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Speakers and Trainers – How Often Should You Follow Up On Your Marketing Material?

22nd February, 2009 - Posted by Meggin - No Comments

Marketing is one of your main ‘jobs’ as a speaker (or any other small business owner). Knowing various strategies for marketing is essential, there’s no question. And knowing how often to follow-up (and in what time frame) is one of keys to your success when marketing. It’s possible you have a question similar to one of the ones submitted recently on my blog:

I wanted to follow up with the lead you gave me last week regarding 2 administrators. I sent them an e-mail introduction and statement of interest as well as a resume and reference letter attached on February 28. When should I expect a response, and /or when should I make my next contact?

There’s a fine line between following up and pestering…and we all need to find that "sweet spot." Most of us are so worried about pestering that we delay TOO long and then when we follow up with someone, they don’t even remember who we are or what we sent them.

My suggestion is to send someone a follow-up email and/or phone call within 2 weeks of when you first sent your information, especially when it was a very specific contact such as the one mentioned in the question. Just a gentle, "Hi…just wanted to follow up and make sure that my email and attachments got to you. I know that sometimes things get screened out by spam filters. I have also sent you my information via the US mail so you can be watching for that."

This is perfectly legitimate because school district, university, government, (and many business) email filters are weirdly strict…so your email (with the attachments) may never have gotten through to them. A hard copy is a good idea for key contacts, too.

After you’ve sent the hard copy, then I would call and follow up with them again (within about 10 days) and see if you could set up a brief appointment. You might even specify that you’d like to meet with them for 15 minutes, no longer. Administrators (like most everyone else) are extremely busy and if they know you only want to come in for a short time, then that will help when you are trying to schedule your appointment.

Here’s a follow-up question/comment to the previous one:

A district called me and inquired about presentation costs. This was Thursday. I sent them an email on Friday with my program fee. Since there is no way to guess when they will contact me, how long should I wait before I follow-up with an email or phone call to them? In another instance, a school district had contacted me and I sent them an email the next day. However, I was not sure that the email went through. So, I called and spoke to the principal. She told me that she did receive the email but she was glad I followed up with a phone call. So, you never know. She was glad I called and others may be frustrated and feel that I’m being pushy if I call too soon.

When someone has asked you for a proposal, pricing, etc. and you respond to their request, then it is NOT being pushy to follow up with that person within 24 – 48 hours. I think you can easily say that you were checking to make sure your emails get through…because it’s the truth! Not only do you have to worry that your emails haven’t gone through, but also that they’ve gotten buried in the thousands of emails that may have gone through but haven’t been read yet.

Remember, as a speaker, trainer, or other small business person, if you have something that others have asked for, need, could use, or would benefit from, then following up is prudent and thoughtful. If you don’t have anything of value, well, then, don’t follow up. Get it?!

And if you would like additional ideas for moving your small business forward, be sure to consult the Life of E’s blog:  http://www.meggin.com/lifeofes/wordpress/.

Topics ranging from money to productivity to speaking to writing to coaching to business set-up and more are featured there.

And, to make sure you are productive in your personal and professional life, you’ll want to access the resources at:

**Top Ten Productivity Tips    http://www.TopTenProductivityTips.com

(c) 2009 by Meggin McIntosh, Ph.D., "The Ph.D. of Productivity"(tm)

Through her company, Emphasis on Excellence, Inc., Meggin McIntosh changes what people know, feel, dream, and do via seminars, workshops, writing, coaching, & consulting.