Having an effective follow up process is crucial to ensure you are maximizing every sale opportunity that you generate for your business. Following up isn’t the most glamorous part of the job and most sales reps will avoid following up out of a fear of rejection or a reluctance to receive honest feedback. Employing a good follow-up strategy could very well be a powerful tool, perhaps even the key to your success in sales. Studies have shown that 50% of sales happen after multiple follow ups. Without a strong follow up process you are potentially leaving twice the amount of your current sales on the table.

The key to a good follow up system is consistency and persistence. You must have a consistent cadence and you must be persistent with that cadence. The majority of the sales appointments you will go on, your customers will not be ready to make a decision. They will give you various objections, such as “we need to think about it” or “we are getting other quotes”. If you are unable to handle those objections during the initial estimate, you should put that customer directly into your follow up process.

Always make sure your customer understands the next step in the process before leaving your initial scheduled appointment. The next step should always be a scheduled call or in-home visit. Do not just say “we will follow up with you”. If you do not schedule a follow up, you are much more likely to find yourself struggling to get back into contact with the customer. In this playbook, we will be taking a deep dive into how to properly set yourself up for success with an effective follow up strategy.

Setting your initial follow up:

The first step of a strong follow up process is setting the proper expectations with the customer. Assuming you did not close the sale on the initial estimate appointment, you should always schedule next steps with the customer. To properly do this, you need to have a better understanding of what the customer's timeline is so that you can schedule the follow up based on their objection. Before you schedule the follow up, ensure you ask the following questions:

• Is this a project you are looking to do this year?
• When would you like the work to get done?
• What information are you still looking for before you make your decision?
• Can I follow up with you in X amount of days to check in?
• The amount of days depends on how they respond to the first three questions.
• If they are looking to get the work done ASAP, I would keep the days in between limited to 2-3 days.
• Try your best to keep the follow up within 10 days at the longest. This won’t always be possible, but the sooner you follow up, the better your chances are of closing the job.

Once you have the information you need and you have received permission to follow up with them at a certain time, the next step is to actually schedule a day and time for the follow up. “Great, does 4 PM on Friday work for you for a quick follow up call?” If they agree, write down the day and time of the follow up on the back of your business card and hand it to them. Make sure they understand that you will be calling them for the follow up. This small step will greatly decrease the amount of no answers on your follow ups. When this happens, make sure to add a reminder for yourself immediately for about 15 minutes before the agreed upon follow up time. This will ensure you don’t miss the follow up appointment and will give you a few minutes to prepare.

Initial Follow Up Call Script

• Introduction:
• Is ____ available? This is _______ calling from (Company Name). How are you doing tonight? I am calling, like I promised, to speak with you about your decision on painting this season. Do you have a few minutes to talk?
• Rapport: Did you have fun at the hockey game? (use your topics from your estimate rapport)
• Summary of Job and biggest customer needs:
• Great…. So from the estimate it sounded like you were most concerned with ______, ______, and ________, when making a decision on your painting contractor. Do you feel comfortable that I could do those things?
• Do you have any follow up questions regarding the proposal that we covered on _________?
• Asking Again:
• Great, well it sounds like you are comfortable with everything that we covered, so I would like to ask you again: Can I get you in my painting schedule?
• Next Steps:
• If Yes – schedule a time and date (as soon as you can) to fill out the contract and collect the deposit on the job. Go that day or the very next if possible.
• If “Not Sure” or “Haven’t Decided Yet” - they will most likely have an objection at this point* Follow up with… “Well - Before we get off the phone, I just have 3 quick questions for you.”
• Have you decided if you will be painting for sure?
• What is factoring into your decision? Is there more information you need?
• Have you decided if you will for sure be hiring the work out? What is factoring into your decision on who you will choose?

Once you have found the true objections, restate how you will cover the concern, and ASK AGAIN!  If you absolutely cannot get them turned, figure out how you can help them in their decision and try to set up an in-person meeting at their home for a decision!

