Chances are, there is little doubt in your mind about the importance of follow-up in your marketing… you just need a few tips to get moving in the right direction. Here are a few things to keep in mind as you put your follow-up procedures in place.

  1. Follow up immediately. If a prospect expresses interest in your company, don’t let them slip through the cracks. Follow up right away to start building a relationship.
  2. Manage the frequency of your follow-up. Frequency is critical. If your follow-up is too sporadic, contacts may forget who you are. If you follow up too often, you risk being viewed as a pest. Avoid the urge to communicate with your prospects too often. Less is definitely more.
  3. Manage expectations. In order to avoid unkind thoughts and SPAM complaints, set email expectations up front. Most complaints come when prospects are surprised – so tell subscribers exactly what you will be sending, when, and how it will benefit them.
  4. Practice permission-based marketing. Before you email anyone, make sure you have permission to do so. This is as simple as including an “opt-in” button on your webform or other lead capture method. Once you have their permission, they are less likely to send you to the SPAM folder and more likely to respond to your messages.
  5. Be persistent. Remember, 80% of your prospects may not be ready to buy right now, but they will be ready within 2 years. Don’t give up on the opportunity to stay in touch with these prospects – through special offers, helpful tips and tricks, coupons, industry news, new product information, etc. You never know when one of these prospects will be ready to buy.

Put these principles to work in your follow-up marketing and you’ll start seeing much better response rates. There’s a gold mine of potential out there.

Leap of the Week: Book your follow-up calls in the morning. Get them done first thing. Make it a non-negotiable task and start your day with a money generating activity that will not only build momentum but will also increase your conversion rate!

Have fun with it!