Through my friendship with John Spence any my correspondence with Business Publisher Scott Costello, I have become familiar with this magazine. Similar to my own publication, Owner Magazine, this magazines targets business leaders and aims to provide tools to help them grow their capabilities and connections. I was more than happy to include an article about Measuring Yourself By the Follow Up in this issue. I hope you enjoy!
I owe Warren an email. I also owe one to Brian and Beth, who Brian introduced me to, as well. Maybe I owe YOU an email too.
Patti, who I just met a few days ago in Phoenix told me that one frustration point she had with her company and with some other companies and organizations is that there’s so much gold and value in simply following up, and that people don’t do the basics to follow up.
Someone else, and I totally forget who it was, but you’ll recognize yourself, said the same thing: “the gold is in the follow up” or something similar.
Follow Up is a Business Opportunity
My inbox is full of business opportunities. So are my websites. So is my magazine. Any chance where we can follow up, get back to someone, re-engage, take a next step, and we MISS IT is a missed opportunity.
Some people want to measure their “influence.” Don’t. Measure your response time.
Right now? I’m not giving myself much of a passing grade. I’ve gotta get this inbox back in hand. People sitting for days end up feeling like they’re not important. Do you ever want the community you have the pleasure to serve thinking that they’re not important? No!
What are People’s Expectations of Follow Up?
This is a question I’ve been asked a lot over time. Most times, when I’m asked about such matters, people are really asking: “Yeah, but no one really expects you to reply to them, do they?” Of course they do. That’s crazy.
We ALL want to feel like we deserve the courtesy of a reply and follow up.
I feel that people’s expectations are that we will respond within 24 hours to almost any kind of contact. We might not be able to complete the interaction with that one touch, but we should at least acknowledge the person.
Make That Your Metric
I’m measuring revenue and subscriptions to my newsletter. I think I’ll start measuring how quickly I am responding to important correspondence. I wonder what it’ll do for my business. I wonder how much it will track back to revenue and growth. How much will be intangible? I suspect this is a metric to think about. Or Klout. Either one. But you know which one I’ll pick.
Chris Brogan is Publisher of Owner Magazine and CEO/President of Human Business Works. He is a sought-after keynote speaker who has consulted with companies like Disney, Microsoft, Coke, Titleist, Google, Motorola and more. He is a New York Times Bestselling author of six books with number seven out soon. To learn more about Chris, you can visit his website at www.chrisbrogan.com or subscribe online to Owner Magazine at www.OwnerMag.com