Repeatedly(riˈpētidlē) follow-up to show you care

Repeatedly(riˈpētidlē) follow-up to show you care

By Derek Sivers

I knew a music publicist(ˈpəbləsist) in New York City when she was at the peak(pēk) of her success. A few of her clients had hits, so everyone wanted to work with her. She was flooded(fləd) with new music.

Here’s how she dealt(dēl) with the flood:

Whenever someone would send their music, it would go into an inbox(ˈinˌbäks). That inbox was completely(kəmˈplētlē) ignored(igˈnôr).

Whenever someone would contact her to follow-up the first time, to ask if she’d received it, she would take their music out of that first inbox, and put it in a second inbox. That second inbox was also ignored.

Then if they followed-up with her a second time, asking again if she’d had the chance to listen, she would take their music out of the second inbox, and put it in a third inbox. That third inbox would get a listen if she had some spare(spe(ə)r) time.

Finally, if they followed-up a third time, she would take their music out of the third inbox, and make it a priority(prīˈôrətē) to give it a real listen.

She saw the shocked(SHäk) look on my face, as she described(diˈskrīb) this system. So she explained(ikˈsplān): “If someone doesn’t care enough to follow-up a few times, I don’t want to work with them.”

It wasn’t ego(ˈēgō). It was just a practical(ˈpraktikəl) way to deal with a flood, and a pretty(ˈpritē) good filter(ˈfiltər) for choosing new clients.

Maybe nobody else has an official(əˈfiSHəl) system like this. But un-officially(əˈfiSHəlē), they do. Overwhelmed(ˌōvərˈ(h)welm) people don’t have time for all the random first-contacts. Patience(ˈpāSHəns) and persistence(pərˈsistəns) separates(ˈsep(ə)rət) you from the rest(rest), and shows how much you care.

https://sivers.org/3in