How Many Times Should You Follow Up on a Proposal? (Without Being Annoying)
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Brooke Greening: So here is my answer. Please feel free to write this down. Put on post-it note. Do whatever you want. We go until they say no.
But I'm not gonna say, Hey, I'm just following up.
I'm circling back. I'm checking in all of those. All of those words are kind of coming across as desperate, even though that's not what we want it to be. It feels like that to us. It sounds like that to them. So we wanna be very intentional of what we're asking.
I have never had anyone in my life tell me, I can't believe you followed up with me.
That is so annoying. I have had so many people say, Brooke, I really appreciate you bringing this back to my attention. This is where we're at. And that's it. You don't have to be a jerk. It doesn't have to be manipulative.
Scott Greening: Hello and welcome to another episode of Sippin' and Matcha and Helping You Make More Sales, where in about the time that it takes you to enjoy your matcha break or a coffee break or beverage of choice you'll get some great sales advice from our resident sales coach Brooke Greening, who also happens to be my wife.
My name is Scott and I'm the co-host of this podcast, and here comes Brooke with her matcha.
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: And Brooke and I, there's been a lot of talk of dating this weekend in our household.
Brooke Greening: Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. Having a 15-year-old freshman in high school. That'll be, that'll do it. But actually it's not her, so I'm thankful it's all her friends right now.
Scott Greening: Yeah. She's under strict orders to not start dating until she's 35. But, no. And then the youth group lesson at church on Sunday night was on dating. Mm-hmm. And all sorts of stuff. It got me reminiscing on all of our dating misadventures
and that, and I,
Brooke Greening: if only they knew Scott, only you guys knew.
Scott Greening: That's right. We won't turn this into the Brooke and Scott dating history show.
Brooke Greening: It'd be short.
Scott Greening: Well, yeah. We did only go on three official dates before we got engaged. But that's a story for another day. Yes. But when we started dating or when we started talking, I should say, we had gotten reconnected after a few years after we met, and this was back in the days where we started emailing because we weren't living in the same city. We're
Brooke Greening: so
Scott Greening: old. That's right. I think. Somewhere in this Facebook became a thing where you didn't have to have a college email address, and so we're dating ourselves, but we were talking and then at one point I kind of stopped talking to you.
Brooke Greening: Yeah, no, you didn't just kind of stop talking to me. If we're gonna do this, we're gonna do this right. So he had asked me in an email. What I thought God wanted me to do, like with my life, which is a very personal question if you don't know, but, and I was happy to, I was going, I was in, getting my master's in counseling.
At that point I was at a Christian university, all of that. And so I was like, I'd love to be able to be in ministry someday. Not a bad answer to give somebody who is a pastor. And it was that answer that I got completely ghosted forever. And I was like, I didn't give the wrong answer. I don't know what's going on.
This is not a, this is not good.
Scott Greening: Okay.
Brooke Greening: I did not appreciate that.
Scott Greening: Again, misadventures. The reality was is I was talking to someone else and I didn't want, I didn't want lead you on and that. Right. I appreciate that. And so, again, missing the test. You're being a
Brooke Greening: good guy.
Scott Greening: That's right.
Brooke Greening: You're being a good
Scott Greening: guy.
That's right. Good
Brooke Greening: job.
Scott Greening: But it all that to say it gets awkward when like stuff is out there and you don't know exactly what's happening.
Brooke Greening: So true. Yes, because you feel like things are going well, you're having a good conversation, and then it's just crickets.
Scott Greening: Which then brings us to our question for today.
~And let me bring you, I just was gonna not include you on this. There we go. I hit the right button. Didn't want to get in more trouble, but our question for the day,~ and that is how much follow up is too much follow up for proposals. Mm-hmm. Moving beyond my dating blunders with you. Thankfully you're gracious.
And we've been married for almost 19 years.
Brooke Greening: Yeah,
Scott Greening: no, it's funny,
Brooke Greening: isn't it?
Scott Greening: Yeah it's, I think only 19 gonna be 19 next month, but, so people, we've been doing a series on proposals. We've talked about getting ghosted, we've talked about mm-hmm all sorts of things. The last one that we're going to, as we wrap this up is so people have sent it out, there's not an answer, and they start to feel a little awkward.
