Dear Blog Reader,

Just wanted to check in with you and see if you’d had a chance to  read my latest blog post.

What? Really?

The opening to my blog post didn’t provide you with any value or reason to continue reading. I hate to admit it, but I even do it every now and then. So why do we still use it when we’re following up with prospects? Because sometimes we’re selfish and lazy. But messages like that are annoying and disruptive to the recipient.

The problem is that we all know that following up is critical to closing deals. Here are some stats according to Referral Squirrel:

• 2% of sales are made on the First contact.
• 3% of sales are made on the Second contact.
• 5% of sales are made on the Third contact.
• 10% of sales are made on the Fourth contact.
• 80% of sales are made on the Fifth to Twelfth contact.

However…

• 48% of sales people never follow-up with a prospect.
• 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop.
• 12% of sales people make three contacts and stop.
• Only 10% of sales people make it more than Three contacts with a prospect.

It is well-known that repeat customers and referral business are the two best (and cheapest to acquire) types of business.

We’ve all sent the “just checking in” email before. So what should you be doing instead? Hubspot says that there are three key ways to drastically improve these “check-in” emails:

1. Google Alerts – Set up a custom Google Alert for your prospect’s company name, competition and industry keywords. That will create a trigger event to customize your follow-up email.
2. LinkedIn Groups – Find a LinkedIn Group that discusses their industry. That will provide you with content and an actual reason to follow-up.
3. Signals Alerts – Signals allows you to track when your prospect is actually opening and/or clicking your email. That way, you know when they open your email and will help you with the timing of your follow-up.

The point is, you don’t get any value out of the emails you receive that say, “Just checking in” so stop sending them out to your clients and prospects and start sending something of value. You can’t afford not to nowadays in the modern world of constant interruption.