It's a nerve-wracking feeling to follow up after a meeting. You want to follow up, but you don't want to seem too pushy or desperate. This article will give you helpful tips on how to send a follow up email after a business meeting so that the other person remembers you as someone they enjoy working with!
It is a good idea to follow up email after a business meeting. It helps you stand out from other companies and it also helps you be remembered by the person who met with you.
It shows that you are interested in what the other person has to say and care about their opinion. Don't be afraid to follow up with the people you meet!
What is a follow Up Email?
Follow up emails, as the name implies, are emails sent after a first email to provide more information or a reminder about a topic. The first question you need to ask yourself is whether you should send a follow-up email at all.
This depends on what you want your follow-up email to achieve and how it will be perceived by the recipient. In many cases, sending a follow up email is not necessary because recipients can see from the original message that they need to take action.
But if there’s an important detail that they might have missed in the initial email or some documents that need to be attached, then go ahead and use a follow up.
What is the Need for a Follow up email after a business Meeting?
Email marketing is an effective way to maintain communication with your existing customers or attract new ones. However, it requires effort and time for you to write the emails, carefully compose the content, and send them out.
This isn't easy since you have to find a balance between being too pushy on selling your products/services yet not being too boring by repeating similar content over and over again.
As far as I know sending out follow up emails are becoming more popular these days because of certain advantages they bring about:
It's just like handing someone food on a tray - he can choose the food he likes and take it when he's ready.
It's like saying "Hey, I'm here if you need me" instead of yelling out something along the lines of "I know you're busy now but why don't you try my food? It tastes delicious!"
This is especially useful for B2B marketing since people working in corporations have a friendly relationship towards their coworkers and this makes them more likely to share positive content with each other.
If they immediately respond to you by picking up the phone then it shows that your product/service is interesting enough for them to call a sales representative right away.
However, if they don't show any interest in what you have to offer after a few follow up emails then it means that there must be something wrong with the way you introduce yourself or how you communicate with potential customers .
For instance, if Joe receives three follow up emails from an online marketing company yet can't recall their name before opening the fourth email then he will have a reason to look at that company's web page since they have already built trust through previous contact.
Once you are aware of when your potential customers are most likely to read their email then you know exactly which day/time would be best for you to send them another message.
This also eliminates guesswork due to personal feelings towards communicating during certain hours of the day.
What are the Things to Keep in Mind While Writing a Follow up Email After a Business Meeting?
We all know how important it is to follow up after a business meeting. Although, even the best of us find it hard to keep up with the follow ups at times.
Do not fret! We've got you covered. Here are the things to keep in mind while writing a follow up email after a business meeting:
1) Use A Bigger Subject Line- No doubt big size text appears attractive but do not use it in your titles as well because others might think that the email contains too much bulk information.
So, always use a catchy subject line which not only attracts receivers but also ensures them about the importance of the message mentioned within the body of the email.
2) Write Clear Message- Write an absolutely clear message so that the receivers do not need to seek any clarification later. Keep your message short and crisp because there is no necessity for sending wordy messages over an email.
3) Use Appropriate Button- Before clicking the send button, ensure that you have inserted the appropriate button in your mail. 'Delete' button should be used only when you want to delete any information, otherwise, it might create problems during the further process of editing the mail.
4) Insert Relevant Content- Never ever try to embed irrelevant content within the body of the email as it may irritate other people who are receiving emails.
Remember; if you are sending business emails then always try to maintain professionalism with a clear communication style.
5) Use Standard Language- Make sure that whatever language you are using within your email, it should be standard as well as formal. Informal language must not be used as you are sending business emails.
6) Proof Read The Message- Before sending the email, make sure that you have proof read the message at least thrice because sometimes even a minor mistake can turn out into a huge problem and mess things up for you.
7) Check For Grammatical Errors- As we already said above, formal and standard language must be used while sending business emails so check for any grammatical errors before pressing the send button.
Correct usage of articles and prepositions is necessary otherwise they might create problems in understanding the actual meaning of the sender which could result in different types of conflicts later on.
8) Always Use Appropriate Signature- Ensure that you are using appropriate signatures before sending emails. It should contain your name, designation or company's name along with related contact information very clearly.
9) Check For Spelling Mistakes- This is one of the major mistakes to make while sending business emails as spelling mistakes always comes out very easily, so always try to double check the content before sending it.
10) Attach Necessary Documents With Emails- If there is any official document attached within the body of the email then remember not to use the 'REPLY TO ALL' button because other receivers might not be interested in reading mail sent by someone else.
You can choose this option only when you are sending personal emails. Otherwise, always send your mail directly to the required person only.
Follow Up Email Example
1). Hi [Name],
I hope you had a great weekend.
