If you sell services, you only get paid for the time you are directly working for clients. The trouble is, there’s a lot of time the client doesn’t see you working on their behalf. When pricing your services, these “extra” hours need to be considered.

Time you need to average across all clients (Start keeping track of these so your estimates get more accurate):

• Emails on their behalf
• Invoicing, collecting payment, and answering billing questions
• Writing the proposal and closing the deal
• Waiting and checking to see if the client is ready for the next step

Time directly attributable to the client and billed correspondingly:

• Traveling to/from their location
• Researching something specifically for them
• Building/delivering/doing/fixing their stuff (sadly, this is the only part they really “see”)
• Revising (usually at the request of the client)

Time that is truly overhead, not attributable to specific clients:

• Marketing
• Selling (in general, not a specific client)
• Managing your business finances (banking, taxes, management)
• Hiring, managing, and training employees
• Training to advance your skills and certifications
• Vacation, sick time, holidays
• Opening the mail including junk mail and spam email (yes sadly it takes your time)
• Waiting for the phone to ring

For example, when we hire a plumber who charges us $75 an hour, we know he’s not really making $156,000 per year ($75 x 40 hours x 52 weeks). For every hour he works in someone’s house, he spends time getting supplies, invoicing, writing an estimate, and collecting the money.

So remember when you are figuring your rate per billable hour, there is a lot of effort the client doesn’t see but needs to be incorporated.  Let me know how your billable hours are calculated in the comments below.

Now stop reading about your billable hours and start doing! Let’s create your personal profit strategies for growing profit. Call small business profitability coach Merra Lee Moffitt, CFP®. She can be reached at, 888-920-2030 or by email at merralee@captureprofits.com.

In Your Self Employed Hidden Paycheck – How to Pay Yourself More with Less (Part 1), I showed that my 2008 hidden paycheck from being self employed was $23,606. Here is how the numbers add up. We’re talking about items my family gets direct benefit from, but can be attributed to the business and are taken as small business tax deductions. If you are self employed your family also gets paid in “stuff” that employees normally buy after they get their paycheck, but you can buy before you take your paycheck. The business purchase of this stuff, instead of you personally constitutes a hidden paycheck.

Most articles found on the web and elsewhere focus on self employed taxes and the tax savings aspect. Like the $6,610 savings I made last year in self employed taxes. But this article focuses on the hidden paycheck produced by legitimately buying goods and services used for you business that also has personal benefits.

Make sure you check with your CPA before you take any of these deductions since your situation is most certainly different.

My Self Employed Hidden Paycheck items for 2008:

Self employed health insurance – First, the big one. As an employee, it’s not deductible even if you pay the whole thing. Being self employed, it’s entirely deductible. I spent $5,068 last year.

Cell phone – I have five lines for my family. These cost $179 a month after subtracting the kid’s lines, although all are necessary to my business and my sanity.

Home/business phone – Working from home allows me to write off my phone ($45/mo) and my long distance VOIP line with BroadVoice ($35/mo).

Internet – My Internet at home costs $50/mo. Who could run a business without that?

Lunches/dinners out – Meeting with clients and prospects over lunch or dinner is a relaxing way to build business. Even after the 50% deduction, I spent $129/mo.

Party leftovers – My client party at my house had 146 clients and prospects last year. In Berks County, it’s a mortal sin to run out of food, so I ended up with a steak, shrimp, appetizers and alcohol left to freeze. Although extremely hard to estimate, I would say safely about $500 total was the value of what we ate later in the year with family and friends.

Travel – I have a lot of clients near San Jose, California where I used to live, many began as close friends. Traveling there three times last year to see them and the clients they refer is like a vacation for me. Since I stay with my mother-in-law (who I just love), I only spent $2,772 on three trips last year.

Vacation – When many people go on vacation, they work part of the time and deduct part of the cost. I didn’t last year, so my business deductible vacation was $0. This can be a significant amount as we will see in a future article.

Home office deduction – Working from home allowed me to take $3,484 last year off my taxable income. Think of it as the business paying part of the electric, mortgage, pool maintenance, and everything that goes into maintaining a house divided by the square footage used for your business.

Per diem meals – I found this little known tax deduction works for me because I stay at my mother-in-law’s house when I visit my clients in CA. Per diem meals is a daily rate based on where you travel allowed for deduction where you don’t need a receipt. California is $59/day and I spent 47 days there last year. So I get to take $2,802 as business expenses.

