A sales coach warns that common follow-up phrases like “just following up,” “just checking in,” or “circling back” act as trigger words that signal a salesperson and reduce engagement. He recommends breaking the pattern by using personalized, situational language (e.g., referencing prior conversation, specific context, or a missed appointment) to reclaim prospect attention and invite a response.
I was once guilty of this myself until I learned that these are trigger words. Anytime that you're following up with a prospect, when you get them on the phone or you email them or text them, what are some predictable words that most prospects are used to? Hey, just following up, just checking in, or just circling back? Now think about every time you've got an email from somebody that tried to sell you something or a text message something, they said, hey, John, I'm just checking in, or hey, John, I'm just circling back. What was triggered in your mind? Salesperson trying to sell me something. So instead of saying following up or just checking in or circling back, I can change it around a little bit. So if I emailed them, I might say, hey, John, just had, you know, a few. A few minutes to get back to you. We talked three, four months ago about you guys looking at getting more coverage for your building in downtown New York City, and for some reason, we missed an appointment or lost the schedule. Whatever happened, did you guys give up on Blank or what actually happened? Okay. Okay. It's just a way to get that engagement back. So all I'm doing there is I'm breaking the pattern.
