Plan to follow up manually two to four times, a few days apart, make each message add something, and stop without resentment if nobody replies. That is the advice of Y Combinator group partner Aaron Epstein in How To Convert Customers With Cold Emails, and it matches what Max Kolysh, Tom Blomfield and Gustaf Alströmer say in their own talks. These numbers come from the speakers' experience with startups, so treat them as a starting point for your market.
Set the next step before the call ends
The best follow-up starts in the meeting. Blomfield's advice in The Sales Playbook For Founders is to not leave a meeting without the next touch point set up, and to agree a closing date with your internal champion: they will miss it almost every time, he says, but it still creates urgency. After the call, a post-call report keeps the agreed next step in writing.
How many follow-ups?
Epstein says one email is often not enough, because people are busy, on holiday or distracted, so follow up two, three or four times, leaving a few days between messages. Kolysh, in How to Get Your First 10 Customers, suggests three or four follow-ups over a couple of weeks. Epstein warns there is a fine line between persistent and annoying.
What goes into each message?
Something new each time. Epstein recommends getting creative with each follow-up, and tells a story of an email with the subject "Free donuts" that got opened and led him to bring donuts to the recipient's office. He also says not to make demands, such as a reply deadline, because you are in their inbox and they owe you nothing. Keep the rules from the cold outreach guide: short, specific and one clear request.
When do you stop?
When the signals say so. Epstein says that if someone does not respond you should not get angry or frustrated: nobody owes you anything, and you can check back in a couple of months because the problem may matter later. Alströmer, in How to get your first customers, says that if someone drags you along through two or three calls you can say it was great to get to know them and that you should talk again in six months.
What about during a pilot?
Blomfield suggests scheduling check-ins every couple of days with the people testing your product, so you can fix problems overnight, and booking the post-pilot meeting before the pilot starts so the results are reviewed on a fixed date. A copilot that suggests the next step during the call helps you not to leave it out. To see where deals leak after the call, read the million-dollar leak in your follow-up.
Sources: Aaron Epstein, How To Convert Customers With Cold Emails (Y Combinator, video); Max Kolysh, How to Get Your First 10 Customers (video); Tom Blomfield, The Sales Playbook For Founders (video); Gustaf Alströmer, How to get your first customers (video).
How many times should I follow up?
Epstein says two to four times with a few days between messages, and Kolysh suggests three or four over a couple of weeks. After that, move on and try again in a couple of months.
Is it annoying to follow up?
Epstein says there is a fine line between persistent and annoying, and the way to stay on the right side is to add something new each time, to avoid demands and to leave a few days between messages.