A popular phrase in the direct sales world is, “The fortune is in the follow up,” and it holds true in the for entrepreneurs, too. Just think about the impression you make when someone signs up to your list, downloads your lead magnet, then they never hear from you again. They’ll forget about you in a heartbeat or will question your dedication to your business when they finally hear from you again.
If your customer service is stupendous, your customers will remember you forever. If your customer service is less than stellar, you’ll hear about it on social media! Creating a warm and inviting customer experience is all part of customer service and retention. Your prospects and customers are not loyal to you yet; you still need to prove yourself so don’t send one email and then disappear. Your follow up strategy should be a standard part of your overall marketing strategy.
Why should you follow up?
- Sometimes people need more time before making a purchase. In fact, one of the oldest marketing rules in the book, the Rule of Seven, states that the prospective buyer should see at least seven marketing messages about a product before buying it. (Learn more about the Rule of Seven)
- Maybe they like what they see but need to wait until payday.
- Other people may legitimately forget to make the purchase and appreciate that last reminder.
- That prospect you met at a conference who was all gung-ho about coaching but never called may have other issues to deal with first.
- People want to be heard and following up is a way to engage with prospective customers directly.
- Customers want a way to reach a live person and putting a follow up system in place makes it easier for customers to reach you.
These are just a small sample of reasons why people don’t follow through with a purchase. Instead of taking the passive approach of waiting for people to find you, be proud of what you have built and of the programs and services you offer. Promote yourself on social media. And follow up with every single person you have met in any business capacity, either by telephone or by email. If you can’t help them specifically, they might have someone else you can reach out to. This is the basic premise of networking.
Here are some important ways to stay in touch with new contacts:
- An email funnel series is one way to schedule consistent messages to your list. Go one step further and hire a virtual assistant to schedule these messages for you. This frees up your time for money-making tasks, such as creating your next product or checking in on your membership group. Remember to set up a different funnel for each of your products.
Create templates outside of your email autoresponder so your VA knows which message to send people as they contact you. For example, you’ll want to circle back with people you meet after live events. You can customize a template with the name of the live event and a personal reference to how you met (“I loved chatting about XYZ with you at dinner!”) If you need help creating these templates, check out this package. - Reach out after EVERY phone call with a potential client. A simple, “It was great chatting with you today! As I mentioned, here is my library of services and programs that my clients find most helpful.” Create a template for all of these instances so your VA knows exactly which message to send to whom and how to customize each one. Every email you send out should also include your social media links and a link to your lead magnet in your signature.
- Nudge inactive clients to see if they’re ready to re-engage. Personally go through your personal client list and reach out via email or social media to see if they’ll re-engage with you. You never know what has happened in their lives and they may feel awkward reaching out to you again after a long absence. You reaching out may be the icebreaker they need.
- Reach out to inactive email subscribers to get their attention again. Most email autoresponders have this function where you can select only those subscribers who have not opened your emails in a while. Create a short email series for these people with a really strong subject line and then study your open rates and click rates. If those emails remain unopened, it’s perfectly acceptable to delete those subscribers from your list. Your ultimate goal is to create a list of action-takers; if they won’t open your email, they won’t ever make a purchase.
- Create a follow up system, then hand off the execution to your VA. Of course you want to be involved in the creation of your templates and your system but once you have given your approval to both, allow your VA to handle all your emails. Your system should be as detailed as possible (in case you ever need to hire another VA) and should be documented in a training file.
Don’t be afraid of using the telephone. Email often seems like a crutch for some business owners but a personal call is almost unexpected these days, so it could make you stand out from the crowd. Instead of thinking of these calls as “sales pitches” think of them instead as simple conversations. Ask a few questions about what they need and tell them what you have to offer along with any special pricing or deals.
One Tip: Drop the “just checking in” line. Whether you’re emailing or making phone calls, be more assertive about why you’re calling in. If you already know the problem they’re having, leaving a message about how you can solve that problem is likely to get you a call back. Simply saying, “I’m just checking in,” is very non-committal and vague. Don’t be afraid to say why you’re calling.
Lastly, get out of your head if you’re thinking that following up with prospects is annoying to them. Sure, if you do it every day, that can get annoying. But if they’re not ready to give you an answer when you call, simply ask when would be a good time to call back. Let them be in charge. If they say call back in six months, mark that on your calendar. Just because someone is not ready to commit to your program or services NOW doesn’t mean that will be the answer forever.
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