My name is [your name]. I'm the Regional Manager for West Coast Sales over at [company]. We had a meeting on Friday to discuss the new product line and I just wanted to follow up with an email about that.
As we discussed, there's going to be some changes in terms of the way we display the products. The new styles will be available in brick and mortar stores by mid-March, but online sales won't begin until May because of tax implications with shipping out of state.
We've also got some news on our latest prototype: Outlast Technologies Inc is suing us for breach of contract. We're not sure what's going to happen here, but I recommended that we contact our legal team about getting involved before the end of the quarter.
Thanks again for meeting with me last week. I'm looking forward to working closely with you over the next few weeks and months!
Best, [your name]
Your name
2). Dear Sir/Miss,
I am writing to ask if you still have my contact details on record? I sent you an email the other day about the XX product and they said that my email was not received. If you need any proof of this just let me know.
Your company has some great products and I look forward to working with you in the future.
Yours sincerely,
[Your name]
What to Do if You Don't Hear Back
So you're following up with a potential client, prospective employee, or someone else a little further down the line in a business relationship and it's been a few days or even weeks since they last heard from you.
You send them an email follow up - nothing. No reply, no acknowledgement of receipt… crickets.
What do you do?
First of all, it can be assumed that there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with sending such an email. It's completely fine to just follow up and check how things are going/see if they got your last message etc.
People all over the world do this every day in their personal lives and it doesn't always have to be construed as rude or pushy (as long as one isn't following up extremely often or aggressively in a situation where it's not needed).
So what do you do when they don't reply to your follow up email? Do you write them off forever? Or is this an opportunity for you?
Here are some methods that professionals use with varying degrees of success.
1) Send another follow up email after about two weeks - just to touch base again and see if everything is okay. This second follow up can be more casual than the first one, but obviously it should still sound friendly and just like every other email you would normally send.
There shouldn't be any hidden agenda behind this message either. This is the "professional response" if someone doesn't get back to your first follow up message within a few days.
2) Don't send another email for at least one month- If you have something truly important to talk about, this is when you would write that person an email saying "hey I know it's been awhile since I last emailed you but…" then go into the reason why you're writing them now.
However in most cases, if someone doesn't reply after a week or so of your initial follow up message, the ball is in their court and not yours.
Not sending another email for a month demonstrates your patience and willingness to wait for them to get back to you rather than constantly following up every other day like some kind of stalker (which can come across very desperate).
tactic works especially well with busy professionals and entrepreneurs who lead very hectic lives and don't have the time for incessant email follow up.
3) Send a casual "just touching base" message- letting them know that you haven't heard from them in awhile and asking if everything is okay. If they really don't want to work with you, they probably won't reply at all simply out of social courtesy.
On the other hand, if they do reply back saying they've been busy or something along those lines, you can reply back as such: "Thanks so much for reaching out! I was starting to wonder if we had lost our connection because it has been forever since I last heard from you! We should definitely connect again soon."
Another response could be: "Hey I know it's been a long time since we last emailed each other and I'm so sorry about that. I hope all is going well for you! Maybe we could get together again soon?"
It comes down to this: If they don't reply, you might as well assume that nothing is wrong (again with the assumption that there was no rude behavior involved in the initial contact) and they are probably just busy or overwhelmed by life like most people are at times.
You can wait patiently/not impatiently for their response because, again, if they wanted to do business with you - they would have gotten back to you by now. They will eventually get in touch with you (or not) when the time is right.
On the other hand, if someone goes out of their way to follow up with you at the rate of once or twice a week asking if everything is okay between you two then that is when you need to consider taking action.
The bottom line here is this: don't ask people why they didn't reply to your email(s) because if they wanted to do business with you, chances are they would have by now.
Conclusion
The two main purposes of follow up email after a business meeting is to maintain communication or to promote something/offer a discount.
However, you have to be careful about how you choose your recipients since they can either provide positive feedback for your business through their actions (buying stuff from you) or negative reactions that intentionally or unintentionally damage your image in front of other potential customers.
On the other hand it's important to mention that following up too much will only annoy people wondering why you haven't gotten the hint yet - this is especially true when dealing with prospects who aren't interested in what you have to offer .
Therefore, follow up emails should always have a purpose and not just come across as spamming prospects with irrelevant content every few weeks/months.
Don't be afraid to follow up with your prospects! They will either pay attention to what you have to say or ignore your emails for the rest of their lives (which isn't that bad).
Just keep in mind that it's important not to bother people who aren't interested in what you have to offer or come off as annoying. Salespeople who know when/how/why to contact potential customers are more likely to succeed than those who blindly spam everyone on their list without any clear goal in mind.