Office supplies – With two teenagers in school and various Boy Scout projects, we use extra office supplies such as paper, toner, and notebooks. Maybe it’s not worth mentioning at only about $200 a year, but it illustrates that there are probably things you haven’t thought of yet.

Auto mileage – If you routinely stop at the grocery store, department store, or friend’s house on your way home from a client or meeting, you have saved yourself a trip and pocketed the mileage. Make it a habit and it is money your household is getting without spending. With .55 cents a mile, that was around $1,294 last year.

Computer equipment – Who could run a business without a computer? It also serves as my personal entertainment, shopping aid, and correspondence tool. We tend to buy a laptop about every year for either my husband or me and give the older one to our kids or assistants. Patrick’s MacBook and all its software, cases and parts was $2,052. Yes, we bought other computer stuff, but I’m only counting here what we would have had to buy for the family (and unable to deduct) if we weren’t self employed.

Telephone equipment – Between dropping my Ipaq and being a woman with the ‘no pockets’ problem, I need to upgrade my cell phone nearly each year. Without extending my contract, it cost $299. At home we have a TalkSwitch PBX which died after 5 years and we replaced it for $826.

NOW, a big disclaimer, I do not do taxes! I work with an excellent CPA who specializes in self employed taxes. She is a tremendous help to me. I then pass onto my self employed clients whatever they are missing. So if you have any questions regarding whether something is business deductible in your situation, ask your CPA. I am only helping to stimulate your brain and get this stuff recorded in the first place. You can’t count it if you don’t track it.

How do you figure your hidden paycheck? Comment now.

Now stop reading about your hidden paycheck and start doing! Let’s create your personal profit strategies for growing profit. Call small business profitability coach Merra Lee Moffitt, CFP®. She can be reached at, 888-920-2030 or by email at merralee@captureprofits.com.

As self employed, we’re pulled in two directions. We want better income from being self employed, yet we want our self employed taxes to be as low as practical. We want our family to benefit from having a better income and all the luxuries it can buy: travel, TVs, cell phones, dining out, and more. But the more dollars in your paycheck, the more self employed taxes you pay.

Fortunately there are common, regular and necessary expenses in your business that have direct benefit to your family. The average employee must pay for all these items AFTER he gets his paycheck. Being self employed, you can count these items against your business and pay for them BEFORE you take your paycheck. Your self employed income will seem lower but your family gets “paid” in the stuff the business pays for. This, in turn, builds your hidden paycheck.

This hidden paycheck is part of what makes being self employed worth the effort. Many items in our daily lives are also used for business. For the purposes of tax reporting, we get to take those expenses against the business because they are necessary for running the business. Depending on your business, this adds up to a hidden paycheck of $15,000 to $25,000 a year.

Your CPA can help you figure out exactly which costs fall into the various buckets and where to report them on your tax forms. Let’s go over some examples. Better income from your hidden paycheck comes from:

I’ll go into detail in part 2, here are just some totals. Last year, my hidden paycheck amounted to $23,606. I’ll show you how I got there in Your Self Employed Hidden Paycheck – Little Things Add Up (Part 2)

Here are the categories I used:
Self employed health insurance
Cell phone
Home/business phone
Internet
Lunches/dinners out
Party leftovers
Travel
Vacation
Home office deduction
Per diem meals
Office supplies
Auto mileage
Computer Equipment
Telephone equipment

What’s in your self employed hidden paycheck? Comment now.

Now stop reading about your hidden paycheck and start doing! Let’s create your personal profit strategies and demand growing profit. Call small business profitability coach Merra Lee Moffitt, CFP®. She can be reached at, 888-920-2030 or by email at merralee@captureprofits.com.

How to price service during recovery

Are you trying to survive the recession by lowering your prices, adding free stuff, and bending over backwards to please the customer so you can keep them? You are not alone. Let me ask you this. When will it stop? How will you stop it? Have you been planting the seeds so that you can stop giving away your time, energy, and expertise? Does your services price list even have your “desired” prices on it?

Take these steps to get ready to raise your service pricing as the economy improves, and prepare your clients so they’ll value you more and happily stick with you.

