Transcription
So, I've been asked a few times over the past few months whether you should follow up with a client after an initial inquiry or a first-time meeting. And the answer is yes. You should. Of course, you should. But, you should do it properly. Because you see, there's a right way and a wrong way to do it.
So, let me let me tell you a story. A few A few months ago, I was in a boutique and I was looking at watches. And there was one in particular that I that I did like. And I fully intended on buying it. The reason I didn't is because I didn't have the right credit card with me. I wanted to use my Amex for the points, basically, and I didn't have it with me.
Anyway, the sales person was great. I was happy and I left with the absolute intent to buy the thing later. But, skip forward a few days, couple of days, probably 2 days, and the sales person emailed me saying, "Just checking in if you thought any more about the piece you were looking at." And now the watch was off the table. I no longer wanted it.
Why? How did absolute intent go to refusal because of a simple, perfectly pleasant email? What's the psychology and behavior behind that? Sounds stupid. Well, there is psychology and behavior behind it. It's called reactance. And it's the the moment someone feels that their freedom to choose is being constrained, even slightly, even very politely, they push back against it.
The space wrinkle for luxury sales is that the threshold for reactance is so much lower in clients who are used to being deferred to, which is basically the entire high net worth base, isn't it? They have a strong internal locus of control. They make their decisions on their own terms, and they've got a finely tuned antenna, I suppose, for anything that reads as pressure.
So, when that email lands 48 hours 48 hours later, because it is generally 48 hours, isn't it? It always comes 2 days later. And however politely it's written, what it's actually telling the client is that someone is keeping track. Someone is waiting for an answer. And this purchase that you're thinking about privately is now being thought about under observation. And the simple matter is people don't like being observed. So, they cool on it.
For me, personally, I genuinely thought I'd just gone off the watch. I didn't necessarily connect the email to the decision. Not immediately, anyway. Of course, I did afterwards, or I wouldn't be making this video. But most clients don't. They tell themselves that they didn't really need it. Or they'll come back to it later. And they almost never identify the follow-up as the thing that has done the damage. Yeah, the thing the the thing that has actually destroyed the the intent to buy.
I see that The thing with the following up is that it's part of the job. You can't not do it. Most good sales people are going to follow up regardless. The question is how to do it without setting off the reactive machinery. And there is a way.
What you want is something something like this. You want to do it for a start on the same day. So, you know, while the meeting's still warm in everybody's head. It doesn't matter what kind of meeting it is, whether it's in person, whether it's on Zoom, whether it's on the phone, whatever. You want to do it while the meeting is still warm in everyone's head.
And you want to send a short note. Something along the lines of, "Lovely to have seen you today," or "Lovely to have spoken to you today." Then you want to add one specific piece of information that's framed as your own thinking continuing after the client has left. So, you want to say something like, "You know, it crossed my mind after you left that there's a navy version of the bag that you were looking at coming out in a couple of weeks. So, I'll send you some pictures when it arrives." Or you want to say something like, you know, um, "It dawned on me after we hung up that another cruise line," or whatever company you're dealing with or whatever service, you fill in the gap, "is launching something similar very shortly. I'll email you when I have more detail."
And then nothing else in the message, nothing at all. Definitely no questions. And certainly no, "Shall we book a time to talk?" or "A call?" or "Reviewing?" or whatever. In fact, you shouldn't be asking for anything at all. Just send the note.
Because the note is doing a few things. The timing, that same day, places it inside what we call the post-meeting warmth, right? Before the client has started any private deliberation, it's inside that period where you're still warm in their mind. They still have a warm glow about meeting you. So, it reads as continuation of the conversation rather than chasing an answer.
So, the opener acknowledges that an actual human interaction, human exchange, has taken place. Which makes it sound less like, you know, one of those automated emails that normally get sent typed. And then, you know, the phrase, "it crossed my mind," that bit. I mean, that's a bit of important linguistic trickery, I suppose. Um, because it tells the client that you're thinking about them outside of when they were right in front of you. Which is what care looks like. I care about you. I was thinking about you. I thought about you.
And then, of course, you've got the promise of future contact which is tied to a specific event. That pre-installs permission for the next follow-up. You've told the client what's coming and roughly when, and they've implicitly accepted it by not replying to tell you not to bother. So they haven't replied back and said, "No, I don't want to see that. Don't bother sending it to me." In fact, most people will not say something like that. They'll say, "Oh, thanks, that sounds great."
So when the bag does arrive, or the new service, or the watch, or whatever it is that you've talked about, and the second message, the second follow-up message lands two or three weeks later, it's not an initiation. You're not re-initiating the conversation. It's simply the fulfillment of a promise that you made on the same day that they met you. So they knew it was coming. They were told what and when, and now here it is. Which functionally reads as a personal favor rather than as a sales move because the autonomy was never violated in the first place.
So, if you are following up, and you should be if you're a good salesperson, use that approach. It will work. I promise you. It works wonders. Really does. Just don't tell anybody I told you to do it. Can't have these secrets getting out. I'll talk to you in the next one. Bye.