Back to the on-screen lesson ·
A follow-up rests on the customer's permission: asked during the conversation, recorded, sent once at the agreed time about what they asked, and stopped when asked — and it works better than messages nobody asked for.
Paper packet. Every task here also exists on screen, where it is checked automatically; answers written on paper are not assessed by Nydus. When you are back at a device, enter your answers there.
You will ask for permission to follow up during the conversation, plan and send one relevant message at the agreed time with an easy way to stop, and compare reply rates for messages customers asked for against messages they did not.
You can run a conversation to an honest recommendation. Many conversations end without a decision, such as 'I need to check my date' or 'I'll think about it', and what happens next is the follow-up.
| Term | What it means |
|---|---|
| Follow-up | A message after a conversation that moves it on. |
| Permission | The customer's agreement to be contacted: what about, when, by which route. |
| Relevant | About what the customer said and asked for. |
| Stop rule | When the business stops: an agreed number of contacts, or when asked. |
| Reply rate | Replies over follow-ups sent, times a hundred. |
| Contact record | A note of who agreed to what, when and by which route. |
Owners fail at follow-up in two opposite ways. Some never do it, and lose customers who were one reminder away from booking. Others do it without limit, 'just checking in!' every few days, until the customer blocks them.
The middle path is simple, and it starts in the conversation itself. Before it ends, ask: 'Would it help if I texted you on Thursday, once you know your date?' The customer says yes, or suggests something else, or says no. Whatever they say is the plan. Record it (what, when, which route) and then do exactly that: one message, at the agreed time, about what they asked, with one next step and an easy way to say no.
'Hi, it's Bright Home Cleaning about your move-out quote. Do you have your date yet? No problem if you've sorted it elsewhere.' It names the conversation, asks the one thing needed and lets the customer go gracefully. Stop when they ask, or after the number of contacts that was agreed.
Another way: table
A follow-up, part by part.
| Part | In the message |
|---|---|
| Permission | Sent because the customer asked for it on Thursday |
| Relevant | About the move-out quote they asked for |
| One next step | Do you have your date yet? |
| Easy to stop | No problem if you've sorted it elsewhere |
Another way: steps
Permission is the decent way to follow up, and it is also the effective one. Monica texted 50 shoppers who had asked to hear when the weekly bag was back, and 18 ordered: 36 percent. She also texted 200 numbers from an old raffle sheet, and 4 ordered: 2 percent, and three people complained. The people who asked were expecting the message and wanted what it offered; the others were not and did not.
Keep the permission narrow. A couple who asked for prices in three months have not joined a weekly newsletter, and a customer who agreed to one text has not agreed to a phone call. The law agrees. The federal Telephone Consumer Protection Act requires prior express written consent before a business sends marketing texts with automated tools, and the CAN-SPAM Act requires every commercial email to offer a working way to opt out and to honor it within ten business days. Keep the record of who agreed to what.
Ask before the conversation ends. 'Would it help if I texted you on Thursday?' Let the customer set the time and the route; take a no gracefully.
Record it. Name, what was agreed, when, which route, how many contacts. A line in the booking log or a calendar reminder is enough.
Send one relevant message. At the agreed time, naming the conversation, about what they asked, with one next step.
Make stopping easy. 'No problem if you've sorted it elsewhere', or 'reply STOP and we won't text again'.
Stop. After the agreed number of contacts, or at once if asked. Mark the record so nobody sends another.
Count. Messages sent, replies, bookings, for each kind of follow-up.
Check every message before it goes. Is there a record that this customer agreed to this message, by this route, at about this time? Does it name what they asked about? Does it have one step and an easy way out? If any answer is no, do not send it.
Asking during the conversation is allowed, and best, because that is when the customer knows what they need and can say what would help. A request for permission sent later, out of the blue, is itself an unasked message.
Keeping to exactly what was agreed is needed because permission is specific. A yes to one text about a quote is not a yes to a newsletter, and treating it as one breaks the trust the yes was given on.
