Lead follow-up: a quiet lead hasn’t said no

A lead that goes quiet often hasn’t decided anything. They asked about a job, got one reply, and then got busy. Nobody sent a second message, so they booked the next company that did.

That’s the gap lead follow-up fills. Your first answer is only the start. Follow-up is everything after it, until they book or say no. Skip it, and that’s how leads go cold.

How many times should you follow up with a lead?

Pick a small, fixed number and send all of them. Four or five messages over about two weeks is a good place to start. Put the first ones close together and space the rest out. A fixed plan survives a busy week. A plan you make up as you go doesn’t.

After your first answer, three more might look like this:

Example timing and wording. Day 0 is your first answer.

A few rules make it work:

• Their channel. Reply where they reached you. A text gets a text. A form gets an email.
• Something new each time. A question, a photo, a free slot. Never “just checking in.”
• Gaps that grow. A day, then a few days, then a week. Each gap gives them room to answer.

When should lead follow-up stop?

The moment they reply. Any reply counts: a yes, a no, a question, a “not now.” Once a person writes back, a person should answer. A message that keeps saying “just following up” to someone who already replied tells them nobody read it.

It also stops when they book, and when the last message has gone. That last one matters. Say plainly that you won’t chase again, and how to reach you. Then stop.

In Income Mavericks, follow-up messages can send on their own and stop when the lead answers.

A few messages, gaps that grow, and one rule: when they answer, you take it from there.