Smart Follow-up Email Techniques to Close New Business Deals

Empty email inbox? Do you feel like ages when you are desperately waiting for your client’s response to your email and find nothing every time you refresh your mailbox?

Well, this seems to be a harder time for the startup owner or a businessman who is looking to get the deal closed. The lack of response from the other side feels like demoralizing as these entrepreneurs get stuck in the middle of the conversation where they have been left hanging when they expect the revert the most.

Currently when the situations are not well for the business and the movement in the market has been paused due to lockdowns, closing a business deal just through a video call is a bit tough for the players of the market.

Taking some smart calculated steps in terms of the approach towards the client can help these business owners get faster responses from the other side and increase the chances of the deal getting close. 

A well-crafted follow-up email is the only opportunity that would decide the future of the deal and the chances of the business getting closed. 

So here are some quick tips for business owners to take note before they fire a follow-up email to their clients. 

1. Be clear about the response you want for that follow-up email 

Before you start drafting your follow-up email, revise the conversation you had with your prospective client.

Note all the points you have discussed with him in the previous meetings or conversation and conclude what you are expecting from him to take the conversation forward.

To make it simple, contemplate over the reasons for your email, are you asking them for one more meeting? Is the email a request for the proposal? Or you just want them to share their thoughts for the agreement of the further work process.

Once you are clear about the end goal you want to achieve through the email, drafting an email would be much easier. So before you start articulating your email, keep in mind the response you want to get to every word that you have put into it. 

2. Draft minimalistic and conversational email 

Gone are the times when people used to read long emails. The contemporary business owners would much prefer to read the email which is simple and has a conversational tone. 

Short statements, catchy lines, minimal representation of the flow, and words on point. No unnecessary stretching of the email length by including things that could be avoided for time being to be described in detail.

Try to use pointers, highlight the things you want to assure they take note of, and avoid writing long paragraphs. The lesser and sharper, the smarter and wittier.

3. Use a personalized tone 

Remember it’s a followup email and you already have a one-on-one conversation with them. Getting a little personal in your tone of the conversation can now be a smooth move and would help you build a good professional relationship with them.

Start with writing a personalized and catchy subject line to grab their attention.

Remember they might be having many emails coming in their inbox, how to grab their attention, and make them click on your email is defined by the subject line you write. 

Try to use the same technique of personalization in your content too. If you think that the person on the opposite side is someone who is lazy to reply, try to draft your content in such a way where you provide the person with the options to the answer you are expecting and ask them to only revert the option name. This tactic surely works for follow-up emails.

Thumb rule: In order to get a quicker response, whether it’s your client, your boss, or even while writing an informal email, understanding the nature and the preference of the person you are emailing would increase the percentage of chances of getting a revert.

4. Smartly placed call to action  

The next thing that can increase the chance of getting a revert on your follow-up email is how interactive and well designed your email is.

The placement of your call to actions in the email defines the experience your client would get while navigating through your email information. 

This call to action is something that adds value to your email or supports your words in your email content.

These click-based add-ons include the attached work profile of the company or example of a similar project you have done which are aimed to make the email more interactive and detailed along with being minimalist. 

Remember, overuse of this call to actions might mislead your reader as they would be having many things in front of them to grab the attention which would act as a disadvantage for your email as the point of focus of your email would shift from the core message to those distractive CTA’s.

5. A perfect closing line 

Moving to the final phase of follow-up email writing, it’s hard for many business owners to find the right way to end an email. Make sure you are smarter enough with your closing lines as they are the conclusion drivers to any emails and do have an impact on the way your reader would respond.

Well, you can just be subtle and write that you are hoping a revert from them soon or you can just be a little extraordinary with your closing line by adding a postscript. 

Yes, you have often seen P.S. in many emails which are an eye-catchy element and a good way to end your point. The postscript can include anything that could refer to or connect you with the conversation you had with your client in the previous meeting or a fun fact that you discovered and would relate to them.

Like you could just share a video link of your favorite artist which you both like by writing a postscript like: 

P.S. I found the link of that exotic music band we talked about => (link) 

Well, this personalized end could do wonders in building a good relationship as the person at the other end would find it more relevant and interesting to read your email.

It is a great way to let your client know that you remember things and a safe way to take an exit from your email.

Summing up: Smart follow-up email techniques to close new business deals 

Doing a business is not at all easy, especially when there are downfalls in the market due to lockdowns where people are under the fear of recession and finding ways for startup success in 2020.

Well, the situation gets more difficult when you are into the middle of a business deal to get close and have still not received revert to your previous emails. 

Drafting a smart follow-up email to rescue can surely build a hope of opportunity for the business owners. Following up is all about trial and error and all it takes is to learn to pitch a person at the right time and with the right words.

Considering the above-mentioned techniques before drafting your follow-up email can help you create a meaningful and creative message that can ensure you to close a deal or at least move the conversation a level up by standing out from the others in the list of your customers.