Mastering the Art of Genuine Follow-Up in Business with Brian Butkowski

Welcome back to another episode of Struggles, the podcast that delves into the everyday challenges we all face. I'm your host, Chris Inman, and in today's episode, we're catching up with Brian Butkowski from Bomb Image. 

Together, we'll explore the art of effective follow-ups in professional settings—whether it's after meeting someone at a networking event or when connecting with prospects. Brian shares his insights on building genuine relationships rather than simply adding people to email lists. We dive into the importance of staying top of mind, utilizing platforms like LinkedIn for meaningful interaction, and creating value-driven connections. 

So, if you're looking to enhance your follow-up game and build lasting professional relationships, this episode is for you. 

Here's what you can expect in this episode, complete with timestamps for your convenience:

• The Importance of Personal and Relevant Follow-Ups [00:00:00]
• Email List Protocols & Missteps to Avoid [00:00:27]
• The Role of LinkedIn in Business Follow-Ups [00:03:04]
• Handling Ghosted Quotes & Maintaining Professional Boundaries [00:04:52]
• Inviting Clients to Networking & Social Events [00:07:55]
• Building Your Personal Brand and Community Credibility [00:10:09]

Be part of our journey and subscribe to our podcast. Share your struggles or triumphs with us, and maybe join us as a guest to discuss the challenges you're tackling in your entrepreneurial journey. Let's overcome hurdles and succeed together!

