How many opportunities have you missed by not following up?
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Ever wanted to go back in time and imbue your old self with wisdom?
There is one skill that I wish I had learned from the beginning of my entrepreneurial journey. Follow-up technique. I know charisma and strategic thinking don’t sound all that glamorous, but let me tell you, they’re the keys to entrepreneurial success. Follow-up is how you get back into the other person’s busy mind, get their attention, and get the job done.
In working closely with our CEO, the power of follow-up became very clear. medal.tv, Pim de Witte.I was the COO of Medal.tv after the company was acquired mega cool.
Pym was a relentless master of follow-ups that he used to maintain momentum and create a sense of urgency in conversations about fundraising and partnerships. Even if he didn’t have all the requested materials, he made it a rule to follow up within 24 hours. We banged it out and sent it off at lightning speed.
If we do not hear back from you soon, we will follow up. Not just once. We have followed up many times. Each time, include additional relevant information to move the deal forward. This could be the answer to other investor questions, such as whether we expected a term sheet, dropped some positive metric growth, or expected an attractive hiring announcement. .
And it worked. Together we raised him over $60 million.
If you look at this from an investor’s perspective, investors are looking for founders who are passionate and smart about a multi-billion dollar problem. Persistent follow-up is a great way to weed out speakers and doers.
As an entrepreneur, you are valued from the very first interaction. they always ask themselves. this Will someone with enough guts and perseverance make it? And if you don’t keep your promises on time… strike and you’re done!
Follow-ups are central to relationship building and essential to sales. Yes, I said, we are open! As an entrepreneur, you’re always making sales, even if the word daunts you. You need to convince investors to believe in your company, motivate future employees to believe in you and take the leap, and induce customers to recognize the value of your product and pay for it.
Before I moved to the US to start Megacool, I thought I could follow up properly. Raised in Norway, I hardly realized my politeness got in the way.
‘Oh, they’re probably too busy’, ‘The timing probably isn’t right’, or ‘They probably won’t forget to contact me in the future…’
And I was not alone in this struggle. I’ve seen it with other Nordic entrepreneurs as well. We are burdened with secret cultural pacts not to unnecessarily bother others.
After being surrounded by highly successful entrepreneurs, I realized that valuable follow-ups are not considered noise. No, my friends, they are the fuel that propels you forward and gets things done. It was a wake-up call. I had a lot to learn and had to put my polite Nordicness aside.