Everyone Follows Up | Few Follow Through

I have a lot of conversations with myself.

Thinking, feeling of doing everything right, accepting imperfections, following up consistently. Seven touches. Eight touches. Ten touches.

Then I think, “what moved forward?"

Yikes.

It’s a trap we all fall into because a messages sent is not always equal to opportunity advanced.

And the vast majority don’t have the best clarity here.

Let’s discuss it

BUT FIRST ;)

I was on a treadmill about two weeks ago at my hotel in Washington DC.

You know those new ones with the apps that you feel like you can create your own adventure on, hills, cities, foreign lands-yeah those kind…

The screen shows you running through a forest. A trail winding through the trees. You can see the path ahead. Your metrics are tracking distance covered, elevation climbed, pace per mile.

It FEELS like you're going somewhere.

But when you step off? You're in the exact same spot you started in.

That’s how we are painting the picture for following up today.

All the activity. All the motion. All the metrics lighting up on your dashboard.

"I sent seven follow-ups this week!"

Great. Did the opportunity move forward?

If not, you weren't running on a trail. Yep, you were on that treadmill with a pretty screen giving you the illusion of progress.

Following through is the trail.

No app. No dashboard. No one tracking your step count.

Now before you lose your pants, I’m not saying that apps, dashboards, tracking isn’t important, only a crazy person would come to that conclusion, follow the metaphor please ;)

It’s you and the destination. And with every stride, you're getting closer.

That's the difference.

Following up is motion. Following through is movement.

One’s a busy hamster wheel. The other gets you somewhere.

Following up asks if something happened. "Did you get a chance to review?" "Any thoughts on the proposal?" "Just checking in."

You're checking on activity. Did they do the thing? Are they still interested?

And what do you learn? Nothing. They say "nothing" and you're stuck.

Following through discovers what needs to happen next. "What's blocking this from moving forward?" "What decision needs to get made?" "What's the real story here?"

You're not checking on activity. You're forcing clarity on what's actually standing between you and the finish line.

And now you learn something. Either the deal moves, or you find out why it can't and you stop wasting time…

Seeing the difference?

So how do you actually follow through?

Every follow-up you send should answer one question - What's the next decision that needs to get made?

Not "are you still interested? - any updates? - just checking in."

What decision needs to happen next for this to move forward?

Is it a budget conversation? Is it getting sign-off from legal? Is it choosing between two options? Is it scheduling a demo with the team?

Figure out what that decision is. Then make your follow-up about helping them make it.

That's how you get off the treadmill and onto the trail.

The principle works everywhere.

Prospect says, "send me some information and I'll review it with my team."

Most reps send the deck and then follow up with… "did you get a chance to review?"

That's a treadmill question. You learn nothing. They say "need to handle this first" and you're stuck.

Following through sounds like this, "when you review this with your team, what's the one question they're going to ask that I should answer upfront in the materials?"

Now they tell you what actually matters. Legal wants to see security certifications. Finance needs to see ROI calculations. The VP wants competitive differentiation.

You just learned what will make or break this deal before you sent anything.

That's what following through does. It surfaces the real blockers before you waste weeks waiting.

Here's some action to take.

Pull up your pipeline right now.

Look at the deals that have been sitting there for more than two weeks.

Ask yourself, what's the next decision that needs to get made on this deal?

Not "what should I say?"

What decision needs to happen next?

Then make your next follow-up one that forces clarity on that decision.

I repeat…

Stop running in place and start covering some ground.

The Model: "Treadmill vs Trail"

The treadmill (following up) - lots of motion. Vanity metrics look great. "Just checking in." Activity without progress, you learn nothing and end up in the same place.

The trail (following through) - Every step moves you closer to the destination. "What's the next decision?" forces clarity while surfacing real blockers. Either the deal advances or you learn why it won’t.

The question to ask - it’s not "how many follow-ups did I send?" rather "did the deal actually move forward?"

Everyone follows up.

Few people follow through.

Be one of the few.

See you next week, Follow Up Fam.

Manny "That Follow Up Guy" Vargas