Common excuses to avoid following-up

Excuses. Excuses. Excuses.

In my experience mentoring students, here are some of the excuses I hear as to why people don’t follow up, along with some ways to move past them:

“They’re busy. They don’t have time for me.”

If you’re following up to schedule a meeting or to remind them of something they agreed to do, keep following up. Just because someone doesn’t respond immediately doesn’t mean your follow up wasn’t effective.

“I’m too busy. I’ve got too much on my plate, like homework, and I work part time.”

Everyone is busy. So, being busy isn’t an excuse. Taking a few minutes now can give you great results in the future.

“I lost (or don’t have) their information.”

When you meet someone, and they don’t have a business card, they may say, “I’ll send you my information.” Don’t rely on someone else to contact you with their information. My experience has been that they probably won’t. Get out your smart phone and add them to your contact list. No smart phone? A piece of paper and a pen still work.

If they hesitate giving you their information, it may be an indication they don’t want to be added to your network. That’s okay. It’s their decision. Say thanks and move on.

“I don’t want to bother them.”

If they said you should contact them to schedule a meeting or for information, you’re not bothering them. If you email twice and don’t get a response, call. Maybe your emails were dumped into the junk folder. Be persistent.

“I don’t remember who I met.”

Seriously? (I have no other response to this excuse.)

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