Propofol, Prospects, and the Art of Not Forgetting

Yesterday I had a minor medical procedure. An endoscopy.

Nothing serious. But they gave me propofol as the anesthetic.

If you’ve never experienced propofol, here’s my highly scientific explanation:

They give it to you…and then somebody steals a chunk of your day.

One minute I was talking to the medical staff. The next minute I was awake and the procedure was over. As far as I could tell no time had passed…but it had.

I remembered absolutely nothing.

Which got me thinking about sales. (as usual!)

Because unfortunately, a lot of salespeople treat their prospects like they’ve been given propofol.

They have a great conversation with someone.

The prospect is interested.

There’s a potential opportunity.

They say, “I’ll follow up with you next week.”

And then…

POOF.

They forget.

Two weeks later, they’re looking through their notes and suddenly realize:

“OH CRAP. I was supposed to call Susan over at Acme about that proposal!”

That’s why you need a follow-up system.

Not a good memory. Not a pile of Post-it notes. Not a spreadsheet. Not 47 emails sitting in your inbox marked “unread” so you’ll remember to do something with them.

And definitely not:

“I’m pretty sure I’ll remember.”

You won’t.

A good CRM or follow-up system should tell you exactly:

• Who needs your attention.
• What the next step is.
• When you need to take that step.
• What happened during your last conversation.

Every legitimate opportunity should have a BNASTY (Best Next Action Step Toward Yes!) with an exact date. An appointment to move things forward. 

No exceptions.

And follow-up isn’t just about prospects who haven’t bought yet.

Your existing clients need nurturing too.

When was the last time you checked in?

Asked how things were going?

Shared something useful?

Asked if there’s anything else you can help them with?

Or simply said “Hello” without trying to sell them something?

Sales success isn’t always about finding more people.

Sometimes it’s about doing a much better job taking care of the people already in your world.

Prospects and clients need attention.

And if you’re relying on your memory to provide it, things are eventually going to fall through the cracks.

Build the system.

Use the system.

Trust the system.

Because “I forgot” is understandable after propofol.

It’s a lousy sales strategy.