"How to Double Your Sales with Proper Follow Ups"

By: Fred Raley

12 exposures for someone to decide to buy. Over 80% of all sales are made after the 5th contact.

If you are willing to give up an extra 80% of your sales, then don't follow-up with your prospects.

If you would like to explode your sales, then follow-up with your prospects.

Key Characteristics of your Follow-up:

It is a documented fact that it takes anywhere from 5 to

• Follow-up must be related to the initial information requEST.
• Follow-up must be consistent and persistent but not overbearing.
• Follow-up should be automated as much as possible to take the burden off of you.
• Follow-up by different methods can increase your closure rates.
• Follow-up with related products or services is ok.

Obviously, the follow-up you do should be related to what the prospect initially requested. Don't try to sell golf clubs to prospects asking about parenting topics! But, someone asking about parenting topics might be interested in a new detergent that always gets kids clothes clean than anything else.

Related products or services can be offered to your prospects but don't lose sight of what they originally asked about. Make sure you do plenty of follow-up on that topic without fail from 5 to 12 times at least.

I try to space my follow-ups about 3 days apart. 1 or 2 days apart seems too overbearing and more than 3 might be too long between contacts. I've never had anyone complain about a 3 day interval in follow-up correspondence.

Automate your follow-up as much as possible. With email, it is easy by using a tool known as an Auto responder. An auto responder is an automatic email program that is triggered by sending an email or filling in a website form with an email address. The auto responder sends back an email response to the email address from which the email to it came or to the one put into the form on a website.

Some auto responders can send email attachments but I don't recommend doing this unless you are SURE that the person wants to get an attachment, CAN get an attachment (many email programs and virus checkers can and do block email attachments) and knows how to retrieve an attachment. Also, many email programs have a size limit on individual emails so if your attachment is too big, it again will not get through.

Auto responders come in many sizes and shapes.

• Your web host probably has a rudimentary capability to send an automated response. Many can send back one email but not multiple emails.
• There are numerous free and fee-based auto responders that you can find. A simple Google search will yield hundreds of choices. A free auto responder might be something to consider getting your feet wet, so to speak, with auto responders. The fee-based auto responders tend to get black-listed by major internet service providers (ISPs) pretty quickly. This means your messages won't get to the recipients! So, although their features are good and the automation is well done, if your messages are not getting to your prospects, you are not getting what you are paying for!
• Having your own auto responder on your own domain is your best bet if you are serious about getting your message read. I use Parabot on my domain. They will set it up for you (for a small price) and is the most features I have found for the reasonable price. If you are going to use an auto responder for more than a couple of months, Parabot is the answer.

Follow-up by different methods. This will really increase your sales closure rate. What can you do?

• Call the prospect. Introduce yourself, your service/product and see what questions they have. Be ready to take the order and don't forget to ASK for it.
• Send a postcard, thank you card or a letter by mail. You can get a ton of information in front of your client by sending something through the mail. Just make sure it is personalized and not some piece of marketing material that will go in the trash before it gets looked at. Again, automation is the key to saving time and energy on your part. We use the SendOutCards service to automate that part of our follow-up with good success.
• Send a sample. Want to make sure your prospect likes your product?
• Send them to a website with more information.
• Send them a fax with more information.
• Send them to an 800# info line for more information.

You can never have enough different kinds of follow-ups. Each prospect responds to different stimuli so it is your job to give them many types!

Remember, follow-up at least 5 to 12 times with each prospect in as different many methods as you can to maximize your sales prospects.

Fred Raley

Author, Trainer, Speaker and Online Marketing Expert

 

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