Following-Up — Not Only Luck

Soon after the reception of a commitment, the persuader should make concrete plans to follow-up as part of the commitment pattern. By making concrete plans to follow-up, the committed party will understand that:

You believe in their commitment
This commitment, unlike some commitments, is not something they can shirk
There are expectations to fulfill the commitment

Part of the follow-up is to keep regular contact throughout the process of delivering on their end of the commitment. It is important to avoid long lapses in time between contact or else you risk losing the commitment.

During follow-up sessions, it is important to ask nice, but clear and direct, questions that truly give the committed party the opportunity to declare whether or not they are on track with their commitment. If the reply is affirmative, everyone is happy.

However, if the reply is negative, you need to be prepared to handle the situation. The most effective behavior to demonstrate immediately upon discovering the news that the commitment is not on track is to show disappointment matching the level of importance of the commitment. For extremely important things, it is good to show that you are devastated. They need to see the pain you feel to understand that backtracking on a commitment hurts. Showing the right amount of disappointment (or devastation) takes practice and tact.

Once the committed party understands you are hurt, you can begin the process of resolving their doubts and re-committing (or cutting your losses).

What are your thoughts on following-up on commitments?

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