Business Networking: Level Up Your Mindset for Follow Up

The fortune is in the follow up. I’ve heard this saying over and over (for years!) But in the past, no matter what I wanted to accomplish in the outside, deep inside, I didn’t believe in myself. So what do you think happened?

. I was an excellent quitter.

. I didn’t think I knew enough. I always thought I needed to sign up for another training.

. I majorly fell down on my follow up.

. I didn’t think I deserved to make good money.

Can you relate with any of those thoughts or outcomes?

There have been 2 things that have helped me increase my follow up and create better results:

1. Acknowledging and letting go of my past.

Have you invested in yourself? We are all good at investing in our business, but taking time to work on you is vital. Personal growth and development is a lifetime journey. It’s almost like peeling back the layers of an onion. Once you deal with the big stuff, over time you can work on the other stuff that comes up. If you want to create better results through more effective follow up, I recommend you start within!

2. Learning about and understanding we all have “competing commitments.”

Why is it you don’t you do what you said you were going to do? No matter what goal you want to accomplish, you will always have your inner game competing with your outer game.

Say you want to gain 10 new clients. Your “outside game” says, “I am going to sign on 10 new clients in 2 months.”

But your inner game says: “You don’t deserve to be successful.” “You aren’t a winner–you will never be disciplined enough to make that happen!” “You haven’t acquired that many new clients in the last year. How do you think you can bring in that many new clients in the next 2 months?”

So do you bring in 10 new clients in 2 months? Probably not! You most likely started skipping out on the number of calls you were going to make each day or didn’t continue following up with every person who indicated they were interested because your inner game was competing with your outer game!

How can you overcome this? Try setting a reward or a penalty. It’s got to a reward or penalty SO big that you can’t stand yourself. You’ve got to do EVERYTHING to accomplish your goal.

I have learned I am personally motivated by setting a penalty. I have accomplished MORE by setting penalties over the last 4 years than I had in the 10 years prior. The penalty you set has to be PAINFUL for you. Penalties are always personal. What’s painful for me might not be painful for you.

Here’s an example: I don’t even do my own laundry. My husband does. In order to complete a coaching certification by a certain date, I set a penalty I would do my friend’s laundry every week for 4 weeks (and she has a lot of laundry!) I did EVERYTHING it took to reach that goal. There was NO WAY I was going to do ALL her laundry for 4 weeks!

The next time you set a goal, remember your inner game is competing with your outer game:

How can you even out the playing field?

What can you do differently so you do not fall down on your follow up?

What is a reward or penalty that you could set for your next follow up goal that would help your inner game compete with your outer game?

Terilee Harrison helps entrepreneurs get referrals, clients, and leads using proven offline and online marketing strategies. Book your referral strategy session here.