Follow up is critical in business. Most meaningful business issues, agreements and/or transactions are not completed in an hour. They usually require more than one contact point for completion.

Advancing typical projects and relationships occur over time. To reach your goals, there needs to be follow up. This is a proven approach to keep projects moving forward in a thorough and high quality manner. The same holds true for developing relationships with other professionals.

There are several benefits that come from following up:

Most people fail to follow up. Surprisingly, due to lack of knowledge or failure to implement, follow up is a missing element. Many meetings are held, and after the discussion, nothing happens. Some of the energy from a meeting can be captured and maintained through follow up.

For those who follow up, they break through the clutter. Those persons belong to a desirable subset of people, the people who get things done. This is a distinguishing feature of successful people.

Follow up is appreciated by others. It demonstrates interest and a willingness to go beyond talk to action. Beyond that, it values the time and talent of others.

Lastly, everyone has their own priorities. By following up, it clearly helps others to see where your priorities lie. It helps others to see what is important to you. This may enable you to get their attention to your issues/concerns/projects/etc.

Here are a few suggestions on follow up:

Follow up promptly, typically within 48 hours. This is critical, but it is better to follow up later than not at all. Keep it brief, if to an individual, 2-4 paragraphs. Use the first paragraph to remind to reader of who you are and the topic. If it is for a meeting of a group, ideally keep to one page. Recap key agreements and the next steps. This also serves as a reminder to all who needs to do what next.

Follow up is a great tool for anyone who wants to "get things done" with groups or individuals.