The Fortune is in the Follow-Up
After a discovery call with a prospective client, many VAs wonder about follow-up. How much is enough? How much is too much? Knowing what to do can be a tricky balancing act. On one hand, we want new clients. On the other hand, we don’t want to appear desperate. The good news is that almost all discovery calls fall into one of two common scenarios.
In this episode of the RockeGirl Show, I'll show you what they are and how to handle them.
TRANSCRIPT
Hey, everybody, welcome to The RocketGirl Show. I'm Belinda Sandor, also known as Rocket Girl. Today, we're going to talk about the fortune in the follow-up.
What I've discovered in talking to virtual assistants and also in my own eleven-year practice is that there's this question of how much should I follow-up? We have a discovery call, and if there's a lot of pressure on us and we put a lot of pressure on us because I believe we think that if we follow it in the right way, that we'll get hired. And I don't think that's true. So I want to talk about this today because I want to let you off the hook a little bit.
So imagine this. You have your discovery call, and they're either going to say, I'm not sure or let's go. Right? One or the other is probably what's going to happen. So if they're not sure, I'm just thinking for a second when you have the conversation generally, I want to back up a little bit. What I say in the discovery call is if we decide to work together. So if someone says, "Can you help me with XYZ," I say, "if we decide to work together, yes, I can help you with this." The reason that I make that distinction is that I want to be clear with the person that I'm talking to. That's a two-way decision. I'm a business owner, my services to provide virtual assistance. I'm not like someone's helper. Okay, that's really important to distinguish. So we get to the end of the call. I like them. I think we'd be a good fit. I let them know. I say, "You know, it sounds like we're a good fit. I'd love to work with you." And then I stopped talking.
Well, watch this. What I got for you guys. Stickers, stop talking. Then I stopped talking. Okay? And I wait to hear what they have to say, because it's a conversation. Now, if they're not sure what I'll say is, I will jump on Zoom with you anytime you like. If you have questions, I'm happy to answer them. Then I will say, "Would you like me to follow-up with you?" And if they say yes, I say, "Great. How long would you like me to wait before I follow up?" And if they say no, I say, "Terrific. It's great talking to you. I'm here anytime you're ready."
So if they're not sure and they want me to follow up, this is what I say to them. Okay. "Hi, first name." "I hope you're having a good day. I'm following up on our conversation last week to see if you have any questions about working with me, I'm happy to jump on a call. If that would be helpful." If they do not respond to this, I do not contact them again. I do not contact them again because two things. One, hopefully you're sprinkling and spreading yourself out there enough that you have enough business that you don't have to chase people. And two, I don't want you to chase people. It's not going to help you. It's like, not attractive, meaning that if people feel like you're after them, they're going to run the other direction, right where if you give them some space to make up their mind, you never know what's going to happen. Okay, so if they're not sure that's what I do.
All right. Now, let's say that they're sure they say yes. I'm ready to go. I want to work with you. Great. I make sure they're clear about how my pricing works. I go through the whole thing. Here's what I say. "It's really simple. Here's how it works. People prepay my time in five or ten-hour chunks." I tell them the price, I explain how it works. And then one more time, I stop talking so that they can have a minute to think. And then I follow up with this email right away. "Hi, first name, I enjoyed meeting with you today and look forward to getting started. Here's a link to buy your debit card. Thanks, Belinda." If they don't buy the debit card in two days, I take the same email I already sent. I forward it. I say "Hi first name, just wanted to make sure this didn't get lost in Spam. I'm here if you have any questions." And then I never follow up again. Now, hopefully I've asked them along the way to get on my newsletter list. Or they're already on my newsletter list. So every two weeks, when I send my newsletter out, they are hearing from me. They are seeing me on social media. So it's not like they're not seeing me anywhere. I'm just not following up.
So you will hear different strategies for this. You will hear checking in with someone every six months, every three months, I invite you to just let that go. Don't chase people who are not ready. There are so many people who are ready, and it's not a matter of you saying the right thing. So that's where I'm going to take the pressure off. It's a matter of them being ready, right?
So here's an example. I had a guy. His name is Chris. He came to me a long time ago, like, I don't even know. A year ago, and he was referred by someone that I really respect. So I thought, this is a good guy. Okay, good. Then what happened was but he said, "I'm not ready." And I said, "Great" I did what I just told you. He didn't want me to follow up. Fine, good. Then he showed up again, I don't know. Five months ago, four months ago, something like that. He was ready to go, ready to buy the debit card. And then he texted me and said, "I'm sorry. This must feel like a false start, but I just lost my biggest client potentially. And I'm feeling like this is not the right time." And I very graciously said, "I'm here when you're ready. I hope everything goes okay. Happy holidays." Then he shows up again in the last week of 2021. He bought 50 hours, 50 hours. That's a lot of money. How much is that? It's $90 an hour, right. And we're going to start. I said, "I can't start with you until January 24 because I have a big project I'm working on." And he said, "Great." And he bought 50 hours and we're ready to go. So by not chasing him, by giving him space to make his own decision, by being available and friendly and respectful. He's a client. And I have a feeling he's going to be a client for a really long time because we were a good fit. I liked him a lot when I talked to him, so be sure to follow up so that you're available. But don't chase people, okay? Don't chase people.
All right. I wonder if there are any comments about that. It is probably a little different from what you've heard. But what I want you to do is instead of following up over and over and over with the same person, I want you to go out and reach out to new people. You know, other people that you already know that you haven't been in touch with for a while because that is much more productive. Okay. Okay. So we're streaming all over the place, and I want to invite you if you're not already a member of my free online classroom on Facebook, I want you to join you just type the VA Connection, The Virtual Assistant Connection in the search bar at the top of Facebook, click the join button and come on in. But what I really want to tell you about and I do not have a slide, but perhaps I have a banner with the address if I were organized. So here we go right here. So starting on Monday, we're going to have a five-day VA Client Kickstart Challenge. I want you to sign up for it. Kickstart. Okay. https://thevaconnection.com/kickstart. We're starting on Monday, five days of free training on how to get a steady flow of clients into your business. I'm going to lift the lid, tell you all the things that I use in my business to make this happen, so absolutely. Join me. I'd love to have you. We have a free, pop-up Facebook group. We have almost 1000 members in it already. It is the place to be, and it's very exciting. So join us. Get some traction in your business to get the new year off and running. Okay, until next time.
I'm Belinda Sandor, RocketGirl. Signing off. Bye.
