WHY YOU MUST FOLLOW UP YOUR CUSTOMERS AGAIN
It's finally that day. The sales have made you happy. But in the first month, maybe even the first week or two, they start to dwindle, and you're lucky if you make $100 a month from your product.
FOLLOW UP STRATEGY
It's quite astounding how few individuals understand the value of contact or sales follow up, let alone the need for a concrete follow up strategy for each campaign. However, a sizable portion of online business owners experience this. They devote all of their passion and effort to developing and launching the product, leaving the sales to take care of itself.
The truth is that there are a ton of additional ways to maximize sales, all of which should be done during the planning stage, even if those sales are strong.
Here is an illustration of prompt launch follow up (names changed to protect the unauthorized).
Derek is launching a peculiar product. He sends an email to his list a few
days later. Reads the subject line. says, “Hey, It's Not Too Late!,” addressing
the person on his list by her first name:
"I know how busy life is, online. So if you meant to pick up a copy of my
new eBook, "54 Ways to Love Your Car Without Being a Mechanic", but
got distracted or even just plain forgot, here's your chance to still sneak in
under the gate. For the next 3 days only (till midnight on Friday, May 13) if
you click on the special link below will be able to buy it for only $14.75 -
less than half of its regular $27.75 retail price.
“So if you'd
love to know everything you need to about maintaining your car in perfect
condition (and pay less to learn it), download "54 Ways to Love Your Car
Without Being a Mechanic" right now - and get it at my special
less-than-half price..."
Derek sent out that email based on the advice of his copywriter - and, as a new marketer, he was astounded when this follow up letter generated more sales than his initial pre-launch efforts and launch day combined!
When the dust settled, Derek discovered that this one, single follow up letter had generated 64.9% of his total sales!
THE INFLUENCE OF FOLLOW UP
You've undoubtedly realized by now that "leaving money on the table" is the worst sin in internet marketing. It simply implies "not making the most of every single opportunity to exploit this one product" when used in this way. Missing possibilities for further sales left, right, and center is exactly what happens when you don't have a well-thought-out and carried out follow up plan! The impact of following up is clearly demonstrated when you consider how many sales Derek made as a result of that one follow up letter.
Just take a look at these figures from the 21centurysales.com blog:
"The National Sales Executive Association claims that
• Only 2% of sales occur after the first contact.
• The second contact results in 3% of sales.
• On the third contact, 5% of sales are completed.
• 10% of sales occur after the fourth contact.
• The fifth to twelve contacts account for 80% of sales."
That essentially says... Anyone who assumes that all sales will occur as a result of just a few initial contacts is passing up additional chances to make money.
THREE MAJOR WAYS THAT FOLLOWING UP CAN HELP YOUR BUSINESS
Your marketing process should always include careful follow up as much as it does preparation for your product production and launch. Here are three more compelling advantages of continuously implementing well-thought-out follow up processes, in case the sales statistics from the preceding section weren't enough to make the point clear.
1. Continuity fosters trust - When planning the launch of a new product, one of the most important questions we ask is, "Why should Josephine Customer buy from me?" This is especially true in affiliate marketing.
Customers commonly respond to the question of why they favor one marketer over another by saying: "Because I believe in so-and-so,"
You are aware, I'm sure, that establishing trust does not necessarily require the sale of things. But your follow up procedure also promotes trust.
It's similar like meeting someone for the first time at a convention. If your interactions with them are brief, you might like them but also forget about them. And it doesn't occur to you naturally that your new conference companion is the ideal person to speak to about the subject you are both enthusiastic about until you have at least three meetings with each other and have had a few conversations about your mutual interests.
So it is with internet marketing: Your ideal potential customer "meets" you, but if all she hears is one sales pitch and a few random letters that don't help build a relationship, she is likely to go elsewhere to buy a similar product - even though yours is actually much more in tune with what she initially wants!
2. Consistency is built through follow up - If your follow up strategy is the same for each product, your ideal prospective customer will unconsciously get into a routine with you. Consistency generates a professional aura that gives the reader confidence that she can count on you and that you won't vanish into thin air again the following week. In contrast, many unskilled marketers have a tendency to send out 2 or 3 emails to their list in a single burst, and then disappear for 6 or 7 months, during which time the recipients of the emails really forget who the marketer is.
3. Follow up Puts You Ahead of the Competition - It's a simple fact that there are frequently hundreds of would-be competitors for every marketer who follows up. And the very few individuals who take the time to say "thank you," keep their word, accept responsibility for their actions, and quickly apologize when they make a mistake are the ones who stand out in our minds as exceptional people.
Additionally, it conveys to your potential supporter or client that you appreciate and value their requirements and are not just out to make quick money.
DEVELOPING YOUR CREDIBILITY
We've spoken about how persistent follow up can increase trust... However, follow up can actually accomplish more than that: Your reputation could be made or broken by it: If you are inconsistent or forget to honor your commitments, you risk losing clients for good.
Always be dependable, and you'll keep them.
It all comes down to habits, specifically yours of being consistently dependable and providing follow up opportunities at every turn: Your customers are developing purchase habits from you and searching for your deals.
Get them to a point where they look forward to receiving emails from you and write to tell you, "Yours are the ones I never skip!"
IGNORING THE EXPLICIT
Where then may a follow up be added?
Everywhere! There are a ton of chances. Do it following the download of the free report, video, template, or audio file by your new list subscriber. Have you yet had a chance to download "5 Easy Pieces?" In such case, you might have observed.")
Utilize your free email mini-course for it. Finish with it.
