KEITH ROSEN: Wouldn’t it be great if every prospect became a customer around your timeline? Well now that we’re back down to reality, it’s a safe bet that every prospect you speak with may not be ready to take that next step with you and make that purchase, at least not just yet. Now the challenge with this is that many salespeople are a little gun shy when it comes to following up. They say, “Well gee, I don’t want to follow up to the point of being annoying about it so I’m just going to back off a little bit. Maybe I’ll contact them in a few months.” Then finally you make that call and you realize that prospect bought from one of your competitors. Now, while there’s no foolproof method for this, here’s something that you can do immediately that will at least allow you the opportunity to follow up. Get permission to follow up with them. Here’s an example of a dialogue you could have with a prospect that will enable you to get permission from them to continually follow up. “Mr. Prospect, thanks for your time today. Now, before we conclude our conversation, I noticed that after the course of several months many things can happen in a business: changes in the industry, in the company, even in their position has a tendency to divert even the best-laid plans. So I was hoping that I’d be able to touch base with you from time to time, of course without stepping over the line of being annoying about it. So, with your permission, would it be all right if I contacted you from time to time with either valuable updates about our product and service or something that is newsworthy that you might find of interest as it relates to your business?” This way, if there are any changes on your prospect’s side, you won’t be the last person to find out.