1.  Make a list of all your current services and your ideal services price list. Give each item a specific service price. This list of service prices is NOT to be given to customers; this is your own secret pricing of services you believe you should be charging. Call this list “Primary Service Prices List”. Use the prices for services you should be charging, not the discounts you are currently giving due to recession, fear of losing the business, self doubt or whatever makes you undercut your own service price list. Think of this list as what your service pricing would be if you were not afraid to lose the business.

2.  On a separate sheet list those services you have been doing for clients but doing for free. Call this list “Additional Service Prices.” Keep adding any services that clients ask for, but don’t charge because you “don’t want to nickel and dime” your client. Also include items you routinely do but have never specifically priced.

For example, one of my commercial cleaning clients is frequently asked to:
Change light bulbs
Put up window screens
Dust air ducts
Dust plants
Put away holiday decorations
Clean up after parties
Initial ‘extra’ cleaning to bring rooms up to standard

On this Additional Service Prices List, start adding the prices for services you think should be charged. Again, this is your own private pricing of services, so don’t worry about how to price services in the best way just yet. Just keep adding distinct services to the list and assigning them a price. If it helps, estimate the amount of time for each item.

3.  Change your proposals.  Be specific in your prices, services, and delivery specifications. Build a clear checklist of what each primary service entails. You’ll then be able to point out when the client has asked you for an extra service. That’s because that service won’t be on your delivery list and will be on your Additional Service Prices List.

4.  Begin believing that this recessionary era of “free” will soon be over. This is a change in your thinking. Look for evidence of it. You’ll find it. Remember, what you think the service is worth (and ask for) is what clients think it is worth.

5.  When a client asks you to do something on your Additional Service Prices List, your response should always be positive. Say, “I’ll be happy to do that for you Sally. Our price for that is $75. Would you like me to add that today or schedule that for Tuesday when we work with you next time?” If you don’t have the courage just yet, say something like, “Normally we charge $75 for that but since you are such a good customer, I’ll add it this time.” You’ve now begun establishing the value of your services. Listen for feedback.

6.  Tell your clients when you are giving them something free. Put those items in your invoice with their new normal service prices, but begin listing them as “no charge”. You’ve been giving them something of value; you want them to see it.

7.  Now start adding an end point to all these free and cheap service prices. When providing a free service, add “30-days free” or “6-months free” after each item. That way, you’ve started to tell the clients what the end date is.

8.  Practice adding in those new service prices and charging for those items on the Additional Service Prices List. Add these service prices to your proposals, and in your response to client requests. Further, begin suggesting these services as you see your clients need for them. You will be adding value and making helpful suggestions. Don’t wait until all your competitors have raised their prices or started adding these services. While you may be afraid to be first, be more afraid to be last.

Notice how changing your service prices are a lot about the way you are thinking? So don’t give up at the first sign of resistance.  Tell me what you’ve been giving away for free in your comments.

Now stop reading about how to price your service and start doing! Let’s create your personal profit strategies for growing profit. Call small business profitability coach Merra Lee Moffitt, CFP®. She can be reached at 888-920-2030 or by email at merralee@captureprofits.com.

Your Target Billable Rate for Service Pricing

So how many working hours in a year can you really expect to sell, even if you could sell them all? If you are a sole practitioner not yet ready to hire help, your billable hours and your billable rate determines whether your family will thrive, survive, or dive. Let’s determine how you set your billable rate using target family income. In other blogs, we’ll use other methods such as value pricing

Working full time at a regular job is 52 weeks a year at 40 hours a week, so 2,080 maximum working hours in a year. Some of us actually remember working at a straight job, the kind that used to have a salary.  So here’s a methodology for determining your target rate per billable hour.

1) Subtract days we need to take for vacation days, education days, sick days, or other large blocks of time that reduce our available billable hours.

2 weeks vacation (at a minimum) – subtract 80 billable hours
2 weeks of holidays (in your own business you may end up doing paperwork those days) – subtract 80 billable hours
2 weeks education (realistic, even if you just do some educational research on the web) – subtract 80 billable hours
2 weeks sick time (again, realistic if you have kids, a spouse, parents or actually get sick yourself) – subtract 80 billable hours

So now we are at 44 weeks at 40 hours or 1,840 billable hours in a year.  That is, if we could actually charge clients for every hour of the week, which is unrealistic.

2) Calculate overhead time spent building, managing, and administrating your business.

