An excerpt from my article Utilizing LinkedIn and the Art of the Follow-Up which will be available 12/22/14:
Ah, the Follow-Up
So you’ve queried via the example I mentioned in the Quick and Easy thread.
You’ve even been lucky enough to receive a request from one or a few companies from said email.
A week goes by…
Three weeks…
Two months…
What now?
They must not have liked it, right?
Conventional industry “wisdom” says they didn’t, which may or may not be the case.
So long as you’re being courteous, and NEVER annoying, then follow up until you get a firm “no.”
But Hank, you shouldn’t do that!
Why?
Humans in any job tend to be busy, with the boss’s preferences taking precedence over our own.
Perhaps the script that caught a person’s attention is now at the bottom of a large stack, or keeps getting bumped down in an inbox somewhere, lost for eternity.
If we’re just assuming they didn’t like it, we’re closing a door while also NOT opening a window.
Follow up.
Case and point.
I sent a script out to a company that requested it.
Two months went by, and I didn’t hear anything. (In fact I forgot I had sent it at all, lol.)
I stumbled across the email exchange while searching for another company in my account, and on a whim I fired over a polite, brief follow-up, asking if they had any questions about my project.
Next day, I received a pretty standard, and somewhat snotty, reply of “don’t call us, we’ll call you.”
Not even two weeks later, the company emailed back wanting to set up a time to discuss optioning the script.
Now, did my following up earn me the option? Hard to tell, as it’s a bit like trying to prove a negative, BUT am I glad I sent a “gentle” reminder?
Absolutely.
Want the full version? Follow this link to the networking article.
Hm… I just might do that… even though one might not, but if you wait two months, then perhaps you’re good to go. But, the “don’t call us, we’ll call you.” is a reminder that you shouldn’t… but still… I’m also wondering if it was the politeness that worked? – Guess no one knows for sure, but would it hurt one’s chances if you’re really polite, i.e., “do you have any questions about my project.”
Being polite NEVER hurts, and the “do you have any questions” angle is more or less a gentle reminder about your script.