Be a Follow-

Up All-Star-
THE 1-2-3 METHOD
INTRODUCTION
Its preached over and over. Activity, activity, activity. Its the keys to the castle when it comes to a career in
sales. You must stay active. Sales is a marathon and not a sprint. As a salesperson, it should be your mantra.
What I do today will determine what I reap tomorrow. Thats why its so important to follow up with existing
opportunities diligently and meticulously. As salespeople, its easy to become enamored with the new, juicy
opportunities that make their way into your funnel, but be careful not to forget those that have already been
through some part of your sales process already.

Now there are all different kinds of follow up throughout the sales process:
Contacting inbound leads (hand-raisers/suspects) that arent quite ready for a sales appointment
Following up with prospects who have seen your presentation and need some time to decide on a
course of action

In this discussion, well be referring to the latter. Specifically, what do you do once the prospect has seen your
product or service presentation?

In this Sales Follow-Up whitepaper, youll find:

Discussion of the objective of follow-up
Introduction to the 1-2-3 Method
Email templates for use with the 1-2-3 Method
Follow-up owchart

THE OBJECTIVE OF
POST-PRESENTATION FOLLOW UP
How do you make the most of our follow up activity level? How do you make sure that your follow up activity
is achieving the objective? Before answering those questions, we need to determine what exactly IS the
objective of following up with prospects.
The primary objective, obviously, is to advance deals to the next stage of the sales process. But if you take a
step back and look at what that means, youll reveal a stark reality.

The actual objective is to clear the playing field.

It would be great if the only prospects that salespeople spoke with were the ones who would eventually buy
but thats not the real world. The reality is that 80% or more of the sales prospects that go through a sales
presentation WILL NOT BUY some are not ready yet and wont be for a while, and some will never buy. So
rather than spending time and resources chasing those that wont buy, the key is to weed out those who will.

This might come as a shocker, but the No answer is okay when it comes to post-presentation follow up. No
clears the air. No lets prospects sit down and reveal those still standing. Keep reading to find the best way to
weed out the buyers from the non-buyers in a diplomatic and eective manner.
THE 1-2-3 METHOD
A method that works well for getting to the prospects that are most likely to buy is the 1-2-3 method. This
technique is essentially a series of three emails aimed at verifying a prospects continued interest in your
product or service. The messages within the emails are deft and tactful and give the prospect an opportunity
to say no.

As salespeople, its inevitable that youll have sales prospects who are gung ho about your oering and what it
can do for them, but then a week later radio silence, nothing, crickets. These emails will help authenticate
their interest (or lack thereof). In fact, it is highly likely that this soft prod will help revive prospects that have
gone silent.

The basic flow is as follows:

Initial Follow-Up Email

Email #1 Email #2 Email #3

SOFT HARD
FEEDBACK
TAKEAWAY TAKEAWAY

TEMPLATES

The actual message in each email is very simple and conversational. No need to inundate the prospect with a
ton of information unnecessarily. Below youll nd the templates used in the 1-2-3 Method:

1. Feedback

Hello [NAME],

Any feedback regarding the information we sent you regarding our services you want to provide via
email, or should we hold a time open on our calendars this week or next to discuss?

Thanks,
John Smith
Sales Psychology:
You are softly opening the door for further discussion. Not only that, but you are also providing a timeframe
for the prospect. The typical responses to this call-to-action question might be:
1. Yes. Lets schedule a time to talk.
2. Now is not the right time. Follow up with me in a month.
3. Silence
If the prospect opts for #3 and does not respond, then wait a specied period of time and send the Soft
Takeaway.

2. Soft Takeaway

Hello [NAME],

I've not heard back from you and it may be that you got busy and meant to come back to this.
Would it make sense for us to set aside a time to talk later this week or should I be contacting you
next month?

Regards,
John Smith

Sales Psychology:
In the Soft Takeaway, you exercise some tact in pointing out that the prospect has failed to respond. In fact,
youve built in a non-confrontational excuse for them. No guilt tactics, no aggression just plain and
professional. The call-to-action question gives the prospect an opportunity to meet or designate themselves as
a longer-term follow up. It may seem counterintuitive to give the prospect an out, but remember, the objective
is to weed out the buyers from the non-buyers. The typical responses might be:
1. Sorry for not responding sooner. Actually the timing is right. Lets meet soon.
2. I think a month would be good to follow up.
3. We are no longer interested.
4. Silence
If the prospect opts for #4 and does not respond, then wait a specified period of time and send the Hard
Takeaway.

3. Hard Takeaway

Hello [NAME],

Since Ive not heard back from you, I will assume youve elected to go another route for
[PRODUCT/SERVICE]. Should your needs change and a [PRODUCT/SERVICE] make sense, please
keep us in mind.

Regards,
John Smith
Sales Psychology:
In the Hard Takeaway, we are simply removing the prospect from our sales funnel and politely letting the
prospect know as such. You would be surprised at how often a prospect will revive after receiving the Hard
Takeaway. Typical responses might be:
1. No wait. Sorry for my slow response. Lets meet.
2. Thanks for your follow up, but we are not interested. You should contact me in six months.
3. Silence

Marketing Qualified Leads /

Sales Appointments

NO
No Proposal
Presentation Qualified? Drop-Out

YES

Answer
Initial Follow-Up Email
RESPONSE
Not
Answer Advancing
Long-Term
FEEDBACK Follow-Ups

Answer
SOFT TAKEAWAY
Advancing

Answer
HARD TAKEAWAY Continuing in
the Sales
Process
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