Perfect your process for follow up meetings
If you’ve ever left a professional conversation thinking, ‘Now What?’ then this article is certainly for you. The way we follow up after a scheduled appointment and meeting with other parties is oftentimes more crucial than the actual contents of the meeting itself.
By following up successfully after scheduled or instant meetings you not only create opportunities for future productive engagements but also ensure that what needs to be done actually gets done and that everyone involved is aware of expectations.
Here are a few strategies you can implement to make sure you’re following through and staying on top after your scheduled appointments and follow up meetings:
How to write follow up emails after internal meetings
When meeting with teams inside your organization, the point of the conversation is usually concerning next steps and setting up meeting and scheduling structures for a project to flow successfully. If you’re meeting with others at regular intervals of sessions longer than 10 minutes, you need to be taking notes, hitting that record button or sending Looms.
What can seem like crucial information in the moment and something worthy of your attention can be superseded by the next sentence in a flash.
Documenting conversations and points of interest after a meeting is truly the best way to ensure you’re capturing important information and making sure that the next time you schedule with team mates and stakeholders is relevant and follows the previous conversation.
Some things to include in your follow up emails after your scheduled meetings and appointments are:
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Create actionable items after your instant or scheduled meetings
We don’t talk the same way we write. Our speech is way more scattered and unfocused, meaning that information and objectives can be vague, underdeveloped and without clear use. By sending a to-do list of sorts after your instant or scheduled meetings and taking time to denote what it is everyone should actually be doing, you’re helping bridge those gaps in understanding and making sure people know what they should be concerned with. -
Set clear expectations after your scheduled meetings or appointments
Every project, goal or task in scheduled meetings have an ideal outcome. However, these are not always clear. By making expectations explicit and having the destination in sight, the journey there becomes significantly more achievable.
Try to establish why you’re doing what you're doing and what the point of it all is early on so that you can negate feelings of aimlessness and a general lack of direction. -
Setting up roles and responsibilities after your instant and scheduled meetings
Knowing what you and your team are doing is obviously of great significance. Knowing who needs to what and by when? Even more so. Teams are generally constructed around a common specialty or field of expertise.
Sometimes, skills overlap and there are various people who can perform relatively similar functions.
Breaking up responsibilities and assigning them to individuals ensures all facets of a project get addressed and executed successfully after discussing in your scheduled meeting. -
Send suggestions for additional meeting slots and availability for your next meeting and appointments
Sometimes exact timelines are unclear and the deadline is treated more as a light suggestion than a true north. Include suggested collaboration points for further discussion in your follow up emails.
Inviting further chances for key stakeholders in a given project to deepen their understanding and sense check their activities is never a bad thing, so open up the communication channels and encourage conversation.
How to follow up after external instant or scheduled meetings
Whereas internal meetings are all about planning and context, external meetings generally have to do with prospects. Making a positive first impression is always top of mind and a major priority for any initial client-facing activity. Knowing what comes next and how to build on that impression is equally important and can bode extremely well for your future prospects and relationships if executed correctly.
If you’re someone who deals with large volumes of scheduled meetings that require additional interaction after they conclude, might we suggest the following tips to make sure you’re hitting that after-sales service sweet spot:
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Remind people who you are after your scheduled meeting
Set your ego aside and start making a habit of re-introducing yourself or your service post meeting or appointment or even remind people of the reason for meeting in the first place in a follow up email. Maybe the person you met with is forgetful, maybe they need some reminding or maybe they themselves deal with loads of other meetings every day.
When done in a non-condescending way, adding some context and relevant info pertaining to you and your services can help them to categorize their experience with you and refer back to it either in conversation or by searching their own mailboxes for future reference, furthering your chance for a follow up meeting. -
Provide options for other scheduled meetings
People like to have a bit of control over their schedule, calendars and how they go about their affairs. If you’re planning to develop your professional relationship with someone beyond the first scheduled meeting, suggest ways in which you can do so by giving them some autonomy in directing the course of events.
Maybe you have a booking page that allows them to select their intended slots or perhaps you can refer them to a routing system to better understand their exact needs and add context to your next engagement or appointment. -
Design an automated template for following up after your scheduled meetings
If you have found that your follow ups all generally follow the same ground with very little needed in terms of variation, why not spend some time perfecting it and subsequently automating it to make sure you’re always responding with a well-timed follow up post-engagement?
If you’re looking for an automated message as well as to present your prospects with a range of options to qualify and route them accordingly for your next scheduled interaction, Pages by OnceHub is a great solution.
You can set up your Pages to act as a digital assistant that allows for conversational marketing that adds context and provides relevant options depending on inputs and flow. Try it out here.
Best tips for nailing your follow-up emails after scheduled meetings
- Make your communications personalized in meeting emails. We all deal with an insane amount of text communication on a daily basis. Whether you’re setting up a chat or sending a follow up, it is always nice to give people a sense of who they are talking to.
- Brevity is king! Let’s leave the inbox essays out of the workplace and practice a sharper, more succinct mode of address to make sure we’re getting our point across and being mindful of people’s time and attention spans.
- Play nice! Thanking people for their time and energy is always a nice thing and as texts get more clipped and more curt, it’s always a positive when people remember to apply a bit of etiquette and make interactions a more pleasant experience. Making a habit of expressing gratitude is sure to reap rewards and curry good favor.
How to follow up after your first meeting with a prospect
- When sending a follow-up email after your first meeting with a prospect, it's important to be timely, polite, and professional.
- Begin by thanking them for taking the time to meet with you and expressing your appreciation for the opportunity to learn more about their needs and challenges.
- Reiterate the key points of your discussion and highlight any action items that were identified during the meeting.
- It's also a good idea to include any relevant resources or materials that were discussed during the meeting, such as a product brochure or case study.
- Finally, be sure to include a clear call to action, such as scheduling a follow-up call or meeting. Keep your email concise and to the point, and avoid overwhelming the prospect with too much information.
How to follow up with emails after a meeting with a recurring prospect
- When sending follow-up emails after your meetings with recurring clients, it's important to show appreciation for their continued business and to demonstrate that you value their time and feedback.
- Begin by thanking them for their ongoing partnership and expressing your appreciation for their loyalty.
- Recap the key points of your meeting and highlight any action items or next steps that were discussed.
- If there were any issues or concerns raised during the meeting, be sure to address them in your email and provide a plan for resolution. It's also a good idea to offer additional resources or information that may be helpful for their business, such as a relevant article or industry report.
- Finally, be sure to follow up on any outstanding items or commitments from the scheduled meeting and confirm any future appointments or meetings.
Why you should write an email to get follow up meeting appointments
As we deal with appointments and engagements that require our attention and care, let’s try to be mindful of other people’s schedules by following up and making sure to check in and provide relevant information after meetings as they happen.
It's an undeniable fact; if you want to make sure a scheduled meeting was successful and fruitful, sending meaningful follow up emails is essential.
Not only does it help to repeat and clarify any information that may have been lost or misunderstood during the course of the meeting, but it also demonstrates a level of professionalism and care that will keep your clients or colleagues engaged and interested in what you're doing and secure their attention for future appointments.
It's no wonder why sending meaningful follow-up emails after meetings or appointments are so important - they can go a long way in making sure everyone involved has had their expectations met! So remember - sending thoughtful follow-ups is always worth your time. Happy emailing!
If you have any additional tips for how to stay abreast and think ahead please let us know and remember, if you’re struggling with your approach to follow up emails after scheduled meetings, we have a feature that allows you to automate it.