I’m sure you’ve heard the saying, “It’s not what you do, it’s how you do it.” Well, when it comes to following up with sales prospects, what you do can make a huge difference.
When you’re trying to close a deal, it’s easy to get lost in the moment and make a mistake. But, if you’re not careful, these mistakes can cost you the sale.
To help you avoid these pitfalls, we’ve compiled a list of 11 follow-up practices that can hurt your chances of closing the deal.
1. Not having a process
If your team doesn’t have a follow-up process in place, they may be reaching out to leads too soon or too late. This can lead to a lot of wasted time and effort on the part of the salesperson, as well as a poor experience for the lead. Implementing an auto dialer helps streamline follow-ups by automatically calling leads at the right time, prioritizing high-intent prospects, and ensuring no opportunity is missed due to manual delays or inconsistent outreach.
Having a defined process for follow-up can help your team make the most of their time and ensure that they are reaching out to leads at the right time.
2. Not following up at all
Yes, not following up at all is a follow-up practice. And it’s a very bad one.
Maybe you’re busy, and it’s hard to find the time to follow up, or maybe you’re just nervous about reaching out. Whatever the reason, not following up is a surefire way to kill a deal.
In fact, 70% of salespeople give up too soon and don’t follow up enough. If you’re one of those salespeople, you’re leaving money on the table.
3. Not personalizing
Personalization isn’t just for the first email. Every follow-up email should be personalized to the recipient.
This includes the introduction and the main body of the email. The only exception is the closing, which can be the same each time.
4. Not using the right channel
Email is the most common channel for sales follow-up, but it’s not always the most effective. In fact, research shows that using multiple channels in your follow-up can improve your response rates by up to 65%.
If you’re not getting a response to your emails, try following up with a phone call or a text message instead. And if you’re not sure which channel to use, just ask your prospect. They may have a preferred way of communicating.
5. Not using sales enablement tools
Sales enablement tools can help salespeople automate some of the tasks that come with following up with leads. This can save them time and ensure they’re following up with leads in a timely manner.
There are a lot of different sales enablement tools out there, but some of the most common ones include CRM software, proposal software, sales cadence software, and email tracking software such as Outreach alternatives. These tools can help salespeople keep track of their leads, automate their follow-up emails, and B2B sales process more. Many teams now also rely on AI agents for customer support to assist with follow-ups by prioritizing leads, suggesting next steps, and responding faster when prospects engage.
6. Not leveraging content
Content is a great way to nurture your leads. If a lead is not ready to buy, but has expressed interest in your product or service, you can send them content that is relevant to their needs.
You can also use content to re-engage cold leads. If a lead has gone cold, you can send them content that is relevant to their needs and that may get them interested in your product or service again.
Content can take many forms, such as blog posts, e-books, whitepapers, infographics, videos, and more. Make sure you have a variety of content that you can use to nurture and re-engage leads.
7. Not being persistent
After you send a follow-up email, what do you do next? If you don’t get a response, do you just give up?
The answer to that question should be no. You should be persistent in your follow-up process. That doesn’t mean you should be annoying, but you should continue to reach out until you get a response.
The prospect may not have seen your email, they may have forgotten to respond, or they may have been busy. If you don’t follow up, you’ll never know.
8. Not measuring your results
How do you know if your follow-up strategy is working if you’re not measuring your results?
Without measuring your results, you won’t be able to identify what’s working and what’s not. This can lead to wasted time and effort, and can even cause you to lose out on potential sales.
Be sure to track your follow-up emails and calls, and measure your success. Look at your open and response rates, as well as your conversion rates. Use this data to identify areas for improvement, and make adjustments to your follow-up strategy as needed.
9. Not being timely
Salespeople need to follow up with prospects as quickly as possible. If you wait too long, you could miss the opportunity to close the deal.
In fact, according to a study by the Harvard Business Review, companies that contacted potential customers within an hour of receiving an online query were nearly seven times as likely to qualify the lead as those that waited just one hour longer. And businesses that waited 24 hours or longer were 60 times less likely to qualify the lead than those that waited less than an hour.
The bottom line? Time is of the essence when it comes to following up with prospects.
10. Not providing value
This is the most important thing to remember about follow-up emails: They must provide value to the recipient.
If your follow-up emails are just a reiteration of your last email, your prospect will quickly lose interest. Make sure you’re providing content and information that’s valuable to your prospect. If you’re not sure what they would find valuable, ask them.
It’s also important to remember that value is subjective. What’s valuable to one prospect might not be valuable to another. This is why it’s so important to really understand your prospects and their needs.
11. Ignoring referrals and warm introductions in follow-ups
Many sales teams focus only on direct outreach and forget to leverage existing advocates. Following up doesn’t always have to mean another email or call from the same salesperson. In many cases, a warm introduction or referral can move a deal forward faster than persistence alone.
If customers, partners, or past prospects are willing to refer others, sales teams should build that into their follow-up strategy. Tools like ReferralCandy help teams identify and activate referral opportunities, turning satisfied customers into a natural extension of the sales process. Ignoring this channel means missing out on some of the highest-trust follow-ups available.
Conclusion
At the end of the day, the best way to improve your follow-up strategy is to learn from your mistakes. The more experience you have, the more you’ll be able to identify the trends that are helping or hurting your team’s success.
