Keys to Lead Follow-Up for Professional Services

Patrick McFadden

Lead follow up is an important strategic marketing and sales practice that, when thought of correctly, never really ends. While many professional service providers try to spend as much time as possible on lead generation strategies to bring new leads in, whether through search engine optimization (SEO), advertising in publications, utilizing social media and networking sites, speaking and other channels. You might even do what you can to track leads online through programs like Google Analytics and the like.

However, how much time and effort do you put into your lead follow up system? This is an incredibly important part of the sales process, but one that many professional service providers don’t devote enough energy to.

If fact, the practice of lead follow up has changed so dramatically over the last few years that you must revisit everything you think you know about lead follow up.

What is a Lead?

A lead is  a person who has indicated interest in your company’s product or service in some way, shape, or form.

In other words, instead of getting a random cold call from someone who purchased your contact information, you’d hear from a business or organization you’ve already opened communication with.

For example, maybe you downloaded the 300,000 mile commercial fleet guide to learn more about how to get 300,000 miles out of your vehicles. If you got an email from the B2B auto care company that created the guide on their website about how they could help you take care of your commercial fleet, it’d be far less intrusive and irrelevant than if they’d just called you out of the blue with no knowledge of whether you even  care  about business vehicle maintenance … right?

And from a business perspective, the information the B2B auto care company collected about you and your vehicles from the guide would help them personalize that opening communication to meet the existing needs of the potential client.

To take control of your lead follow up system, take some of my advice below.

Follow Up on Leads Within 5 Minutes

The first important thing to note when you follow up on sales leads is that you must do so in a timely manner – 5 minutes specifically. While you might think that it’s no problem to get in touch within a couple of weeks,  plenty of research says differently.

Nearly half of all sales are made by the person who gets in touch with a lead first.

Unfortunately, a timely follow-up time isn’t always realistic when you’re a small professional service provider. You might be in the middle of a meeting or speaking engagement. If you’re serving clients globally, different time zones become a challenge, you might even be asleep when your leads raising their hand.

The numbers don’t lie, though. If you want to close more deals, you need to get in touch with your leads as quickly as possible.

Develop a Purpose For Every Contact

Once you have your lead, it’s important that you create a clear reason you’re getting in touch, one that demonstrates you understand their wants and needs and that you are the right business to help them.

What’s tough about professional services is that you’re dating before you get married, which is what makes your purpose so important. The purpose needs to reinforce that you can help them reach their goals.

In addition to your purpose, make your point of contact brief and to the point, starting every contact point with a statement such as, “The reason I’m getting in touch today is…” will help to separate you from the rest of the crowd.

But first you have to make sure you have a clear purpose for the contact.

Focus On Repeating Your Value

What I’m essentially saying here, is focus on finding ways to repeat and remind leads about the value your services can provide. Leads don’t really care about what you or your competitors sell. All they care about are that their problems are solved and that you can help them solve them.

Since it’s likely that your leads maybe getting multiple calls from multiple companies you need use repetition as a differentiator. One way to use repetition is to send a summary or meeting recap that repeats all the main points after your discovery call or consultation.

Lead follow up, just like the most effective marketing and advertising, works best through repetition. Just like marketing, advertising works best through repetition. Just like marketing, advertising works best through repetition. Just like marketing, advertising works best through repetition. Get the point?

Don’t Give Up After One Call

So many professional service providers give up on a lead after one call, the numbers don’t support this follow up practice.

In fact, if you call a prospect three times, you have an  81% chance  of getting in touch with them. Calling six times gives you a 93% chance.

So the most significant driver of lead follow up success today isn’t making one phone call, it’s making multiple phone calls. This means that on one hand, you want to get in touch with a lead as soon as possible, and on the hand you want to be calling multiple times in a short period of time.

For the best results you need to be tracking your follow-ups efforts and adhering to a proven system that works for your professional service. Whatever your data shows, create a follow-up schedule that’s realistic for you stick to. A  lead follow up system can only ever be as good as possible if it is improved and refined over time. To do this, you must continually test and measure your system and the results you achieve from it.

A Lead Follow Up System is The Solution

At the end of the day, professional service providers that are successful in closing deals do so because they have a lead follow up system.

Any well run professional service provider is a collection of systems. Billing is a system, HR is a system, Service delivery is a system, Sales is a system, Marketing is a system and one of the best ways to keep lead follow up from becoming your 10-hour job is to create a system for how you respond and engage.

There are many other important factors that lead to a successful professional service business, but nailing the points mentioned above is a great start.

What have you found to be helpful when executing your lead follow up ?

By Patrick McFadden March 31, 2025
1. The Challenge: VMI was like many service providers — positioning their value around what they thought clients wanted : “Office furniture installation and assembly — let us handle creating your perfect workspace.” But the actual buyers — facility managers, project managers, furniture reps — weren’t looking for “perfect workspaces.” They were trying to avoid installation nightmares . Their real priority? ✅ Great installation days. ✅ No chaos. ✅ No missed deadlines. ✅ No angry phone calls from clients. 2. The Insight: After conducting stakeholder interviews under our marketing strategy consulting engagement , the Indispensable Marketing team uncovered critical feedback: “We need installers who maintain a professional site and follow instructions.” “We lose relationships when installations go badly.” “I need quotes back quickly or I can’t sell the job.” This wasn’t just about services , it was about trust, problem-solving , and professional reliability . So we reframed their differentiators not by what they did, but how they showed up : Same-day project quotes Problem-solving on-site Update protocol with clients Professionalism guarantee Lasting Impression Insurance 3. The Shift: We shifted the positioning from vague benefits to real-world, emotional triggers : Instead of: “Let us create your perfect workspace.” Now: “Get the perfect installation day, every time.” That subtle shift aligns with who’s actually buying (and who feels the pain when things go wrong). The end-user may care about the workspace. But the buyer cares about the install . 4. The Lesson for Others: If you’re selling a service, don’t describe what you do. Describe what the client wants to avoid or achieve — and who the real buyer is. Then, systematize what you’re already doing well and give it a name. Just like our team did with: “Same Day Quotes” “Lasting Impression Insurance” “Reliable Presence Protocol” 5. The Outcome Within weeks of updating their messaging and positioning: The company reported more qualified leads asking the right questions Furniture reps began referring them because they were “easy to work with and made them look good” They were shortlisted for larger, multi-phase projects due to increased confidence in their process But most importantly, they stopped competing on price — because they weren’t selling perfect workspaces anymore. They were selling peace of mind on installation day.
By Patrick McFadden March 8, 2025
Most marketing firms talk about tactics. We help our clients see the bigger picture.
By Patrick McFadden January 13, 2025
Discover how Google’s LSA update impacts kitchen & bathroom remodeling marketing. Learn SEO tips to attract leads and boost visibility in Richmond VA & beyond.
More Posts
Share by: