Let me tell you a story about Marcy. Marcy is a real estate agent I met many years ago. I have never bought or sold a home working with Marcy. But Marcy is the one of the very, very few sales people on the planet who understands the power of follow up.

You see, Marcy has been calling me about every six months since 2006. She clearly has a customer relationship management system that reminds her to do this even though I have never done business with her. She is an incredibly disciplined and successful agent no matter what the market is doing. (Even if the economy is sucking wind there are always business owners finding ways to gain new market share. Get over the economy and grow your business!)

Like virtually all business owners, I get a ton of sales calls. But have you ever noticed how few sales people ever call you back? Or send a follow up email? Or do any follow up whatsoever.

Statistically speaking I believe the numbers reveal that the average sale takes place after 6 or more follow up contacts. These follow up "touches" could include phone calls, emails, a personal note, a postcard, an invitation to an event like a webinar or workshop, a sales letter, or some sort of "lumpy mail" which impacts a high open rate. Every business has it’s own sales process and cycles related to how people buy. I am generalizing in this article.

So why do so few sales people and business owners doing their own sales work fail to follow up? Do they not know the statistics? Do they fear getting rejected? Or are they so good with such a special list that they expect to call once and make a sale?

I don’t know the answer. Perhaps it’s that only a well-trained and highly-disciplined business owner or sales person is willing to do the hard work and leverage a system. Or maybe very few sales people are true professionals who really care enough to do the hard work.

Here are three keys to fixing your follow up failure.

1. Know the numbers. You need to build rapport and trust with new prospects. This requires time, consistent follow up and relevant offers of interest to your prospect. You must follow up in any number of ways mentioned above at least 6 times if not more.

2. Automate it. We use Infusionsoft for our CRM, automated email marketing and ecommerce. (Full disclosure… I sell and consult Infusionsoft clients worldwide.) This very affordable technology automates follow up if you are willing to set up the system correctly by mapping out your sales processes, your follow up sequences, and time them appropriately for your prospect.

3. Be disciplined. Yes. You actually have to be disciplined to fix your follow up failure. This means you invest in the proper systems to manage contact information, set activity dates for future calls, emails, and other "touches" that enable you to build rapport and establish trust through your sales process.

So there it is. Marcy, you are a true professional. You called me yesterday. I didn’t buy a house from you or refer anyone to you, yet. But one day I probably will. Because I love the fact that you know the numbers, automate your follow up, and have the discipline and burning desire to be successful in your chose profession.

What do you think about follow up failure? How much is this costing you and what are you willing to do about it? Or what have you done about it?

We always appreciate your comments and suggestions on the WealthNet Partners blog.