Stopping is allowed even when the owner is sure the customer would benefit, because silence after the agreed contacts is an answer. Respecting it keeps the door open; pushing past it closes it, and often loses the customer's word of mouth too.
Counting replies is what lets the owner see that the approach works, rather than taking it on trust.
The best time for a follow-up is the moment the customer said they would be ready to decide: when the moving date is set, when the numbers for the lunch are known, when the bike is due a service. That is why the question during the conversation should ask when, not just whether.
A follow-up that arrives too early finds the customer still undecided and feels like pressure. One that arrives too late finds them already booked elsewhere. If the customer is unsure of the timing, offer a choice: 'Shall I text you on Thursday, or would next Monday be better?' The answer sets the date and shows the business will fit the customer's schedule.
Follow-up is not only for people who have not bought yet. A short message after the job, agreed at the end of it, does a lot of work: 'May I text you in a week to check the bike is running well?' It catches small problems before they become complaints, and it shows the customer the business cares about the result, not only the sale.
Service reminders, like Northside Repairs' six-month text, are follow-ups of the same kind. They are agreed, relevant and timed to a real need, and they bring back customers who would otherwise drift away. The next lesson measures exactly that: how many customers come back.
A follow-up plan lives or dies by its record. Keep one simple table, on paper or in a spreadsheet, with a row for each customer who agreed to something: their name, what they agreed to, the route, the date to send, how many contacts were agreed, how many have been sent, and whether they asked to stop. Check it at the start of each day and send what is due.
The record does three jobs at once. It makes sure promised follow-ups are not forgotten, which is the most common failure of all. It stops anyone sending a message that was never agreed, or one more after a customer said stop. And it is the evidence, if anyone ever asks, that each message was sent with permission.
When several people answer the phone, the record is the only way they can keep each other's promises. A customer who agreed with the owner on Monday should get the same single, relevant text on Thursday, whoever is working that day.
Some customers will say no to a follow-up during the conversation, and some will reply to one with 'no thanks'. Both are useful answers. Thank them, mark the record, and send nothing more. A short, gracious reply, such as 'Thanks for letting me know, and good luck with the move', is often the last thing they remember about the business, and it is a good thing to be remembered for.
A no to this offer is not a no to the business. The tenant who found another cleaner for this move may need one again in a year, and the office that ordered elsewhere this time may try the kitchen next quarter. If they want to hear from the business again, they will know how to ask, and the business will be glad to hear from them.
A piano teacher in Raleigh had more inquiries than places each fall. For years she simply said 'I'm full, sorry', and the families went elsewhere. Then she began asking each family that called: 'May I email you once, in late August, when I know whether a place has opened?' Most said yes, and she kept a short list with the family's name, the child's age, the email address and 'one email, late August'.
In late August she sent each family one message: 'You asked me to let you know about a place this fall. I have two Tuesday slots open; reply if you would like one, or let me know if you've found another teacher, and I'll take you off the list.' Of the 22 families on the list, 9 replied wanting a place, about 41 percent, and the two slots filled in a day. She offered the other seven families a spot on the next list, and four accepted.
The year before, she had posted her open places on a community board and filled them after three weeks. The list of families who had asked was faster, cost nothing, and produced no complaints.
The Federal Trade Commission runs the National Do Not Call Registry, which lets people block telemarketing calls. A business may still call someone on the registry who has asked it to, in writing, or with whom it has an existing business relationship within set time limits. Permission, recorded, is what makes a follow-up call legitimate.
Send repeated messages until a customer replies. Silence is an answer; an agreed limit is the respectful one.
Anyone who gave a number has agreed to marketing. Permission is for what was asked, by the route agreed.
Follow-up is the place for the latest promotion. It is about what the customer asked, nothing else.
Urgency gets a reply. Pressure in a follow-up loses the customer and the referral.
Ask permission later, by message. That request is itself unasked; ask during the conversation.
Ask at collection.
$\text{text you when the service is due, about six months?}$
Permission for one specific message.
Record what was agreed.
$\text{date; number; one text}$
So it can be kept exactly.