Transcript

0:00

A struggle I've seen is getting put onto people's email lists. I don't think that that's quite the same thing. And especially I don't appreciate it when I get put on somebody's list and they don't tell me that they're going to do that. They don't give me a reason and an explanation. Hey, we met at this thing. I really appreciate what you're doing. I think this would be a value to you. I'm putting you on this email list that would go a long way in my book to making me feel a whole lot better than getting put on some corporate email list. So that's not exactly what I'm talking about here with this follow up. It could be personal, it could be impersonal, but not a sales message, not just a newsletter thing. The follow up needs to be somewhat, like I said, relationship based. Welcome to another episode of Struggles presented by ncbi, the podcast where we navigate challenges together. Well, thanks for tuning in to another episode of Struggles presented by ncbi. I'm Chris Emin with Idea Cleveland. Brian. I'm Brian Butkowski of Bomb Image. And today we're going to talk about following up, following up with prospects, following up with people you meet at networking events, following up in your marketing materials. And it's so important when you have this list, you've gotten a lead or whatever the case might be is follow up with them because you're not always going to be a perfect fit at that moment. Correct. Maybe in their. In their journey. Absolutely. And the one to. And again, we're all guilty of not following up properly or enough. I am myself too. Even with past clients, one of the things that I always think about is it doesn't need to be a sales message, but it needs to be a message creating and establishing and furthering a relationship. We had a conversation earlier, Chris, where we talked about the idea that you want to be top of mind with that client. And the idea that I think there is you. Yeah. Whether it is that connection, somebody you've met a few times, or especially if it's a client you want to reach out. If it's a client that's had a great experience with you, you want to make sure you would think that they would want your messaging sent their way, whether it is a text message, an email, whatever the case may be, to really again, remember. Oh yeah. That time I worked with Chris, that was a great thing. When they need it again, you want that to be front and center. So they say, oh yeah, I got to call Chris. Oh, hey, I got to talk to Chris. I got to email Chris back. Oh, I'm glad he sent me this because we need to get X, Y and Z done. Or what I like to think is even further than that is if you keep reminding somebody that you exist, that you're top of mind because we're all cluttered with so much messaging, maybe they remember, oh, yeah, that other person I know needs Chris. Oh, that conversation I had last week. They could really utilize something like what Kris offers. I think that's a great connection. And I think some of that gets lost when we don't continue to push that message forward. And again, it doesn't have to be an everyday thing. It doesn't have to be an every week thing, maybe not even monthly. But whatever that cadence is that's right for you and your clients or your former clients or your connections, you want to make sure that they know you exist. And there's ways to go about that. And again, the cadence doesn't have to be, you know, all the time, but these people should be expecting your message and they should appreciate it. Actually, I think one of the things that that I use LinkedIn for is follow up. Sure. That is the number One use of LinkedIn for me is I meet someone at a networking event, I get their card, get their name, figure out I find them on LinkedIn. Hopefully they're active. A lot of people aren't active on LinkedIn. Right. That's a whole other challenge then, how to stay with them. But then I was like, hey, I'll send an invite. It was nice meeting you. A little personal message. Send an invite. Boom. Now, hopefully they're posting as often as I am, or at least to a point where I can interact with them on LinkedIn. Correct. The whole social part of social media is sometimes lost on people. Yeah. And it becomes a sales machine too, where you meet somebody and then all they do is start trying to sell you. And nobody wants that. That's not how the world works anymore. If it does for somebody, I guess more power to them. That's not the world I want to live in. And I don't want to be sold. So, yeah, to your point, I love. And they have now put a cap on if you have a free account with LinkedIn, how many invites you can send out with a message, which I find disappointing. Obviously they want to make some money, so I have to decide, it is a business if I want to go premium or not. But the thing I love about sending that personal message when we start is it reminds you it's a perfect note. If you're not using a CRM yet or whatever, it's a perfect note inside of the system. There you can go back and say oh yeah, we met on such and such date and this is what we talked about and this is where it was. You both have that recollection then of what this was and you can continue to again try to build a real relationship again. Hopefully there you're seeing each other and you're seeing posts and you're interacting. But the point is you can always circle back to that initial conversation that you started with the note. Oh yeah, we met at that event that we were at and there was that interesting thing that really did bring us together. We can keep continuing to follow up on that. Continue that conversation right there. And absolutely. The other follow up that I'm really bad at. I'm bad is I send you a quote. Sure. You ghost me or you say not at this time. Yep. And I walk away very. It's not that I walk away. What I do is I move on to other things that are more important. Sure. Because I'm trying to do wear too many hats in the business. Absolutely. So the dig deep into the sales and have a seven day sales cycle for me. Oh, they'll let you go out to lunch? Well, I can't do that. I just don't have the amount of capacity right now to keep digging in. But a CRM can kind of probably help me with some of those type of things. But how are you on the follow up of a ghost quote? As a ghost quote, I'm not very good at all. As a business owner or sales professional. It's probably not the best philosophy. But I almost dare people to work with me. I don't want to beg somebody to work with me. I don't want that to be the case. Oh, you really need my service. Oh, you really need again, I think it sets up bad expectations. Expectations matter a lot. If, if, if they're not good enough to even write back to say hey, not this time, maybe they're not a fit. As we've talked in other conversations, I'm big on fit. So I'm not the best at especially ghosting. I'm probably not the best at not this time. I do have some systems in place and I am working on our brand new CRM marketing firepower. That's something I've been developing over the end of 2024 and getting into the new year. I'm utilizing that a little Bit more. But even before that I've had notes and I'll follow up. But again, it might not be in the timeframe necessary. I might follow up a quarter later, a few months later might not fit. Right. Maybe it's a year. But trying to follow up appropriately or having a system can at least. And again, I go back to this one. I probably said it on some other podcasts and other videos and other things or other conversations. But in sales, a no is as good as a yes because you can kind of push that to the side. Yes. And that could be that separate thing. The maybe is the worst answer you can ever get correct. So if you can have a special. Offer, I think that's a Sandler thing. I think it is. But again, just a great philosophy. And if you can get to someone saying, yeah, no, not right now, or hey, get back to me at this point in time, okay, it's a definitive. And if we can continue to push toward that whichever way we can, whether we have our own notes, our own systems, sending out those follow up emails or texts, or even a voicemail call, whatever the case may be, we can start to step those things forward. And again, if it's a ghost, you could have a set parameter. I'm going to reach out two times. If the ghost is gone, they're gone and they're off the list completely. The no is apparent. It's gone. Let them come back to us. So I think those are some of the ways that I've been doing it and I'm looking forward to doing it even better as we go forward. And again, I think that's the goal with any of these conversations that we have. And really in our lives. How do we get better just even a little bit every day or every year? Yeah, the last one that I really discovered last year through NCBI was inviting people that I've already had connections with to our social happy hours. Sure. Like, it's so simple to create a list, invite them to an event that's free for them, free for us, and hey, to reconnect with them. Absolutely. At a networking event. And it's so nice because people feel appreciated that you sent them a personal invite. No question. People are appreciated that you're getting them in a circle of they can build their business and have opportunity as well. And it's not like, hey, let's just go one to one and have a coffee. It's like, hey, let's go to this event, we'll see some people, I'll introduce you to some people. Just say hello type of thing. It's so casual and it's so powerful. I think that's the thing. It's casual powerful. It doesn't have to be weird. It's not a sales conversation. It's not, hey, what do you think about that quote? No, hey, come visit my group, what we're doing. And if there is value, which again, I don't think NCBI would exist if there wasn't value in our events. So those people know that they do feel appreciated. And here's the other beautiful part of that gives you credibility. You're inviting them to something that's of value and it's you that's inviting them and it's you and your people and your teams. And yes, Chris is valuable because he did that. It's not lost on me. I think some people, it's probably a subconscious thing, but man, if you can actually provide real value for somebody, your credibility instantly goes up again. It adds more visibility too. Oh, 100%. The more you can stay in front of somebody even if they can't go to the event. Oh, at least he invited me. I can't tell you how many times I've invited people through even our LinkedIn happy hours. They'll write me a message back, I'm sorry, I can't make it. Oh, no problem. This wasn't a white tie affair with a big invitation with an rsvp. But wow, then you know that they feel the value, they feel valued as a person. Yes. And that you, your credibility does go up. It really does. It's pretty incredible actually. You're building your personal brand in the community and it's pretty powerful. And you would not think I go around and people go, oh, wow, you're with Brian at Northcoast. Oh, you're with Brian at the ncpi. The two of us have a personal brand now which is very unique. Sure. When we go out and meet people, Ross, you know Ross, he's like, oh, every time I go visit, I sit next to Ross. He's a great guy. And it's just so funny cause he's like, you're so lucky that you've joined Brian's group, blah, blah, blah. And it's funny because like this attachment thing with other people builds your brand too. Absolutely. And it happens out there. So you think about, like when you're networking, you're going out and you're inviting people, like who are you known to be around? Absolutely. Think about that. So then your follow ups, well, they. Can mean even more. Mean even more because you can come. Visit with me and my team, however that team is built. They also say, again, we don't want to make this into another conversation. Maybe this will be the next one. But they say that you are the people you associate with, those top five people you associate with. That's who you are. So your follow up and how you bring that around to your networks, again, if it's somebody you work with very closely as a client, make sure that they're in the loop. But then even those outside people that maybe you haven't worked yet with or didn't think there was a fit, but again, bringing them in, who knows that. Connection become that connector. And that could be a follow up for you. Absolutely. No. This is an awesome conversation. Yes. All right, so if you have any other ideas, we'd love to hear them. Please share them with us of how you do better follow up and everything. And maybe we can get you to come on here and talk about how follow up works for your company on the next episode. So thanks for listening and have a good day. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Struggles presented by ncbi, where we navigate challenges together. Don't forget to subscribe, listen and share this podcast with others who might benefit. We'd love to hear about the struggles you're facing or have overcome, and we'd be thrilled to have you as a guest on a future episode. Let's continue this journey together.