“If you are a qualified customer, we will follow up with you until you buy or die.”
“If you die, we will attend your funeral to see your death certificate.”
“If we see it, we will start following up on your children.”
That’s my follow-up war cry.
Extreme? Maybe.
Effective? Absolutely.
And here’s why most salespeople will never make serious money in sales: they don’t follow up.
The Follow-Up Crisis Nobody Talks About
Let me share two statistics that should make every business owner in Africa angry:
48% of salespeople never follow up. Not once.
65% of companies don’t nurture leads they literally paid money to get.
Think about that.
You spend money on advertising. You run Facebook ads. You pay for Google visibility. You sponsor events. You build a website.
Leads come in.
And then… nothing.
Your sales team sends one quote and waits for the customer to call back.
That’s not sales. That’s hope.
And hope is not a strategy.
The Bed I Never Bought
I learned this lesson the hard way when I was a vendor in Glen View, Area 8.
I needed a bed. I went around asking vendors for prices, comparing options, checking quality.
Not a single vendor followed up with me.
Not one phone call. Not one “Have you made a decision?” Not one “I found a better option for you.”
They all just waited for me to come back when I was “ready.”
So I bought from the vendor I remembered last; not because they had the best product or the best price, but because I needed a bed and they happened to be top of mind that day.
That vendor didn’t win because they were good at sales.
They won because everyone else was terrible at follow-up.
The Comfortable Lie We Tell Ourselves
“I don’t want to be pushy.”
“I don’t want to pressure the customer.”
“If they’re interested, they’ll call me back.”
These are the lies broke salespeople tell themselves to feel better about their empty bank accounts.
Here’s the truth: customers are BUSY.
They have 47 other priorities competing for their attention right now.
Your product? It’s important to YOU. To them, it’s on a list somewhere between “fix the leaking tap” and “remember cousin’s birthday.”
If you don’t follow up, you’re not on their radar. And if you’re not on their radar, you don’t exist.
What Follow-Up Actually Is
Follow-up isn’t harassment.
Follow-up is service.
It’s you helping your customer make a decision they already want to make but keep postponing because life gets in the way.
It’s you being the assistant buyer; the person who makes the buying process smooth and eliminates the friction that stops people from committing.
Think about the last time you wanted to buy something but kept putting it off. A gym membership. A new phone. A course.
What would have happened if someone called you and said, “Hey, I noticed you were interested. What’s holding you back? Let me help you solve that.”
You probably would have bought.
Not because they pressured you, but because they cared enough to help you get unstuck.
The Follow-Up Reality Check
Answer these questions honestly:
Are you waiting for customers to call when they’re ready to buy?
Are they coming back to purchase as promised?
Do you have a follow-up strategy, or are you just hoping and praying for customers to visit?
Is this why you blame the economy, the government, or “bad months” for your failures?
If you answered “yes” to any of these, you have a follow-up problem.
And a follow-up problem is a money problem.
Here’s What Changes Today
Starting today, commit to this:
Every lead gets followed up. Not once. Not twice. At least five times before you even think about giving up.
Every prospect who showed interest gets a call, an email, a message, a video; whatever it takes to stay on their radar.
Every customer who said “let me think about it” gets a structured follow-up plan with specific dates and times for the next conversation.
Because here’s what I’ve learned in 20+ years and 500+ businesses transformed:
The sale rarely happens on the first contact.
It happens on the fifth, the seventh, the tenth.
But only if you’re still there when the customer is finally ready to say yes.
The War Cry, Explained
“Follow up until they buy or die” sounds aggressive.
But it’s not about pressure.
It’s about commitment.
Commitment to serving your customer so well that they can’t forget about you even if they tried.
Commitment to being more persistent than your competitors who gave up after one email.
Commitment to treating your leads like the valuable assets they are; not like disposable business cards you collect and forget.
Most salespeople quit after the first “no” or the first “let me think about it.”
That’s why most salespeople are broke.
The professionals? They’re just getting started.
Your Assignment This Week
Pull up your list of leads from the last 30 days.
How many did you follow up with more than once?
How many are sitting there, waiting for YOU to reach out, while you’re waiting for THEM to call back?
Start there.
Call them. Message them. Email them.
Add value. Solve problems. Remove obstacles.
And don’t stop until they buy, die, or tell you explicitly to stop contacting them.
Because 48% of your competitors have already given up on those leads.
Which means the field is wide open for you.
Jerry More Nyazungu
Africa’s #1 Sales Training Authority
P.S. — If you’re spending money on advertising but not following up on leads, you’re not running a business. You’re running a charity for your competitors. Fix your follow-up, or stay broke.
**P.P.S:- Ready to master follow-up? Then join my inaugural seminar titled, “Sell More in 2026 at Manna Resort in Harare on the 29th of January. This is the event to attend if you want to dominate the market in 2026. Sign up here