Brooke Greening: Yes.
Scott Greening: And so then they're like how much is too much? I don't wanna seem needy. But my bank account and curiosity would like to know, is this moving forward or not?
Brooke Greening: Correct? Yes. So we are talking specifically today how much is too much follow up for a proposal. And so I'm going to answer it in two ways.
First, I'm going to talk about a little bit of what happened and why that might've taken place. And then I am gonna give you like, do this on week one. Do this on week two, do this. This on week three, just so that you can have a good, solid framework of what to be able to do. So you don't have to just feel like you're winging it.
So the first one is you always need to have a next step when a proposal goes out. I was just in talking ~at another,~ with another community. Just on Friday and it came up all over again. Like so many times people will send their proposal out and there's not a set date. There's nothing for them to actually review it with them about, and so then it just kind of goes off into La, la land.
Maybe they got it, maybe they didn't. We ask questions like, Hey, wanted to check and see if you got it and see if you have any questions. They respond. Got it. No questions. Now we're stuck. So that's the very first thing. Never send a proposal out unless you have an actual date to follow up. If you don't, we're gonna get really stuck.
So that's my advice to you. But that still doesn't answer the question yet. But then the second thing is, do you actually need to send a proposal? And we have like a whole series on this. So Scott, would you like to interrupt on that one?
Scott Greening: Yeah, we've got an episode ~that's, uh,~ that's on this and, so you can, we'll put the link in the chat. ~And, uh, do all that.~
Brooke Greening: Yep. And then the second, because my argument is sometimes we don't, and actually proposals slow us down. There are definite times that you do need to send a proposal, but there are some times that you don't. But then the third one is if you need to send a proposal, make sure that it's a quick turnaround.
'cause this is the first thing that happens when we realize, okay, it's been too long, or why are they ghosting us? Or why don't we have an answer? Some of the time it actually happened with us. Like when I say it happened with us, like it's. Started the problem started actually with with you because if you have a conversation and then you say, okay, I need to send you a proposal, but the conversation is on Monday and the proposal doesn't go out on Thursday, and you're not clear with them in regards to when that date is going to be and the date to fall and the date to review that proposal in person.
Now they've just probably completely forgotten about the conversation. So sometimes we think they're ghosting us, but the reality is we took too long to even get it to them. I completely understand. You can't send out a proposal in like five minutes. Some can, because they have their services so dialed in and it's really quick to be able to do that, but others don't.
And I completely understand that. But I was just talking to someone at a conference a few weeks ago and she said, proposals, I hate proposals. They always slow me down because I have to create them. Then I have to kind of talk to my team and see what's going on, and then they have to, to do certain things and so it actually slows the whole sales process down.
If you say, I'm going to send you a proposal, and then you don't tell them exactly what to look for, to know when that proposal's coming and to have a set date to be able to review it, that'll be another reason why things are getting kind of wonky. But still haven't answered what to do yet.
I'm just helping you to think through a few things.
Scott Greening: Yeah, so we've kind of been reviewing where we've been. We've done like a little four part series. This is part four, so, mm-hmm. Again, we'll share ~the,~ the link in the ~episode notes, uh,~ show notes, uh, for ~this to~ those other episodes. But we're gonna push you, Brooke.
Brooke Greening: Oh, I got it. I've got it. What's, what's the answer?
So here is my answer. Please feel free to write this down. Put on post-it note. Do whatever you want. We go until they say no. That's the very first one, but we're not going to do it like every day, every other day, every week. I'm gonna give you a process of how to be able to like spread that out.
But the reality is the very first piece is don't say no for them. We are all adults. We are all professionals in our business. If they've said they want to be able to work with us and we're gonna be, and they wanna know what that looks like and we're sending a proposal, then we go and we continue to follow up until they say no.
That is the very first one. 'cause so many times we just say no for them and like maybe one or two attempts of follow up. And that's not what you wanna do. We talk about our buying timeframes, like maybe they'll buy in the next 30 days. Maybe they'll do this in the next 30 to 60. Maybe they'll do it in the next 60 to 90.
