Follow Up your way to Success

One of the most important things to do to be successful is to follow up.

Why don't people follow up?  There are many reasons people don't follow up but the main one is fear of appearing rude. Many times you contact someone like John and ask him to send you a copy of your test results.  But alas John is busy and doesn't have a good system for following up.  So John is very busy and doesn't get back to you.

But you wait and wait and wait. Eventually you forget about the test results and at some point don't follow up with your doctor.

The first thing to realize is just because you ask someone via email, in person or phone to do something it doesn't mean it will get done. What if the person is on vacation or sick?

What if John asks his employee to send  the test results but the worker forgets or is working on an urgent issue?

What if I sent John an email and he never got it because it went to his spam folder or the receptionist accidentally delete all the voice mails?

Waiting to follow up can cause issues as the longer time that passes the less likely someone will follow up.

The first thing to do is keep a list of who and when to follow up with people and check it daily. This is best incorporated into your to-do list.

On the opposite side is you're own need to follow up requests. If someone sends you an email to do a task, tell them you got the email and when you'll be able to get to it, about how long it will take and what other priorities you're dealing with.

Using Microsoft Outlook is a good way to follow up as you can mark emails with the Follow up indicator. You could also set an alarm to remind yourself to follow up.

One technique to get follow up is to copy people's bosses on emails. This can backfire as the person may get angry and go out of there way to not help you. Never address a request to multiple people, address it to one of them and cc the other.

If you send an email to a group sometimes called a DG (Distribution Group) make sure to include at least one of the actual names in the cc list.

Another way to increase follow up by others and to be very thankful when people do help you. If you can give them a subtle or direct compliment.

"Wow, that was great service... I really appreciate you help"

and copy their boss.

Another way is to use the software I helped create called http://Time-creator.com which uses Excel to create alarms that help with follow up.

Anyway if you have suggestions, comments or tips I'd love to hear from your below.

AB.