Marketing Automation – Fixing Your Follow-Up Failure With Technology
People buy when they’re ready to buy – not before. 67% of the prospective buyers that tell you no today will be ready to buy in the next year. ~ Gartner Research. So how will you be ready when they are? By following up, that’s how. Sadly many businesses do a poor job of marketing follow up, and in this article you’ll learn the startling facts of just how bad it is, but more importantly you’ll discover just how easy it is to fix your follow up failure and double your sales.
Why companies don’t follow up:
They forget
They focus ONLY on hot leads
They let unconverted leads languish
They think prospects will call back
They don’t want to be pushy
AND they don’t realize the potential impact follow-up can have on their profits!
While 67% of prospects will be ready to buy within 12 months, 80% will buy within 2 years. Will you still be there when they’re ready to buy?
5 Common follow-up mistakes:
No follow-up at all
Weak follow-up
Irrelevant follow-up
Jumping to a sales pitch
No centralized database
How many touches does it take to close a sale?
2% close on the 1st touch
3% on the 2nd
4% on the 3rd
10% on the 4th touch
81% close on (or after) the 5th touch!!!
When do most companies stop following up?
48% quit on the 1st touch
24% on the 2nd
12% on the 3rd
6% on the 4th
10% quit on the 5th touch
Imagine what would happen if you simply followed up with even 20% more of your leads. Can you see what this would mean to your profits. Remember, there is no additional costs in lead generation, this is merely “harvesting” more of the profits by using follow-up marketing.
Here’s a typical follow-up sequence for new prospects:
Send the info they requested immediately. (email)
Send a letter with more valuable info. (letter)
Call to see if you can answer any questions. (call)
Send a value-added email with tips/education. (email)
Send a promo offer to stimulate action. (email)
Follow-up with a limited time promo. (postcard)
Call with a final reminder for promo. (voice broadcast)
Offer subscription to future marketing offers and other value added content. (email)
Of course you can get as creative as you want with your sequences, but the above example should get you started.
Fix Your Follow-Up Failure Plan
Get organized – tag customers and prospects. Segment your data.
Integrate your shopping cart and e-commerce into a follow-up system
Add upsells to the follow-up process
automate process to save human interaction and avoid errors.
Offer free report or other high incentive optin piece
Add an automated affiliate referral program
Fixing Your Follow-Up Failure
Converts more leads into sales
Gets repeat sales from customers
Grows your business without growing your staff
If you want to learn more about fixing your follow up, I’d encourage you to watch the full video presentation available at the website mentioned below.