One, if you actually get that resolved on your first sales conversation, then you're not guessing. But the reality is people have different buying timeframes and so we are not going to say no for them. We need them to tell us no. That's just the very first piece. Okay, so then how do we actually do this in the week that you send the proposal and that you were supposed to, to be reviewing it or.
And that's what I would say. Don't send the proposal until you have the date set that you're gonna review it either over Zoom or in person. That's the first piece. So in that week, if you don't, if they're not responding, then I would reach out probably one or two times in that regard. But I'm not gonna say, Hey, I'm just following up.
I'm circling back. I'm checking in all of those. All of those words are kind of coming across as desperate, even though that's not what we want it to be. It feels like that to us. It sounds like that to them. So we wanna be very intentional of what we're asking. So we're even asking for the no in our email or in the voicemail.
We are just saying, I was able to send that to you. Are you ready for us to be? I know it didn't work for us to be able to meet on such date. Are we ready to set up a different time? We have to be able to hear No. Or we're gonna keep going. So that's the first piece. In the first week. It's one or two times.
Scott Greening: Great. And we gonna keep going. Yep. So before you do that, let me just highlight, 'cause I think that's something really important that we often forget. Like when you're following up you have to have even, and I, even if it's a voicemail, even if it's an email. You have to have basically a yes or no question
Brooke Greening: mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: That people can respond to. Because if it's a vague how are you feeling people don't have time for that. And so I, I think a lot of that awkwardness is that people feel like, I don't wanna follow up too much, is because they're not being as clear as they should be with the ask. So I think that's been helpful for me.
And I know that's sort of a light bulb moment for other people as you talk to them.
Brooke Greening: Yes, we have to be able to give them the space to be able to say yes or no. That is actually how we serve them the best. So many times we feel like I can't be pushy, I don't wanna manipulate them, and I don't want any of those things either.
But then we swing all the way to the other side and we even feel like even asking is wrong. And I am saying we need to give them the space to say, yes, I'm ready to move forward, or No, I'm not. That's what we need to be able to do. Okay. So after that first week, if we haven't heard from 'em, then we're gonna move in.
Then we're like on week two. And this is when now we're gonna, we're gonna be reaching out just once a week. Like we're not hounding them, but again, it's a clear yes or no email, or clear, yes or no voicemail. And if you wanted to do it twice, you could, you could say, like, on Monday you try it, you give 'em a call, and on Wednesday you send out an email and then that's it for that week.
We're not gonna go any further than that. Okay. All right. So week, week one, or the week that your proposal review is scheduled for, or that you sent it probably at least two times if you don't hear from 'em.
Mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: And then week two, you're saying once, maybe twice. Mm-hmm. Uh, to do that. And then all of this relates.
And builds from your sales conversation and then you're maybe having additional sales conversations, which is great because you happen to have an assessment. Before we jump into the rest of your plan that people can take with their sales conversations, can you briefly say what that is, Brooke?
Brooke Greening: Yeah, thank you.
So the reality is if you have to talk to people in order to make a sale, how well you lead that conversation is going to make or break your revenue. And a lot of times that can be really frustrating and overwhelming, but it does not have to be. And so that's why we created the sales assessment. So this helps us to see the different parts of your sales conversation.
So. We have found that there's about seven places you can quietly sabotage your sales calls and not even know it. And so we created an assessment to be able to see and pinpoint those areas. It takes about three or four minutes to take, and then it's gonna give you some good insights on how your potential client and customer actually perceiving the calls, because what we think is happening is very different than how they're taking it.
Scott Greening: Great, and people can get that at https://buildingmomentum.info/assessment. And like Brooke said, it just takes a few minutes and you'll get some, ~uh,~ great insight on how your sales conversations might be going. That hopefully will either lead to a sale or lead to a proposal, and that then you get to follow up on.
Yes. And so we've, we've talked about weeks one, we've talked about weeks two. Is that the end or is there more?
