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!
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
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)
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