Typically, these are items performed every week, and reduce your available billing hours on a regular and persistent basis. How many hours do we need for overhead time? What’s a realistic amount of time each week for:

Invoicing clients
Marketing and sales to get clients
Collecting money from clients
Answering customer service questions
Re-work for service (which you may not be able to bill)
Keeping records (for the IRS, for later customer questions, for analysis)
Researching new methods to help clients
Copying, faxing, emailing, filing

Even if you are good at sales, efficient at paperwork, and fast at implementing new ideas, you are probably looking at 10 hours a week of overhead time (more than one day a week).

So within that 40 hour week, you now have 30 average billable hours. That is, if you have no down time between client projects. A reasonable estimate for down time is another 15%. This is time within a project that can’t be billed because the client is not ready for your next step, or between projects when you are looking for billable hours or not yet started. This 15% applies if you are in a field with good reasonable demand that doesn’t get persistently rescheduled (such as when you are waiting for equipment to be delivered or other client delays). Some of that down-time can be absorbed by your overhead projects. That is why you can’t always set aside specific times of the week for your overhead (or end up spending nights and weekends). So we will use 10% for our down time estimate, or 4 additional hours a week. That leaves 26 average billable hours available in a full working week. Over 44 weeks, that is 1,196 average billable hours in a year. This should be your target for an average work week; one with no holidays, sick days, or vacation days.

3) How much you want to make determines your billable rate.

If you want to bring $100,000 a year into your family before paying personal taxes, and you have 30% benefits expense (we’ll discuss in another post), you’ll need to charge $109 as your billable rate for an hour. If your clients won’t pay that billable rate, it’s time to roll up your sleeves and find another way or your family won’t eat! (This is where people call me and we find a way to solve this problem.)

If you think my estimates are too high, tell me, what would you give up first? I appreciate your comments.

Now stop reading about finding your billable rate and start doing! Let’s create your personal profit strategies for growing profit. Call small business profitability coach Merra Lee Moffitt, CFP®.  She can be reached at, 888-920-2030 or by email at merralee@captureprofits.com.

“Seek new clients, seize better income, capture more profit”

We’ve all heard, “the check’s in the mail.” The majority of the time it is. But sometimes it’s a well intentioned fabrication. Well, really, it’s a lie. A sad but painful experience when you are a small business owner. Anger and frustration won’t help. Most of the time, the customer really wants and intends to do the right thing. Generally they will pay, if you help them. Thankfully, most customer lies can be readily detected, giving you a chance to avoid over confidence, recover, and not get blind-sighted.  Let’s face it.  Customers lie. Clients lie.  They are people. So here’s how you can stop complaining and start taking action.

Popular client lies and how to handle them.

When you hear these words, warning bells should ring. Kick your brain into overdrive and ask the questions needed to find what’s really true. More importantly, don’t count on what the customer says and make decisions (and hopes) based on it.

Your customer may be lying when he says:

“The check is in the mail” – Nearly all customers intend to pay, but when you hear this, it’s time to get details. Say, “Maybe our mail is slow here, what day did you mail it?”, “If I don’t see it by Thursday, I’ll follow up, okay?”

“Don’t worry about the money” – Every time I have heard this, the price and payment delay comes back later as a big issue. Don’t take these words at face value. Say, “Thanks, but even my clients with lots of money appreciate the choices we give them in our range of products and pricing. So let’s discuss those choices now so you have control.”

“I trust you” – The customer may be thinking, “you know what I want and you can give it to me.” If your product saves money or makes money, the customer is thinking, “you seem honorable, you’ll make me money no matter how bad the market is,” or “you saved Joe $10,000 so you can save me “$12,000 and I won’t have to put in any effort because I trust you.” With this kind of client, you must be totally clear up front. Even going as far as a Client Responsibilities Agreement the two of you can sign. These are the kind of people that don’t show up for meetings, don’t deliver their parts and paperwork on time, and don’t do what you tell them to do to reap the savings. Yet they want the results with no effort. When you hear those words, stop them in their tracks. Say, “This is a partnership and you won’t get the results if you don’t do a), b), and c) in a timely and committed manner.”

