{"id":180,"date":"2014-04-01T20:57:25","date_gmt":"2014-04-01T20:57:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/whatsyourpoint.mobi\/?p=180"},"modified":"2019-04-05T22:16:26","modified_gmt":"2019-04-06T02:16:26","slug":"self-test-whats-a-failed-follow-up-cost","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thecatalyst.com\/blog\/self-test-whats-a-failed-follow-up-cost\/","title":{"rendered":"SELF-TEST: What’s a Failed FOLLOW UP Cost You?"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no crying in baseball and there’s no \u201cslipped through the cracks\u201d in business follow-up with prospects and clients, external and internal.<\/strong><\/h1>\n

Yet, time and again, entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals explain the cost of their failure to follow up with a prospect or client by saying, \u201cThey just slipped through the cracks.\u201d<\/h2>\n

As if the prospect or client had caused the problem!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

First of all, there\u2019s no \u201cslipped\u201d in effective communication.<\/h2>\n

When you fail to do what you said you\u2019d do, prospects and clients don\u2019t slip<\/em> away from you. They run<\/em>.<\/strong> Today\u2019s smart-phone-savvy consumers want answers now and results even faster. Disgruntled prospects and frustrated clients will quickly turn to receptive professionals who can be trusted to do what they say they\u2019ll do. Wouldn\u2019t you if you were intent on doing business, but an unreliable executive or salesperson got in the way?<\/p>\n

And, there are no \u201ccracks\u201d either, just the pockets of more organized, efficient professionals.<\/h2>\n

The prospects and clients who you let down or ignore don\u2019t abandon their plans, they abandon you<\/em>, because you abandoned them<\/em><\/strong>. Their business transaction will still happen, just without you. The income or commission that could have been yours ends up in the pocket of the professional who followed through, earned trust, and enabled the client to achieve their goals.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t kid yourself. When you say you\u2019ll do something, then in the minds of over-stressed prospects and clients, you just made a promise<\/em>. When you promise to do more than you deliver on\u2014whether that\u2019s failing to return phone calls, email information, or\u2026you let down those who you need to earn trust from. You also let yourself down\u2014now and in the future.<\/strong><\/p>\n

WYPt SELF-TEST: WHAT IS FAILURE TO FOLLOW<\/em> UP COSTING ME?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Let one prospect \u201cslip through the cracks\u201d when you don\u2019t follow up on emails, promises to call, or on anything you committed to do, and you\u2019re the loser on many levels. As you read through the following list of repercussions of abandoning a prospect or client, use the average income or commission you earn on your typical preferred transaction to add up how much just one failure to follow up may cost you:
\n1. Lost commission for that first prospect or client transaction: $ ____________<\/strong>
\n2. Lost commission from subsequent referrals from that individual if they had been well-served by you (let\u2019s say 2 more deals you won\u2019t get): $ _____________ X 2 = $ ____________<\/strong>
\n3. Lost commission from that new client\u2019s next transaction: $ ____________<\/strong>
\n4. Lost commission from future business from that client and future referrals: $ __________<\/strong>
\n5. Those un-followed-up-on prospects and clients will spread word of your failings to anybody who\u2019ll listen.<\/strong> Every time your name or industry comes up, those disgruntled individuals will chime in with \u201cpromises were made.\u201d You may never know how many more clients and referrals you lose. Or, social media may reveal exactly how wide ranging the prospect\u2019s or client\u2019s negative reach is. Be optimistic and only dock yourself two deals here, but add to this amount your advertising budget for counteracting your proven bad service rating:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/p>\n

$ __________ X 2 = $ ___________ + $ _____________ = $ _____________<\/strong><\/p>\n

What\u2019s your TOTAL COST OF A FAILED FOLLOW UP<\/strong>?\u00a0 $ _____________<\/p>\n

Even If your average income or commission per deal were only $3000, this list could represent a loss of $21,000 plus<\/em> the cost of advertising that is undermined by word of mouth and social media activity. Failure to follow up is expensive!<\/p>\n

Since not following up is a bad habit, those who do it once will repeat this self-defeating behavior again and again<\/strong>.<\/h2>\n

This means your total from one missed deal multiplied by how many times a year you drop the ball with a prospect or client is\u2026. Do yourself a favor and do the “bad habit” math: $ __________ .<\/strong><\/p>\n

Attach a dollar figure to follow through<\/strong>, so you always relate the promises you make\u2014from phone calls, texts, or emails to research or marketing\u2014to your bottom line. This enables you to move from \u201cit\u2019s only a phone call or email\u201d to making business decisions about opportunities to lose or to earn credibility and income.<\/p>\n

Back to HOME … The Catalyst.com<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s no crying in baseball and there’s no \u201cslipped through the cracks\u201d in business follow-up with prospects and clients, external and internal. Yet, time and again, entrepreneurs, executives, and professionals explain the cost of their failure to follow up with a prospect or client by saying, \u201cThey just slipped through the cracks.\u201d As if the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,21],"tags":[53,52],"class_list":["post-180","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-leverage-your-expertise","category-on-point-communication","tag-cost-of-failure","tag-follow-up"],"yoast_head":"\nSELF-TEST: What's a Failed FOLLOW UP Cost You? – What's Your Point? asks PJ Wade The Catalyst<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.thecatalyst.com\/blog\/self-test-whats-a-failed-follow-up-cost\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"SELF-TEST: What's a Failed FOLLOW UP Cost You? – What's Your Point? asks PJ Wade The Catalyst\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"There\u2019s no crying in baseball and there’s no \u201cslipped through the cracks\u201d in business follow-up with prospects and clients, external and internal. 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