Brooke Greening: No. So then when we're going into week three and four, then that's when we would just follow up once a week because again, we've been, we have been following up. And again, if we're asking them a yes or no question, you are going to probably get an answer even before this, but I'm trying to walk you out all the way.
So in week three or four, then we're doing it once a week, and then after week four, then we're doing it biweekly. For about two weeks. And then after that, then we do it monthly. So like about on your third month, we start doing it monthly, yeah. After that.
Scott Greening: Great. So, uh, for the first month, you're kind of ramping down from a couple of times a week to once mm-hmm.
Once a week, and then mm-hmm. If it's continuing on and you're, you know, you're having conversations or you're not getting answers. Then you, you're like, then you go down from like once a week to like, by the end of month two, once every other week. Mm-hmm. And then once you get to month three, then are we done or do we
Brooke Greening: No, no, no.
At month three, then we're doing it just once a month after that.
Scott Greening: Great. And you said at the beginning, keep going until they say no.
Brooke Greening: Mm-hmm.
Scott Greening: Uh, so is that the, is that then the, the pattern, like keep checking in every month?
Brooke Greening: Yeah, but we're not check, like if we say I'm just checking in, that's where it gets awkward.
So that's where we're having the intentional questions, even when we're doing that month after month after month. Because the reality, and if maybe there's something that you saw or there's an article that you saw that could be helpful for them, or if you've worked with them. And for my marketing friends, if you're working with them and you see that they have their products out and you're taking a picture of it and sending it to them, like different things like that are perfectly fine to continue to build that relationship.
But we just, we don't stop. And I guarantee you they will come back more like nine outta 10 times. They will absolutely come back and either say, Hey, we need to change this. We need to change the timeframe. Or, I'm really sorry. Things got really crazy, but we're ready to go now. You need to just let, you need to just continue to show up.
It's what I call getting in their line of vision like that is what we are doing when it comes to follow up, but when we are intentional about it, it is not annoying. The reason, what usually happens is someone may follow up once or twice and then they're like, oh, they never responded. Okay. Nope. We're not gonna do that.
And then they're done. And now it's really awkward, like two or three months down the line and they don't have any idea what to say. And that's why I'm saying follow this pattern, because it will help you and it helps your potential client to be able to have the space to say, Hey, yes or no. I have never had anyone in my life tell me, I can't believe you followed up with me.
That is so annoying. I have had so many people say, Brooke, I really appreciate you bringing this back to my attention. This is where we're at. And that's it. You don't have to be a jerk. It doesn't have to be manipulative.
Scott Greening: Yeah. And I think as we wind things down, it's just a really good reminder that if you want a strong pipeline of
Brooke Greening: Yeah.
Scott Greening: Of sales. Like you have to prioritize the immediate ones. That's common sense. Like if people are ready to say yes, let's do that. But then you've gotta also work on those longer term leads. And sometimes those longer term leads are ones that maybe you thought originally were faster and maybe they thought it was faster, but something changed.
Yeah, they got redirected, whatever the case. And so by continuing to. Engage and to talk with them. You're actually strengthening your pipeline for three, six months a year down the road when, mm-hmm your faithful contacts will result in new opportunities.
Brooke Greening: Yeah, I've had so many sales and I've helped my clients have so many sales.
When it wasn't a month or two months, it was actually longer. Do we work really hard to be able to have ~a clo,~ a quick turnaround? Absolutely. Like we need to be able to do that. But as much as intentional as we are about having a quick turnaround, we also wanna be as intentional. To be in regards to their buying timeframe.
And sometimes that is not in the next 30 or 60 days, but there is no way you are going to get them at 90 days if you did not have any type of communication with them before that.
Scott Greening: Alright, well thanks Brooke. And you may get a little insight from this episode on one of Brooke's nicknames, which was the Gracious Terminator and that, so you can,~ you can kinda see,~ see ~why,~ where that came from. But we appreciate it.
If you found value in this episode. We always appreciate it when you share it, when you like it, when you comment, when you give a review on your listening or watching platform of choice. Until next time, we hope you make some more sales and enjoy some great matcha. Have a great day.
Brooke Greening: Yes. Bye-bye.
