Why “I’m Just Following Up” Is The Worst Line In Sales

If there’s one phrase I would purge from every salesperson on the planet, it’s:

“I’m just following up.”

It sounds harmless, and feels polite. But it sends the worst message to buyers:

“What I’m about to say isn’t important.”

"I don’t have a real reason for calling.”

"Feel free to ignore me.”

You might as well say, “I’m just wasting your time.”

When you start with “just following up,” you put yourself in a one-down subservient position before the conversation even begins. You remove urgency, purpose, and value. And buyers respond the only way they can:

“It's not a good time.”“Call me next week.”“I haven’t had a chance to look yet.”

Of course they haven’t. You gave them no reason to.

Even worse, many sellers add the last objection onto it:

“I’m just following up… last time we spoke you said you were going to talk to your partner. I’m calling to see if you had that chat.”

Predictable. Easy to dismiss. And it invites the exact response you don’t want:

“No, I haven’t. Call me next week.”

Here’s the fix, and it’s simple:

Replace weak openings with purpose.

“The purpose of my call is…”“The reason I’m calling is…”“I’m calling because…”

Then — and this is the part that matters — make sure what comes next has a benefit for them. A WIIFM. Something useful, helpful, or relevant to the problem they’re trying to solve.

When you call with purpose, you sound confident.When you call with value, you sound helpful.And when you eliminate weak, subservient language, buyers lean in instead of shutting down.

Try it this week. Drop “just following up.”Call with purpose, call with value — and watch the difference.