“I’ll think about it” – So you hear a real positive here. But the customer is most likely thinking of the 15 things that they need to get done today and really want to get you off the phone or out the door. Ask them, “Are you just trying to politely get me out the door or is there some specific aspect that needs to be analyzed before we go ahead?” Sound too direct? It can be softened with a smile or a brief story, such as “Most of my clients are busy like you and we don’t have time to waste. Tell me what questions you need to think about so you don’t waste time later.”

“Let me talk to my wife/partner/father/brother-in-law” – Have you ever bought something you wish you hadn’t? What did you learn? A common protection that people give themselves is time to have second thoughts. They enlist someone else to help talk through, and sometimes, out of buying. Even though the prospect sounds like they are ready to sign on the dotted line and write a check, it’s probably not going to happen. The other person has not heard the details of either the value or the problem solution your product offers. Your only recourse is to try to get that other decision maker into the value conversation. Say, “There will probably be questions your wife will ask that you may not be able to answer. How about the three of us get together on Tuesday at 3:00 so you won’t be put in a position of not knowing the answer?” In some cases, it may be better to say up front, “Usually these kinds of decisions are made with spouses, it’s better not to meet until you both can be there.” At least if the person responds that they have total decision authority and the spouse is not needed, they will try to follow through lest they appear to have lied.

“I’ll let you know” – If they say this, without a date or a time or a commitment to write the check, chances are it’s a stall tactic. You need to come back with a date and time to follow up with them. Another question to ask is, “you’re a busy person and chances are there are other decisions you also need to make this week. What factors can we clear up right now so you can get this decision off your plate?”

So, human nature is that people want to hold onto their money, now more than ever. Don’t get mad, get skills!

Some more articles on this subject if you feel you’ve been unusually hit by customer lies recently:

How to Tell if Your Customer is Lying

Your Customer is Lying, Did You Catch it?

The Top 10 Lies Customers Tell Sales Reps

Give me some feedback. What customer lies do you hear that give you warning bells?

Now stop reading about customer lies and start doing! Let’s create your personal profit strategies for growing profit. Call small business profitability coach Merra Lee Moffitt, CFP®. She can be reached at, 888-920-2030 or by email at merralee@captureprofits.com. 

“Seek new clients, seize better income, capture more profit”

Let’s be clear. In these recessionary times, large companies are paying even slower. Small companies may be struggling and paying slower than usual. Here are invoicing tricks you do have control over to achieve faster cash flow. These apply to invoicing for projects and materials used.

Invoicing tips for getting paid faster and achieving faster cash flow:

