Are You Losing Profits Due to Inconsistent 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.
Follow-Up Through Email List Marketing Increases Your Profits
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.
Develop Your Follow-Up Messages
First, 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 two or three 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 one or two 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 too 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.)
Watch the Timing of Your Follow-up E-mail Messages
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 afterward. You want your hot prospects to have information quickly, so that they can make informed buying decisions.
Send the next two or three follow-up messages between one and three 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 four days apart.
We recommend AWeber for automation of your follow-up email list marketing campaign.
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?
Image Credits: Osbock on flickr and Hummingbird by Images by Hawkeye
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