Out of Sight - Out of Mind
Your web business probably gets product inquiries from
potential customers around the globe. Inquiries come via e-mail and your web
site, and you try to send information to each hot prospect as quickly as you
can. You know that you can drastically increase the likelihood of making a
sale by satisfying each person’s need for information quickly!
But, after you’ve delivered that first bit of information
to your prospect, do you send him any further information?
If you are like most Internet marketers, you don’t.
When you don’t follow that initial message with
additional information later on, you let a valuable prospect slip from your
grasp! This is a potential customer who may have been very interested in
your products, but who lost your contact information, or was too busy to
make a purchase when your first message reached him.
Often, a prospect will purposely put off making a
purchase, to see if you find him important enough to follow up with later.
When he doesn’t receive a follow up message from you, he will take his
business elsewhere.
Are you losing profits due to inconsistent and
ineffective follow up?
Following up with leads is more than just a process -
it’s an art. In order to be effective, you need to design a follow up
system, and stick to it, EVERY DAY! If you don’t follow up with your
prospects consistently, INDIVIDUALLY, and in a timely fashion, then you
might as well forget the whole follow up process.
Consistent follow up gets results!
When I first started marketing and following up with
prospects, I used a follow up method that I now call the “List Technique.” I
had a large database containing the names and e-mail addresses of people who
had specifically requested information about my products and services. These
prospects had already received my first letter by the time they requested
more information, so I used the company’s latest news as a follow up piece.
I would write follow up newsletters every now and then,
and send them, in one mass mailing, to everyone who had previously requested
information from me. While this probably did help me win a few additional
orders, it wasn’t a very good follow up method. Why isn’t the “List
Technique” very effective?
- The List Technique isn’t consistent. Proponents of
the List Technique tend to only send out follow up messages when their
companies have “big news”.
- List Technique messages don’t give the potential
customer any additional information about the product or service in
question. He can’t make a more informed buying decision after receiving
a newsletter! If someone is wondering whether your company sells the
best knick-knacks, what does he care that you’ve just moved your
headquarters?
- List Technique messages convey a “big list”
mentality to your potential customers. When I used to write follow up
messages using the List Technique, I was writing news bulletins to
everyone I knew! I should have been sending a personal message to each
individual who wanted to know more about my products.
What follow up method really works?
Following up with each lead individually, multiple times,
but at set intervals, and with pre-written messages, will dramatically
increase sales! Others who use this same technique confirm that they have
all at least doubled the sales of various products! In order to set this
system up, though, you need to do some planning.
First, you’ll need to develop your follow up messages. If
you’ve been marketing on the Internet for any length of time, then you
should already have a first informative letter. Your second letter marks the
beginning of the follow up process, and should go into more detail than the
first letter. Fill this letter with details that you didn’t have the space
to add to the first letter. Stress the BENEFITS of your products or
services!
Your next 2-3 follow up messages should be rather short.
Include lists of the benefits and potential uses of your products and
services. Write each letter so that your prospects can skim the contents,
and still see the full force of your message.
The next couple of follow up messages should create a
sense of urgency in your prospect’s mind. Make a special offer, giving him a
reason to order NOW instead of waiting any longer. After reading these
follow up messages, your prospect should want to order immediately!
Phrase each of your final 1 or 2 follow up messages in
the form of a question. Ask your prospect why he hasn’t yet placed an order?
Try to get him to actually respond. Ask if the price is to high, the product
isn’t the right color or doesn’t have the right features, or if he is
looking for something else entirely. (By this time, it’s unlikely that this
person will order from you. However, his feedback can help you modify your
follow up letters or products, so that other prospects will order
from you.)
The timing of your follow up letters is just as important
as their content. You don’t want one prospect to receive a follow up the day
after he gets your initial informative letter, while another prospect waits
weeks for a follow up!
Always send an initial, informative letter as soon as it
is requested, and send the first follow up 24 hours afterwards. You want
your hot prospects to have information quickly, so that they can make
informed buying decisions!
Send the next 2-3 follow up messages between 1 and 3 days
apart. Your prospect is still hot, and is probably still shopping around!
Tell him about the benefits of your products and services, as opposed to
your competitors’. You will make the sale!
Send the final follow up messages later on. You certainly
don’t want to annoy your prospect! Make sure that these last letters are at
least 4 days apart.
Following up effectively seems complicated, but it
doesn’t have to be! So many potential customers are lost because of poor
follow up - don’t you want to be one of the few to get it right?
Check out Aweber now and try it out for free.
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