Automating Sales Follow-up

General Article

July 4, 2022Laura

Automating Sales Follow-up

How many times have you called on a “small business” owner/prospect only to be told that now is not a good time to even talk, much less buy? After a few more follow-up calls and no progress made, you are ready to give up. In fact, most salespeople give up before they call five times. Yet 80% of all sales are made at or after the fifth call.

How do we get to that magic sales closing time without irritating the prospect? After the second follow-up call we are beginning to feel that we are too intrusive, yet we know that the prospect needs our product and will probably eventually buy it – unless we are too irritating in our follow-up initiatives and are told to stop calling.

Here’s a suggestion. After the second follow-up call, mention that you don’t want to regularly intrude into the prospect’s busy schedule, but would like to keep in touch by sending an email periodically that provides information that is of interest to business owners. Close by saying you’ll call again in a few months and see how things are going.

For the next few months, maintain contact automatically with Marketing Automation Software. You will have already prepared a series of 8-10 emails that can be used for this period of time in almost every situation. Each email in the series was designed to provide useful information and to be a gentle reminder of what your product can do in that particular situation.

Add this prospect to the mailing list and let the software keep in touch. It is likely that the prospect will reach that pivotal point when he/she is ready to buy and your product will be fresh in his/her mind. If that hasn’t happened at the end of the series, you will automatically be reminded by the software to make that promised follow-up call.

When you call, you will already have your lead-in pitch ready. You have been providing him/her with a service. Talk about the emails you have sent and the information they contained. Inquire regarding any other information needed to make the purchase decision. Then branch out into your sales-closing routing.

Visit ES-Review for more information on the best Marketing Automation Software.…

General Article

July 2, 2022Laura

Infusionsoft Versus a Marketing Assistant

Before you read this, remember that we created computerized solutions to save ourselves the work. In many cases we used to hire people to save ourselves the work, today we can choose either a biological solution (an employee) or a digital solution (a piece of software.) With that thought out there for your consideration, consider this…

As of 2009, the median expected salary for a typical Marketing Assistant in the United States is $37,471 or $3,122.58 per month (excluding all the other costs an employer must bear.)

Assuming a typical 37 hour week this equates to 160 hours a month of “working” time, about $18.74 per hour. There are approximately 1600 working hours a year for a typical employee and 8,760 total hours in a year.

We work for about 20% of the year when you compare total time to work time. So it’s fair to say that if you made your marketing assistant work every hour of every day then you’d have to pay them about 5 times as much or about $187,000 a year!

Currently Infusionsoft Pro costs $499/mo or about $5,988 per year. Already this is about 6 times cheaper than the media salary of an marketing assistant but Infusionsoft works 24/7/365.

If you run the numbers you’ll find that Infusionsoft is about 30 times cheaper. Put another way, you’d need at least 5 full time marketing assistants to handle the workload. And frankly I’m unconvinced they’d match the speed and efficiency of a computerized system which operates at millions of cycles per second.

My point (for I know this is a somewhat “silly” comparison) is that if you think of Infusionsoft as a person hired to your team, they’re the best value you’ll ever get for your dollars. They won’t quit. They won’t get sick or demand a pay raise. They will not need vacations and won’t ask for double-time on statutory vacation days. And the quality of their work will remain consistent day after day, year after year.

Nope, for a mere $499 a month you’ll get the digital equivalent of staffing nirvana (or pretty close to it… nothing’s perfect!)

So, for those who wonder about the price consider this, $499 is the PRO level. If you are sending less volume through the system (upto 75,000 emails) you can pay $299 a month – it’s cheaper still. And if you didn’t want ecommerce, a shopping cart, affiliate management or sales force automation then you can use the $199 service (upto 25,000 emails a month.)

It’s really a no brainer when you look at this way.

*Disclaimer* Infusionsoft will not give you super powers. You do need to take this powerful system and implement it. This will require some planning on your part. If you are a fan of process and systemization then you’ll enjoy the experience. If you are not, then you will need some help either directly from Infusionsoft or from one of their Certified Marketing Automation Coaches (like …

Online Marketing

July 1, 2022Laura

10 Great Strategies When You Establish An Online Business

Building an online business is an exciting time. There is so much to look forward to – and a lot to get wrong as well.
So here are my top 10 considerations to think about when you are first thinking about starting out:
Tip 1 – Select a niche you are keen on:
You will probably be spending quite a bit of time on your new online business, so select a niche that you enjoy, not one that you just consider will make the largest profit. There is money to be made in pretty much every niche if you approach it sensibly, so you may as well enjoy the ride.
Tip 2 – Don’t get ahead of yourself:
There is a lot to take on board when you are starting out online for the first time. Take it one point at a time and only think about developing a new area of expertise when you have mastered the last one, otherwise you will end up struggling with "information overload" and begin making mistakes.
Tip 3 – Be mindful of the LARGER picture:
Whatever niche you select will have a direct influence on the overall size of your marketplace. Decide upon a relatively small sector and you will reach fewer potential customers than if you specialize in a bigger marketplace. It does not mean that you are bound to make less profit in a less significant niche, but you ought to think about your long-term goals and how big you want to eventually make your internet business.
Tip 4 – You MUST be prepared to work hard at it:
Developing an internet marketing venture is identical to building any offline business – you need to be ready to commit the time, effort and work at the beginning if you are wanting to benefit from the rewards later on. Do not expect to do well by devoting only half an hour here and there on your new venture, it will call for a more dedicated and consistent approach if you want to be successful.
Tip 5 – Grasp the basics before you start:
Getting appropriate internet marketing coaching and advice before you start is crucial. Spend time learning as much as you possibly can before creating your first blog. It will prevent disappointment and heartache later on and considerably improve your likelihood of success.
Tip 6 – Get your finances planned properly:
Building an internet business can frequently be accomplished on a surprisingly small budget, but you need to be prepared to "speculate to accumulate" as the saying goes. Work out a sensible budget at the outset and be ready to spend this if the need arises. You might wish to invest in a paid advertising campaign, or subscribe to a niche membership site, or outsource your content creation for example. If you have not allocated a budget to underwrite this expense, this may cause your new business to suffer a bit.
Tip 7 – Learn to test every bit of marketing …

Month: July 2022