Most of us in sales are familiar with following up on opportunities or proposals. I don’t know if there is a secret method that always works regarding order capture, but I do believe I won’t have any luck obtaining work for my company if I don’t have the guts or the energy to follow up.

You and I may vary on our approach. It depends on the circumstances. If you chase work in the Public Sector, there are set rules about letting work. It may be that a public entity first selects a team based on their qualifications and work history. Only after team selection is the proposal written. There is also the private sector that has it’s own rules around awarding work. Here, you may have to be invited before offering a proposal that hopefully meets and or even exceeds the client’s expectations. Sometimes awarded work is selected by being the low bidder. Sometimes it’s a “best value” formula determined by the buyer. Every once in a while, it’s schedule driven.

Are you lucky enough to have some kind of “inside track” about a project or have a very strong sales relationship with the client? If you are, then your chances of winning the work may be higher because you know what the client wants or needs. Maybe you’ve already broken the code as to how the client really buys or maybe you helped them with budgeting prior to a request for proposal (RFP) being advertised. No matter what the criteria is for awarding work, you have to follow up.

If you’re new to the client, then the old fashioned way of follow up and asking for time to review your proposal together or at least get their feedback on your offering is most essential. Regardless if you win the work or not, you need to know where you stand. This is information for the next opportunity at the very least. And I mean more than finding out if you won or lost the work.  Ask specific questions about how they selected the winner and what you can do better next time if you weren’t selected. I would also want to know who my competition is on the proposal if I didn’t already know.

There are those proposals that I follow up immediately and those that I follow up at a designated time. If I don’t get the client to communicate with me about my offering in my first attempts, then I have to try back but I usually let them know when that will be so as not to be so persistent that I take the client’s voice mail or email hostage.

I must say though, that early on in my sales career I followed up too intensely. There were people that gave me feedback to not be so “intense” (I thought I was being enthusiastic), to not call so often (I thought I was just being assertive). I had to learn sensitivity with each client. However, there are those clients that if you don’t chase them down, you will never get an answer and they know it and expect you to put in the extra effort. Know Thy Customer!

Communication is key so let people know how you will be communicating with them. After all, it’s only fair to get feedback since you spent time putting together a thoughtful proposal with their needs in mind. But don’t scare them off by being a pest. They may not give you another opportunity for fear you will do the same thing next time. Ask how they want you to follow up PRIOR to giving the proposal. This is being thoughtful of their time.

Lastly, and I feel this is most important, please be gracious when you win and lose work.  If you win, be grateful, thank the Client and then knock their socks off with amazing service.  If you lose, thank them for the opportunity and congratulate them on their choice.  If you really care about them, then be a good sport.

I would like to hear how other people perform follow up so to round out this conversation because every salesperson (or sales process) is different.