That Next Step…And Waffles

I’ve learned something very profound, yet simple, in my career thus far and just wanted to share it. baskets adidas zx 750 So here goes: Most people…don’t follow up. Psychologists warn against using absolutes, but man, the percentage of people who follow up even once is truly limited. Allow me to illustrate by example. One of my current clients, let’s call him Bilbo, wants to sell more of his product. nike air max tavas Bilbo thinks a good way of doing this would be to connect with people already reaching his target audience on a regular basis and work out some sort of mutually-beneficial marketing partnership. Magic. So, I (the agency, but not the CIA or anything) arrange for Bilbo to meet with one of these third parties who is very interested in working out a deal. So you’d think, you know that there would be some urgency and some follow up happening there, wouldn’t you? Well, you would be wrong. Stunning. nike air max classic bw Exactly what Bilbo wants/needs and all he has to do is take one more step to get it and can’t/won’t do it. And I see it a lot in communications where providers confuse the effort of trying to reach someone in the press or an analyst or influencer with actually doing it and following up to ensure the overall business goal is met. Maybe as a group of humans, we’re too busy. basket nike Maybe we lack the systems or tools to keep track of next steps effectively. nike air max 2013 Maybe we’re not taught how to follow up or that it’s not polite, etc. Well, if the squeaky wheel gets the grease then I am going to be squeaking my a— off. Why start a project if you’re not going to see it through? It truly baffles me. (and I haven’t used baffle in a while so that was cool.) And now I’m hungry for waffles because baffle looks so much like waffle. And you can bet your bottom dollar that I will take all of the appropriate next steps with my coming order of waffles until that plate is clean. Because if it’s important, then I will follow up.