• If “No” – Be surprised but confident.  “Wow – I wasn’t expecting that. What’s holding you back from getting on the schedule this year?”
• Listen, as you will likely hear one of the objections from earlier (“can’t afford it, went with someone else, doing a different project and holding off a year, doing the work ourselves…”)
• Based on what you hear, suggest some action steps should their plans change
• Ask for referrals. “It was great to meet you and I hope you feel that I have done my best to try to earn your business in a respectful way. If I sent you 3 of my business cards, do you think you could help me find 3 potential customers? If I schedule 3 estimates with your referrals, I would be happy to send you a $50 gift card to the restaurant of your choice for helping me out!”

Follow Up Cadence

It is not uncommon to be ghosted by customers that you are following up with. Keep in mind, if a customer does not answer your calls or get back to you, it does not mean they are no longer interested in the service. People are busy, and oftentimes, they are not answering your call simply so they can buy themselves a little bit of time. This is where persistence is crucial. Do not ever feel like you are bothering them by following up too much. The worst thing they can do is call you back to say no and to stop contacting them. If a customer does not respond to my initial follow up call I will put them into the following cadence.

• Day 1 - Initial scheduled follow up call - Leave Voicemail -
• “Hi Mr. Jones, this is John with the Painting guys. Was just calling at our scheduled follow up time to check in with you in regards to the estimate I provided on (estimate date). Feel free to call or text me back when you get a chance. Leave Phone Number”
• Day 2 - Text -
• “Hi Mr Jones, this is John with the Painting Guys. I am just following up on the estimate that we provided on (estimate date). Did you have any questions about the proposal I emailed over to you?”
• Day 3 - No Follow Up - Give them space
• Day 4 - Email in response to the original proposal email
• “Mr. Jones,I wanted to thank you again for taking the time out of your schedule to meet with me. I want to make sure that I have given you every reason to choose us for your painting project. Thank you again for inviting me to your home! Do you have any questions for me about how we would handle your painting project?”
• Day 5 - No Follow Up - Give them space
• Day 6 - Phone Call - Leave Voicemail
• “Hi Mr. Jones, this is John again with the Painting Guys, I just wanted to give you a quick call to follow the proposal we put together for your painting project. Please give me a call back at your earliest convenience.”
• Day 7 - Text
• “Hi Mr. Jones, this is John with the Painting Guys again. I wanted to send one last follow up text regarding your proposal. Are you still interested in getting the work done?”

At this point, if you have still not gotten a response from them after a week of following up, move them into an email campaign that sends out emails once per week. You can use these emails as a reason to follow up once per week with a phone call as well.. You can see the email campaign messages below:

• Week 1 Email
• Subject: Can I answer any questions?
• I was thinking about your project this morning and wanted to check in with you. Do you have any questions about the proposal or the project? I want to get you on the calendar before we book up.
• Week 2 Email
• Subject: I was in the neighborhood
• I was in your neighborhood the other day and thought about your project. Please let me know if there are any questions you may have for me. We would love to work with you.
• Week 3 Email
• Subject: What’s on your mind?
• I haven't heard anything from you for some time and was curious if you were still considering your project. Please let me know if your project plans have changed or if we can discuss any items in our proposal.
• Week 4 Email
• Subject: Please advise
• I have been unable to reach you to determine if you've reached a final decision on the project that we discussed. Please advise if we should remove your project from our "to be scheduled" category and I will discontinue attempting to reach you. It was my pleasure to discuss your project and would love the chance to talk in the future.

Between all of the calls, texts and emails this gives you at least 12 different possible points of contact over the course of 5 weeks. Typically within those 5 weeks customers will have decided if they are doing the project and if they are who they want to do the project. If you do not get any response in those 5 weeks it usually means one of two things:

1. They have decided to use another contractor for the work.
2. They are not getting the work done this year.

If the customer never confirms they chose someone else to do the work, I will move them into a last year proposal list.

