Hold it, Don't Drop it!
Let's say you have started a campaign in order to select a special person; it could be that great new employee you have been searching for, a promising coworker to recruit for a major project, or the winner of a fantastic prize. You may have received thousands of emails for a short while from different people seeking to be selected, but then, all you hear is silence. Still, there is one person who persistently sends you follow-up emails about the subject, promptly replies to your messages, clearly answers your questions, expresses their ideas, and seems very enthusiastic, even later on when no one even expects the messages to keep coming. Who you would choose for that special honor? It is obvious that this one person is interested and cares. They wants whatever is that you are offering enough to remain engaged, thus the person who gets the prize is usually the one who follows up and who keeps in touch later on.
Follow-up emails are used for a great variety of purposes, but their main purpose is to literally follow up on the subject of the email. Therefore, you can and you should use this type of email for monitoring the course of your work or project. Other than that, you may also periodically check on a company or a person to keep the lines of communication open. Writing clear, concise, and polite emails to check on something that is important to your work or service builds trust and expresses your company's interests and efforts while systematically and professionally arranging and coordinating your project at hand.
Another crucial use of follow-up emails comes with sending cold mails. Individuals or companies may send cold emails to seek more connections or more business opportunities; these emails are those that you send to people or corporations you do not know personally or already work with. However, the key to sending efficient cold emails is to write follow-ups later on; this way, you will prove your interest and sincerity. After writing a cold email, you or your company must diligently follow it up for efficient communication.
Whether you are a company or an individual, following up on your prospects is a way of being responsible for what you wanted and have started. Keeping up on your applications, cold emails, networks, or important projects can take your business to a new level in a very short amount of time. You never know where a new opportunity will come from. In life and in business, a winner is a dreamer who never gives up. Follow up your emails with quick and to-the-point replies, and knowing you are there with clear, informative, and caring answers will make it more likely that your correspondents will give you or your services more credence.