All Successful People Do This 1 Thing (Hint: It’s Not Work More Hours)
This week, there's been a lot of talk about 130-hour weeks being the key to success. But I dispute that.
I'm a big believer that success comes from working smarter, not harder. In order to drive results, I think it's smart to stay focused on the outcome — not necessarily the input. Results are about smart project management and working well with others.
And I belive there is one essential behavior that leads to more success — the follow up.
Follow up is essential to your workplace success — no matter what type of role you’re in. Certainly, it’s critical for sales, but it’s also important if you are a project manager, if you are managing people, if you are pursuing a partnership, if you are fundraising — or even if you are just part of a team.
For many of us, especially women, it’s easy to be concerned that following up can be irritating or too pushy. Without follow up, opportunities, worksteps, and essential preparation can get lost. The focus you place on follow up will almost certainly make you better at your job.
In sales, I find I rarely get a response until I follow up. Somehow, the very fact that you’re following up on something makes it seem more important, and give you more gravitas. And, I’m always amazed by the number of people that I follow up with who actually thank me when I follow up with them.
When you're talking about peers or colleages, it's easy to risk irritating people by following up. So I’ve done my best to do it with a little humor to minimize the implicit judgement that people sometimes feel when they receive a nudge email. People may not love the follow up, but it’s likely that if you’ve had to follow up on something, they forgot to do it.
If you're doing a job search, follow up really is essential. It's easy to feel like people aren't getting back to you and so they're not interested...but the right amount of follow up can differentiate you from the pack and show the hiring manager you are serious about getting hiring.
Based on my experience, here are some follow up tips I’d recommend:
1. Build a solid system (and it’s not your inbox)
Good follow up requires a good tracking system. Whenever I complete a sales call, for example, the first thing I do is make a note in my calendar about when or what the next follow up should be.
If you are doing large amounts of cold outreach, you may consider building a spreadsheet where you can track when and how many times you’ve followed up with an individual prospect.
Whenever I have a conversation with anyone about a possible project or partnership, I make a note or add it to my follow up list. That way, I can be sure it doesn’t fall through the cracks.
2. Keep thorough notes, and use them in your follow up
In any kind of work, I’m a huge advocate of keeping thorough notes. We are all so busy that it’s hard to keep track of all the things that we’re doing. However, when you follow up, it’s important to be acutely aware of your past exchanges with the person -- and to bring them to light. For example, “when we last spoke, you mentioned that you were going to look into xyz. Do you have any findings to share?”
For note-taking, I’m a massive fan of Evernote...it’s searchable and it even includes a reminder feature that is perfect for...well, following up.
3. Walk the line between assertiveness and rudeness
Recently, I received a follow up from a salesperson pitching me something that wrote, “Immediate Action Required!” in the subject line. These types of messages are very prevalent right now because they most certainly attract attention. However, I found it to be extremely off-putting. While I appreciated her persistence, in follow up (as in all communication), it’s critical to be humble and respectful.
Consider a message more like this, “I’m writing to see if you’ve had a chance to review the materials I sent last week.”
4. Use some humor
Sometimes when you send follow up, the recipient can feel defensive. After all, the implication is “you didn’t get back to me!” However, if you can inject some humor or personality into your follow up, you can make the recipient a little more glad to receive your message...and a little more excited to be working with you.
And I belive there is one essential behavior that leads to more success — the follow up.
Follow up is essential to your workplace success — no matter what type of role you’re in. Certainly, it’s critical for sales, but it’s also important if you are a project manager, if you are managing people, if you are pursuing a partnership, if you are fundraising — or even if you are just part of a team.
For many of us, especially women, it’s easy to be concerned that following up can be irritating or too pushy. Without follow up, opportunities, worksteps, and essential preparation can get lost. The focus you place on follow up will almost certainly make you better at your job.
In sales, I find I rarely get a response until I follow up. Somehow, the very fact that you’re following up on something makes it seem more important, and give you more gravitas. And, I’m always amazed by the number of people that I follow up with who actually thank me when I follow up with them.
When you're talking about peers or colleages, it's easy to risk irritating people by following up. So I’ve done my best to do it with a little humor to minimize the implicit judgement that people sometimes feel when they receive a nudge email. People may not love the follow up, but it’s likely that if you’ve had to follow up on something, they forgot to do it.
If you're doing a job search, follow up really is essential. It's easy to feel like people aren't getting back to you and so they're not interested...but the right amount of follow up can differentiate you from the pack and show the hiring manager you are serious about getting hiring.
Based on my experience, here are some follow up tips I’d recommend:
1. Build a solid system (and it’s not your inbox)
Good follow up requires a good tracking system. Whenever I complete a sales call, for example, the first thing I do is make a note in my calendar about when or what the next follow up should be.
If you are doing large amounts of cold outreach, you may consider building a spreadsheet where you can track when and how many times you’ve followed up with an individual prospect.
Whenever I have a conversation with anyone about a possible project or partnership, I make a note or add it to my follow up list. That way, I can be sure it doesn’t fall through the cracks.
2. Keep thorough notes, and use them in your follow up
In any kind of work, I’m a huge advocate of keeping thorough notes. We are all so busy that it’s hard to keep track of all the things that we’re doing. However, when you follow up, it’s important to be acutely aware of your past exchanges with the person -- and to bring them to light. For example, “when we last spoke, you mentioned that you were going to look into xyz. Do you have any findings to share?”
For note-taking, I’m a massive fan of Evernote...it’s searchable and it even includes a reminder feature that is perfect for...well, following up.
3. Walk the line between assertiveness and rudeness
Recently, I received a follow up from a salesperson pitching me something that wrote, “Immediate Action Required!” in the subject line. These types of messages are very prevalent right now because they most certainly attract attention. However, I found it to be extremely off-putting. While I appreciated her persistence, in follow up (as in all communication), it’s critical to be humble and respectful.
Consider a message more like this, “I’m writing to see if you’ve had a chance to review the materials I sent last week.”
4. Use some humor
Sometimes when you send follow up, the recipient can feel defensive. After all, the implication is “you didn’t get back to me!” However, if you can inject some humor or personality into your follow up, you can make the recipient a little more glad to receive your message...and a little more excited to be working with you.
So this week, instead of putting in extra hours, see how much you can amp up your impact by following up a little bit more.
A version of this article appeared on Inc.com.
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Romy Newman is President of Fairygodboss and the co-founder. She's on a mission to improve the workplace for women by creating greater transparency. Prior to founding Fairygodboss, Romy spent over ten years at The Wall Street Journal, Google and Estee Lauder, where she held various leadership roles. Romy earned her BA from Yale University and her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management.
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