Send it at the agreed time.
$\text{six months later}$
When the service is due.
Make it relevant, with one step.
$\text{your bike is due; reply BOOK}$
About what they asked.
Make stopping easy.
$\text{or STOP and we won't text again}$
And honor it.
Ask before the call ends.
$\text{text you Thursday, once you know your date?}$
Timed to the decision.
Record what was agreed.
$\text{Thursday; text; one message}$
In the booking log.
Send one message on Thursday.
$\text{about your move-out quote}$
Names the conversation.
Ask the one thing needed.
$\text{do you have your date yet?}$
One next step.
Offer an easy no.
$\text{no problem if you've sorted it}$
The customer can leave gracefully.
Stop when there is no reply.
$\text{one message agreed; one sent}$
The stop rule.
Text the shoppers who asked.
$50 \text{ texts}$
All agreed at the stall.
Count their orders.
$18$
From the order sheet.
Work out their rate.
$18 \div 50 \times 100 = 36$
Orders over texts.
Text the old raffle sheet.
$200 \text{ texts}$
Nobody had agreed.
Count their orders.
$4$
And three complaints.
Work out their rate.
$4 \div 200 \times 100 = 2$
Orders over texts.
Decide what to keep.
$\text{only the list of people who asked}$
Better results, and within the law.
Ask permission: the office manager will know numbers next week.
$\text{may I email you Monday about the numbers?}$
Timed to the decision.
Write the Monday email.
$\text{about your team lunch: numbers yet?}$
Relevant, one step.
Add the easy way out.
A tenant asked Bright Home Cleaning for a quote and said, 'Text me on Thursday once I know my moving date.' It is Thursday. Which message should the owner send?
Complete the worked solution: Bright Home Cleaning sent $25$ follow-ups last month, each one agreed with the customer during a call. $10$ customers replied, and $3$ of them booked. Find the reply rate, the customers who did not reply, and the booking rate on all the follow-ups.
Find the reply rate.
$(\text{replies}) \div (\text{sent}) \times \text{a hundred} =$ r
Replies out of each hundred sent.
Find the customers who did not reply.
$(\text{sent}) - (\text{replies}) =$ q
Silence is an answer too.
Find the booking rate.
$(\text{bookings}) \div (\text{sent}) \times \text{a hundred} =$ k
Bookings out of each hundred sent.
Say what happens to those who stayed silent.
$\text{nothing more unless agreed}$
The stop rule.
Put Maya's follow-up plan for a café owner who is not ready to order in order.
Number the steps in order (write the number in the box):
Neighborhood Kitchen's planned messages for next week. Mark every message a customer agreed to receive.
This task has no paper form; do it on a device.
Northside Repairs sent $40$ follow-ups this quarter, each to a customer who had agreed to a reminder when their bike's service was due. $21$ replied to book. What was the reply rate, as a percentage?
Of the agreed follow-ups, v percent brought a booking.
A heating and cooling company in Phoenix asks every customer at the end of a repair whether they would like one text when their next tune-up is due. Last year, $35$ percent of those reminded booked a tune-up. This year $160$ customers have agreed to a reminder. How many tune-up bookings should the company expect from the reminders?
Answer:
A wedding photographer met a couple at a fair. They said, 'We haven't set a date — could you email us your prices in about $5$ months?' What should she do?
Lesson test: one question per skill, one attempt each, no hints. Your answers are checked when you submit.
Monica compared two lists. She texted $50$ shoppers who had asked to hear when the weekly bag was back, and $10$ ordered one. She also texted $200$ numbers from an old raffle sheet, and $9$ ordered. Fill in each list's reply rate, as a percentage.
| Reply rate, percent | |
|---|---|
| Shoppers who asked | |
| Old raffle sheet |
You can follow up so that the customer is expecting it and can say no easily. Tell someone why a number on a raffle sheet is not permission. Next: whether customers come back.
18. Your turn: Neighborhood Kitchen and a hesitant office, step 3
$\text{happy to leave it if plans changed}$
Stopping made easy.