Don’t Get Ghosted – The Art Of The Follow-Up
You’ve had an enquiry come through and you’re super excited about this potential new client. You send off your enquiry response email and eagerly await a reply. But then…crickets… How soon, and how often should you follow up with a potential client after their initial enquiry?
There’s nothing more annoying than being ghosted by a potential client. We all know that not every person who enquires will become a paying client, but when we hear nothing back from them, it’s easy to start creating a narrative as to why they are ghosting us.
Why is a fast follow up so important?
People’s Attention Wanders
How many times have you read an email or seen a message and thought “I don’t have time to respond now but I’ll sit down and take a proper look and respond later”? Then life happens, the message gets buried in your inbox and you completely forget that you never replied. I’m sure it’s not just me 😉
We all lead busy lives, filled with distractions and messages competing for our attention.
Clients may be reaching out to a number of vendors when planning their weddings, and whilst you might be super quick to respond to their initial contact, if you aren’t following up quickly then your initial email may end up buried beneath others.
Following up in a timely manner keeps your name at the top of their consciousness AND at the top of their inbox.
It Shows You’re Not “Too Busy”
We want our clients to know that we are in-demand and that our availability is limited (so they should hurry up and book us).
But it’s also important that they can see that we’re not too busy to give them our full attention when they need it. Whilst most won’t expect an immediate response, we’re all wired these days to expect people to respond within a fairly short timeframe. Taking too long to respond and not following up can give clients the impression that you’re simply too busy.
Responding and following-up quickly also shows them that you’re enthusiastic to work with them. Clients are more likely to want to work with you if they can see that you genuinely want to work with them.
When & How Often Should You Follow Up?
I recommend creating a follow-up routine with deadlines that you can assign (and if possible automate) for every enquiry you receive.
My own follow-up routine consists of 3 emails, sent at different intervals within 2 weeks of receiving the initial enquiry, and to make everything as easy for me as possible, my follow-ups are all pre-written to save me time. Once a client enquiry comes in, a workflow is triggered in Dubsado, which sends me reminders when each of the follow-up emails needs to be sent.
If you don’t have a CRM system like Dubasdo, I recommend using a plugin such as Boomerang for Gmail which pings emails back into your inbox at set times, reminding you to follow up.
If you don’t already have the majority of your client emails saved as pre-written templates, you are most likely spending too much time writing emails. You can purchase my pre-written, fully customisable email templates in the shop, which can help you free up your time for more adventures!
