The Follow-Up Is the Close
Dietmar Doehring: Sales Director for North America at Trimble, leading 23 reps across SMB, mid-market, and enterprise.
Dietmar walked into a company president's office unannounced, pitched himself on the spot, and walked out having been offered a bigger role than the one he applied for. That same boldness is what he says most sellers are missing, not in their pitch, but in their follow-up.
ABOUT DIETMAR
Dietmar is the Sales Director for North America at Trimble, where he oversees mechanical, electrical, and plumbing software solutions across SMB, mid-market, and enterprise segments. Leading three sales managers and a team of 23 reps, he has spent over 15 years climbing every rung of the sales ladder, from technical systems engineer to rep to manager to director. Along the way he's developed a follow-up philosophy built on one core belief: if your prospects aren't looking forward to hearing from you, you're doing it wrong.
WHAT YOU'LL LEARN
Why email is not a communication tool and what to use it for instead
The 90% rule, what happens to SMB deals after 30 days and why it should change how you spend your time
How to calculate exactly how much a stalled deal is costing you in real dollars
How to deliver so much value in your follow-up that prospects think "oh that's them, they probably have something good for me"
The Dear John letter strategy-when and how to cut ties with a deal that isn't moving
What it really takes to grow from seller to manager to director and who you need to become at each stage
Why humility and genuine care for your people is the most powerful leadership tool you have
The personal follow-up moments in love and in career that changed everything for Dietmar
EPISODE HIGHLIGHTS
Email is not a communication tool. One of the biggest mistakes Dietmar sees across every level of sales is sellers trying to build relationships through email. The phone call builds the relationship. The email documents, confirmations, agendas, summaries, next steps. When you flip that sequence, you stop getting callbacks and start getting ignored.
The 90% rule will change how you protect your time. After 30 days, the likelihood of an SMB deal closing drops to 90% against you. Dietmar runs an exercise with every seller on his team, take your target income, break it down by the hour, and then calculate how much time you've spent on a stalled deal. The number is almost always shocking. Knowing what your time is worth changes every decision you make in a sales cycle.
The best follow-up brings something to the table every time. Dietmar's secret to getting prospects to pick up the phone? He never reaches out empty handed. Whether it's market data relevant to their territory, a job listing for a role they mentioned they were struggling to fill, or an article tied directly to a pain point they shared every touchpoint delivers something useful. That's how you go from being ignored to being the person they actually want to call back.
Knowing when to walk away is a follow-up skill. The Dear John letter isn't giving up it's a strategy. When a deal has been dragging and push dates keep stacking up, Dietmar gets on the phone and says it plainly: it feels like we're not right for each other right now, and that's okay. More often than not, that honesty is exactly what snaps the prospect back into action.
The best leaders lead with care first. Dietmar flew to a seller's house when his father passed away. He made calls to connect another seller's son with the best brain surgeon he knew. He doesn't share these stories to impress, he shares them because he believes genuine care is the foundation that makes every tough conversation, every coaching moment, and every performance expectation land the right way.
CONNECT WITH DIETMAR: LINKEDIN
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