Create an Automated Sales Cadence
To maximize your sales productivity, you should create a reliable and repeatable schedule for your follow-ups. This schedule is known as a sales cadence.
Your cadence is a series of follow-up activities that you perform on certain days to drive engagement and conversions. It goes hand-in-hand with your funnel.
Why Having a Sales Cadence Matters
There are a few main reasons why having an automatic sales cadence is important.
- You may not know your contact's preferred channel of communication. Reaching out over multiple channels gives you maximum opportunities to connect.
- Diversifying your follow-up keeps things interesting for both you and your prospect.
- A reliable sales cadence also ensures you're hitting the desired number of touchpoints.
- Your sales cadence reduces guesswork on who to contact and when (especially because your follow-up sequence can be programmed into your CRM). It’s a great way to make sure none of your prospects are falling through the cracks.
How to Create a Sales Cadence
To create the perfect sales cadence, look at what you've done in the past to convert your ideal customers. What communication methods did you use? When did you reach out? How many times did you follow-up?
Remember that it takes, on average, between 8 to 11 follow-ups to convert a prospect into a customer.
Use this information to create a more streamlined schedule for future prospective clients. Continually test and allow your cadence to evolve based on what works best.
Virtually anything you do connect with a contact after a call, PhoneBurner can automate. Custom buttons can set a status or disposition, leave a note, set a tag, move a prospect to another folder or account, and more.
Related: Custom Dialer Buttons for Better Prospect Management
#7: Emphasize Your Unique Value Proposition (UVP)
No matter which strategy you use, emphasize why the prospect should choose your product on each interaction.
You know your product or service well, but your prospect may not. When deciding between you and your competitors, it may not always be clear what makes your product the best choice.
Make the case for your product in every follow-up, rather than rattling off a list of features that may or may not be relevant to your prospect.
Remember to personalize every conversation and that includes how you position your UVP. Illuminate your prospect's pain point and show how your product will solve that problem or benefit them in some way.
Put Your B2B Sales Follow-Up Strategy Into Action with PhoneBurner
Many salespeople stop after the first or second follow-up. That's unfortunate, because the real magic happens somewhere between 8 and 11 of them.
When it comes to keeping leads engaged and moving toward a decision, persistence and strategy are key. Follow the follow-up tips above to rise above the competition—and build yourself a bigger and better converting funnel.
Remember, the right tools will help you follow up more effectively—and PhoneBurner is packed full of them. Experience what our CRM integrations, automated follow-up sequences, custom disposition buttons, and more can do for your team when you start a free PhoneBurner trial today.