1. Invoice immediately. Don’t wait till the end of the month or even the end of the week to invoice. Invoice the day the project is done or the item(s) are shipped. If you wait a week or two, that’s more time you’ll need to wait for the check.
2. Invoice in progress payments. If you are providing a service that has definable portions, get agreement at the beginning of the project as to what project portions can be billed and the interim progress criteria.
3. Determine if email invoicing would be better. Emailing an invoice is faster, harder to ignore, and easier to do after hours. But don’t automatically assume that email invoicing is the best choice for your client. Since most invoices arrive in the mail, the client already has a routine method of scheduling and managing their payment flow. If the client is a busy person with an assistant who writes the checks, sending an email is an extra step that may not be convenient for the client. Similarly, that type of client should never be handed an invoice in person either. It is too easy to misplace before it gets back to the bill payment desk.
4. Have a due date, not just “due on receipt”. Use a due date on the invoice that is about 10-12 days from the mailing date. That way it will be due about 7-10 days from when it arrives in the mail. The client can then put the invoice in the file of items to be paid soon. In most cases, that would be at the next weekly payment cycle. Sadly, companies that pay in 30 days, or 45 days, will not adhere to your due date anyway.
5. Detail your invoice. Write a detailed description of the items, service details and dates the invoice covers. Sometimes clients will dispute an invoice simply because they want to delay paying. Having a detailed account reminds the client of all the work you did and the items you delivered.
6. Put the client’s phone number on the invoice. This actually increases the probability that you will get paid. Also, it saves you time if you have to call later to ask about payment. For larger companies include the Purchase Order number and the project manager’s name (your contact).
7. Set payment terms at the start. Before you start the project or deliver the items, specify the payment terms. Most companies routinely have their own payment policy. Discussing it up front establishes you as a professional and helps ensure you get paid. It also sets the expectations. Some companies pay on the same day each week, on the same day each month, or simply 30, 45, or even 60 days after receipt. While you may not be able to alter the payment schedule, knowing it will help you plan better.
8. Find out the prerequisites. Some companies require your EIN be on record; some require your insurance information. Others require there be a Purchase Order even if the person who purchased from you may not have clearly stated that. So when working for a larger company, find out who (specifically) handles payment. Double check the payment terms at the very start of the project so you can collect any needed documentation along the way. This speeds invoicing and eliminates reasons for slowing your payment.
9. Try to get a deposit up front. If you have to buy materials specifically for a client which cannot be returned without cost, ask for partial payment to begin the project. This also verifies that the client is committed. If you haven’t already been doing this, it may seem harder than it is. It gets easier after you’ve been burned a couple times.  Being committed helps.
10. Offer credit card payment. Even in larger companies, it may be a convenience to pay by credit card. Credit payments show up in your account often within 24 hours of payment.
11. Pay attention to changes. Clients frequently change their product orders and project needs after the initial order has been started. Give them ongoing detailed reports of work progress on projects and items ordered or shipped. Having a clearly defined and documented change process up front will help you get paid when there are project or material changes.
12. Build a document trail. Keep track of requested changes in writing. Be able to document anything the client asked for. Sounds cumbersome? Remember that the person writing the check may not be the same person who works with you on the project, but may have responsibility for payment accuracy. Help them out and help yourself get paid by creating and keeping the documents they’ll need.
13. Send copies with past due dates. Make it a routine to send copies of invoices 25-30 days after the original invoice. It is possible for invoices to be genuinely misplaced. If clearly marked as “past due”, it may instill a bit of urgency if your client is a sole proprietor or small company. Statement copies can also look like your accounting system automatically sent it so your relationship is better preserved.
14. Arrange for someone else to make collection calls. Have your assistant, accountant, spouse, business coach, or some other person call the client. People are embarrassed about not paying and having someone else call achieves several purposes. It preserves your relationship. It looks like you have a system, which you do. And it gets you paid when they simply need a friendly reminder.
15. Use your Accounts Receivable reports. This report shows how many days payment has been due from each client. Use it as a trigger system by deciding how many days before you make the first friendly call, send a statement, or transfer to collections.

Adding these tips and tricks to your invoicing process may seem like a lot of work, but slow cash flow has much larger consequences!

Now stop reading about implementing invoicing tricks and start doing! Let’s create your personal profit strategies for growing profit. Call small business profitability coach Merra Lee Moffitt, CFP®. She can be reached at, 888-920-2030 or by email at merralee@captureprofits.com. 

“Seek new clients, seize better income, capture more profit”

It’s a recession. We’re cutting our advertising budget even though we know we shouldn’t. We’re racking our brains to see what else we can do to drive sales without spending too much. Well here’s a free sales and advertising tip. Follow up!

The National Sales Executive Association conducted a survey on how many sales you can get depending on how many times you contact your prospects. These statistics emphasize how important it is to follow up with sales persistence.

• 48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
• 25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
• 12% of sales people only make three contacts and stop
• Only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts

But,

• 2% of sales are made on the first contact
• 3% of sales are made on the second contact
• 5% of sales are made on the third contact
• 10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
• 80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

These statistics astound me and I spend a lot of calls and emails following up.  I confess that sometimes even I fail to follow up more than three times. So why do we not follow up enough?

• Too busy, didn’t get to call
• The person’s name did not make it to a “touch today” list
• The time allocated to make follow up calls got allocated elsewhere
• Don’t have a single “touch today” list, it’s in several places
• Don’t have a series of things to propose that seems appropriate
• Don’t know what to say, when you’re just “checking back”
• No follow up samples appropriate to this situation
• Want to build the relationship, but not sure how
• Haven’t tracked how many times already called, it’s too soon
• Haven’t set a follow up action, don’t know what to propose next

Your own personal list of follow up failure is probably some of these and more. With 90% of the sales made after the third contact, it’s clear that this is the result of a relationship being built. Relationships take time and repeated contacts.

But consider this. Calling is free! You already have a phone, a long distance plan, and extra cell phone minutes. So there is nothing else to pay. Email is free since you already have an email mechanism. A card is less than a dollar even with today’s postage. For a great set of follow up samples and follow up letters see: Free Sales Follow Up Letters.  So this kind of prospecting and following up is a real low-cost sales idea. That’s a great plus in this economy.

