A couple days ago, I wrote an email about a “nasty follow up” script, which I got from a follow-up expert, to move along a potential auction partner who had started dragging his feet.
The script ran:
“Ok no sweat. You wanna put bringing in auction cash on the back burner until 2027? 2028?”
It didn’t feel very in character or natural for me to send this, but I closed my eyes and sent it nonetheless. I then wrote an email about it, which drew a lot of response from readers. A few samples:
#1. “Haha doesn’t sound like you at all”
#2. “That’s pretty polarizing. If you don’t care, then no problem. I’d probably just move along to something else until/if he changed his mind.”
#3. “Having just finished negotiating with a guttural-ly screaming 8 year old after he was forced to get a haircut (because he was looking like a mildly-clean hobo) my gut instinct would be to tell the guy that ‘putting the project on hold for so long doesn’t work for me. Good luck!'”
#4. “This guy broke his word to you, you could argue disrespected you. Would you want to do business with someone who doesn’t do what they say they will do? Also, his feelings aren’t your responsibility. If he feels bad because you’ve pointed out the incongruity between his words and actions… that’s not you being a dick.”
#5. “Curious how this works out. Not something I’d send but it doesn’t mean its wrong haha”
About how it’s working out:
It’s been two days now and the update is… nothing. Silence. No word from the dude.
Is he mad? Is our partnership over before it even started? Did I make a huge mistake?
Last night, I talked to the same follow-up expert, who also happens to be the person who referred the potential auction client to me in the first place.
I told the follow-up expert I had sent his message verbatim, and that I haven’t gotten a response since. He nodded in approval. “He’s always been slow to reply,” he said with a chuckle. “Here’s what I’d tell him next…”
In other words, in this follow-up expert’s world at least, the follow up doesn’t stop. Not until you get a clear yes or no, or better yet, “scram!”
This is all kinda new to me, at least when it comes to 1-1 interactions.
Fortunately, I’ve internalized it pretty good when doing 1-many interactions, specifically, when I’m hiding behind my email software and writing to thousands of people at the same time.
My approach is to keep following up… day after day… until my readers either tell me to scram (they unsubscribe) or they tell me yes, in the form of buying something from me.
I’ve found this simple habit — sending out a sales email every day — to be completely transformative to me, in terms of money, in terms of how I am able to work, and personally too.
If you would like to have something similar in your life, I’ve created a service to help you get started, and to make it easier to keep going. For more info: