How to Follow-up on Job and Business Leads

Get rid of the anxiety and pursue your mission

Q: When it comes to following up on a job or a business lead, I worry that I'm being a pest, annoying or contacting someone too soon. How can I get over this?

A: Whether you are a business owner, sales person, job seeker or have some other reason for following up on a lead, the question about when to follow up and how often is frequently a source of anxiety. Let’s look at possible causes for these limiting thoughts, and find new way to think and act.

The Problem. We make up lots stories in our head and try to guess what others will think of us based on our behavior. This makes asking for help, an order or the job difficult for many women. Follow-up is part of the asking mindset. Women worry about being perceived as pushy, needy, greedy or not having control. Do you relate?

We are often more concerned with our image than we are with the purpose of our follow-up. If your house was on fire, and you called the fire department and they weren’t coming fast enough, you would call again and again to get help, not worrying if they thought you were too pushy. What makes this situation different?

The Solution. The key is to shift the thinking away from this being all about you, your behavior and what others think. Instead, put the focus where it belongs: on your mission. I’m not speaking of the goal of getting a job or closing the deal, but the much bigger, “Why-are-you-on-the-planet?” mission.

Be Mission-driven. This is a key differentiator in job searching, career advancement, sales and, not coincidentally, success in life. Here are some benefits and guidance on choosing and using your mission.

Operating from a personal mission helps you detach yourself, step out of ego and prevents personalizing the outcome. It’s not really about you, anyway. You are simply a conduit for your talents to help others, whether it’s customers, employees, beneficiaries of a charity, your family or a cause near to your heart.

Knowing your mission gives you an additional tool, like a filter, for making decisions and choices. Let’s say you feel strongly about preserving our planet’s resources, supporting single moms, providing fun fashion choices for career women, or improving the sales and job growth in manufacturing for small communities. How might a sense of direction and purpose influence your choices about how you use your time, money and energy? For example, my mission is to help women advance their careers and increase their impact in businesses by teaching them to more powerfully show up, speak up and move up. This influenced my request to write articles for TCW.

Define Your Mission. There is no one right answer. There are some clues, though. At the highest level, we seek to be happy and that is a good place to start.
• Ask yourself these questions. Writing your answers may help. Avoid judging your answers. “What do I really love to do?” “What memories am I most fond of and inspired by and what was I doing at the time?” List tasks or activities, not jobs. “What is a cause or issue I care enough to speak about, defend and promote?”
• What is a common thread in all your work and play? Perhaps you are always helping or teaching others. Maybe you like analysis or research to solve problems or increase efficiency. You might prefer building things from scratch or bringing people of opposing views together to resolve conflict.
• Who are the end beneficiaries of your mission? Ultimately, once you follow-up and get a “yes” from your customer, the hiring manager and others, who will you help?

Follow-up for the Sake of Others. Shift your focus away from “Me, me, me” thinking. As you make requests and follow up to take the next action steps, do it for the sake of your end beneficiaries and imagine how happy they will be.

You will be surprised how your mission acts as a motivator, a credential and even an excuse for the requests you make when you ask for help and follow-up. You are a woman of purpose taking action for the sake of others.

Have a question about networking, interviewing, landing the big job or moving up the ladder? Email minute.mentor@tcwmag.com, and we'll have your query answered by a career pro. Check back every Tuesday for new advice from Chicago's top career coaches and experts. Look for the next post on Tuesday, September 6, for advice on how to successfully re-enter the job market after an absence. 

Tagged as: minute mentor, networking, follow-up, job search, career and career advice