Persistence will make the difference in sales. Follow up calls are necessary and effective. If you’ve been at it more than a couple of years, you’d agree that it takes pigheaded discipline and determination to grow a business. This is a sentiment attributed to Chet Holmes, author of “The Ultimate Sales Machine” and perhaps anyone else committed to success.

So, I challenge you to make a list of people you haven’t followed up with and make some calls. Call me and tell me how it’s going. I’d love comments on more follow up samples from your experience.

Now stop reading about follow up samples and start doing! Let’s create your personal profit strategies for growing profit. Call small business profitability coach Merra Lee Moffitt, CFP®. She can be reached at, 888-920-2030 or by email at merralee@captureprofits.com.

“Seek new clients, seize better income, capture more profit”

The communication game is changing faster than we can keep up with it. It used to be that we could send an email and expect a response in a day or two. We could send a voicemail and assume that if we got no response in three days they weren’t interested. We even trust that the good old USPS paper mail delivery would deliver in 2 days local and 5 days cross country.

Now we don’t know if the message was even delivered. Even with good spam filters, seemingly reliable voicemail, and USPS it seems more stuff is delayed or lost. There is a local municipality four miles away that my clients routinely tell me they received a letter or invitation from me three weeks late. Several people in the same area report the same thing, so I know it’s not just ignoring the mail. Emails get lost in the sea of daily incoming backlog. And even voicemails occasionally take hours to get through.

Our communication systems have generally been so reliable that we take for granted they’re working. But sometimes they don’t and that’s why you need to follow up if you want to make the sale, provide good service, or just stay in touch.  But how do you draw the line between persistence (looking virtuous) and pest (looking desperate or unprofessional)?

Here’s 5 ways to be persistent without being a pest:

1. Don’t assume that someone is not interested just because they don’t call you back. I have had many instances where I reached someone on the fourth try, after leaving three voicemails only to have them thank me because they didn’t get back to me yet. More than likely those people went on to do business with me.
2. Follow up important emails, incoming or outgoing, with a voicemail. These days people have three or four email accounts beyond their primary one. Sometimes they don’t check those secondary accounts for days. So you may have sent it to a slow response email box (which may have been the primary when you wrote it down originally).
3. Sadly, the same goes for a fax (yes, people do still send those).  Just because you got a confirmation that the fax went through, they may not have gotten it.  Fax machines are in distant rooms shared by others.  The faxes get picked up inadvertently by someone else.  Sometimes it’s sitting in memory waiting for paper.  So call and leave a voicemail saying that you sent it.
4. Leave more than one voicemail. We think voicemail is reliable but it seems to be getting less so as time goes on. When someone asks a question and you want to answer, but you only get their voicemail, leave a message. Try every couple of days and leave another voicemail. Make sure the total time span is more than a week because the person may be traveling. If I really want to talk to the person and let them know I’ve been following up, I’ll call at different times of the day.
5. Tell them that you value being reliable and that’s why you are following up multiple times. Say something like, “I pride myself in being responsible so I am trying again. If you have already gotten your answer and don’t want me to follow up, drop me a voicemail or email.” It may seem obvious to you that you have a high level of commitment just because you did follow up, but stating your commitment is much more powerful.
6. Keep it light and use it as a way to build a better relationship. Say something friendly like, “Hi, I was just trying to get back to you and get your questions answered so I thought I’d try again.”
7. I try to leave no more than four voicemails before switching to one or two emails and vice versa. Sometimes switching communications gets the response.
8. The book “The 22 immutable Laws of Marketing” claims that the true battle for territory is the battle to position yourself (the brand called “you”) skillfully in the front end of the client’s mind. I try to make part of my brand “persistently reliable” because most of my clients and friends are as busy as I am.

Lastly, 80% of sales are made after the fourth contact, so don’t be part of the 73% that stop after two contacts. See my other post Follow up is Free and Profitable on that topic.

Tell me what you do to follow up persistently without being a pest? 

Now stop reading about persistence without being a pest and start doing! Let’s create your personal profit strategies for growing profit. Call small business profitability coach Merra Lee Moffitt, CFP®.  She can be reached at, 888-920-2030 or by email at merralee@captureprofits.com.

“Seek new clients, seize better income, capture more profit”