The ability to follow-up effectively with potential customers and referral partners is key to the success of a small business.

Create a standard follow-up guideline– Follow-up with potential customers and referral partners within your standard guideline – will it be 1 day, 2 days, or 3 days? If you wait too long, people will not remember you and the opportunity is lost.

Use a follow-up method that suits your business and your personal style- Phone follow-up helps you relay your passion for your product but can potentially interrupt the other person’s busy day. Email follow-up is less intrusive but doesn’t allow your passion to come though. Find out what works for you and keep doing it.

Be generous with information and ideas– If you made a good connection with someone during your initial meeting, you’ll have a better idea of what information will be of interest to them. Consider sending a link to a website, sending an industry related news article, or connecting them up with one of your contacts who could be a referral partner for them.

Encourage further connection- Great connections are built over a cup of coffee. Extend the offer to meet up again. Leave time in your agenda to sit down and learn about other people, their needs and priorities.

Follow-up shouldn’t be an “extra thing” you do in your business, it should be a part of how you do business. Follow-up well and you’ll reap the rewards.