Last Year Proposal List

A last year proposal list is a list of all customers who I never received a direct answer from. Until you receive confirmation that the customer chose someone else, there is still a possibility of earning their business. You should dial through these customers twice a year to confirm if they are still interested in getting the work done. It is recommended to make these calls during the slow times of the year. You can use this script when contacting your list. This script can also be used to contact leads that you were never able to schedule for an initial appointment. As soon as they confirm the work has been done, you can take them off your list and consider the job lost.

“Hello, is this _________?”

LYP (Estimate was done):

“My name is _________ with a local painting company , the reason for my call is that it looks like you may have received a bid from us last year and I just wanted to call and follow-up to see if you had the work done?   If not, I would love to give you a fresh bid with our early season pricing.”

LYLead (No estimate was done):

“My name is _________ with a local painting company and the reason for my call is that you expressed interest in getting an estimate for exterior painting on your home.  I’m not sure we connected and I just wanted to call and follow-up to see if you had gotten the work done?”

NOTE: If the answer is anything other than “no, we had it fully painted last summer” continue reading below*****

“Great!  I am the local owner for (Company Name) in your area, and I am currently doing estimates for the upcoming painting season.  I would love to come out and take another look at the home.  Would you be interested in scheduling another estimate?

Helpful Tips:

• Urgency is key on LYLs. They asked for a quote last year, so clearly there must be painting that needs to be done— in fact, it had a whole additional year to continue to deteriorate. Get them to say that it needs painting!
• "How long has it been since it was last painted?”
• “Have you noticed any cracking, peeling, or fading?”
• If Objections come up do your best to address them:
• “Did you get a bid last year and was it in your range?”
• Find out how we fared relative to their budget. Reassure them that you are a new manager with a fresh approach— getting your estimate could save them money.
• "Do you recall our proposal last year and if so, what did you think of it?”
• Find out what may have been missing; you can include it this year!
• “Did you feel we would do a good job for you?”
• If not, go over-the-top to reassure that you will.

Objective: If there is still painting that needs to get done, do not hang up the phone until you have convinced them to let you do another estimate.****

Additional Follow Up Tips

• Make sure each of your follow ups are conducted at different times of the day. Every customer has different schedules, so make sure you utilize the morning, afternoon and evening to try the best time to connect with the customer. You may have a good understanding of the best time to reach the customer following your estimate as well.
• Leave assumptive voicemails - This is a more assertive approach, but you can leave assumptive voicemails to get a response for the customer.
• “Hi Mr. Jones, this is John with the Painting Guys. I have not heard back from you, so I just wanted to follow up. I am actually going to be in your neighborhood tomorrow around 4 PM for another appointment. I am planning to stop by after the appointment to just check in, let me know if that doesn’t work for you.”
• Chances are the customer will respond to that voicemail. I only do this for customers that I built a strong relationship with, and if they have not communicated at all after the initial estimate appointment.
• Utilize drive backs. Another strategy to get in contact with a customer is to drive back to their house and knock on the door. This is also an assertive approach, but can be a great way to finally get an answer. Some customers may be put off by this, while others may appreciate the persistence. This is what to say at the door if they answer.
• “Hi Mr. Jones, sorry to bother you, I was just in the neighborhood and I had a few extra minutes, so I figured I would stop by to check in with you guys. How are you feeling about the proposal I put together for you?”
• Always make sure you schedule any follows you set with customers. Never just tell a customer “I will follow up with you next week.” Having a schedule helps you maintain consistent communications with your customer base while also keeping you from overdoing it and pushing potential customers away.
• One effective way to nurture leads is by adding value to your follow-ups. For example, you can include helpful information in your emails or offer links to downloadable guides and relevant content. Always aim to have value-adding, and meaningful conversations throughout the selling process.
• After every point of contact or follow up, always ensure you have clear next steps with your customer. This shows the customer that you are organized and helps you as the business owner ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

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