At every stage of the process, including before the sale, do it.
Do it especially after the sale or the "expiration" of the initial offer.
No matter where you place your follow ups with plenty of punch, there is still one more thing you must do. "Just ask" is that phrase.
THE ONE FOLLOW UP STEP YOU CAN EASILY IGNORE
The glaringly obvious place to put a call to action is in follow up emails, recordings, or articles, yet it's amazing how few people do!
Your followers and readers can't read your thinking. You know, when someone asks me to mind read, I tell them I took ESP 101 nine times... and I still failed the course every time, as one coworker recently commented to me. Encourage your potential list subscribers and clients to follow the logical next step, which is your specific call to action for specific follow up contact, to help them out.
Assist them in asking you the crucial query, "So where do I click to buy," with eagerness. If they've already made a purchase, don't be hesitant to propose ways they might want to enhance their new product, take advantage of a special OTO (one-time offer), or upgrade to a higher level if you hear from them again.
Additionally, you'll be taking advantage of every chance to:
A. Close that deal
B. Avoid leaving "cash on the table"
Use follow ups to your advantage. Maintaining consistency with them can help you establish a reputation for dependability and delivery on schedule.
You now understand the value of following up, but your narrative has only begun. Create a follow up cash plan that you may utilize for every campaign at this point.
More than any other single tactic, creating a solid plan that is adaptable but consistent helps you establish yourself as an authority figure—someone who people naturally and instantly turn to.
Making the maximum profit out of all your work and all your products depends on using your follow up plan with each campaign.
We'll go into great detail on what makes an excellent follow up plan in this Special Report, along with why. Implementing and customizing your follow up strategies to any online (and offline) marketing scenario is simple when you understand not just the "what" or "how," but also the "why."
WHAT EXACTLY IS "FOLLOW UP"?
When discussing follow up with website owners, some unexpected presumptions came to light. Some individuals believed that "following up" should only be done after a product had been delivered. Follow up was described by one as "resolving issues when customers don't like your goods." Another said it was "pressuring them to purchase your next product."
This group of more recent marketers shared the misconception that aggressive follow up or "hard sale" tactics were used.
To put it another way, these particular responders felt much more at ease writing a considerate letter to their list, waiting for the sales, and then accepting (with sadness) only a small portion of the expected or even feasible outcomes. The lack of "six pairs of eyes and hands and any staff," as well as internet overload and distraction, were cited as additional excuses for not establishing a regular follow up schedule.
A couple of the members of this group claimed to having sent out a reminder a few days before the expiration of their introductory deals. (And that's a smart follow up strategy, since many potential consumers will just forget about your offer if you don't keep up the contact.) However, they also acknowledged that they did not always write follow up letters and that there was "no specific justification" for doing so.
Using a follow up strategy is not sending a single message saying "This offer is going to terminate." It's similar like applying eyeliner to only one eye during a job interview and then wondering why your potential new employer is staring at you strangely (before hiring your perfectly groomed rival to become the new TV anchorwoman).
You cannot choose to disregard follow up. Any follow up that is inconsistent, sporadic, or unsuccessful portrays you as untrustworthy and unskilled. They damage your reputation.
People are more likely to have faith in you if you have reliable follow up processes and procedures. They boost your reputation and web value and position you as an experienced specialist.
Regular follow up procedures yield consistent, measurable results!
BEYOND REPETITION
Do you understand how Olympians manage to produce such amazing results? It's because they don't just undergo consistent training to become consummate experts: That's merely the fundamentals to them. After becoming the absolute best in their field, they devote an equal amount of effort to perfecting the minute details and resolving the smallest flaws in order to reduce their fastest speeds by milliseconds or increase their highest jumps by millimeters.
They take all of these precautions because, at the Olympic level, a millisecond or millimeter might be the difference between winning a gold medal and finishing fourth and "falling off the podium."
Now, you most definitely don't need to devote the years that an Olympian does in order to succeed as a marketer. However, embracing work ethics and concentrate on your follow up behaviors at the Olympic level will really put you miles, not millimeters, ahead of many of your competitors.
These are the 7 characteristics of an effective follow up plan. It ought to:
1. Follow recognizable, consistent procedures and deliver them in the same method and structure each time so that recipients will "recognize" and look forward to receiving your email or letter when it does.
2. Be considerate to your site visitor or list subscriber and avoid becoming overbearing. It ought to simplify things for them.
3. deliver to you with each campaign a profit ratio that is dependably predictable.
4. Possess quantifiable outcomes that you can monitor and enhance.
6. Enhance your credibility and solidify your reputation.
7. Assist your visitor in moving quickly and easily through the follow up procedure.
A solid follow up strategy is similar to your sales funnel, particularly in its final stage:
· A professional aura.
· A reminder that you are totally dependable and knowledgeable, and
· A "branded" presence for you and your product line can all be created when things run smoothly.
CONSIDER YOUR CUSTOMER
Thinking as if you were in your customer's position is one of the most beneficial things you can do for your special client.
Try this activity:
1. Print out the exercise on the following page. Simply take a piece of paper, center it, and draw a vertical line through it if you don't have access to a printer.
2. Consider the following as to why you might be losing out on product offers.
3. In the left-hand column, type your answers. Avoid skipping this step!
4. Review your list of solutions. Consider your ideal, niche client. For every single one, ask yourself: "Would she feel the same? Would she respond in this way in this circumstance?
5. In the right-hand column, list what you believe your customer would respond with.
Keep this list close at hand and use it as a reference when choosing which follow up strategies to include in your individual follow up plan.
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What are some of the causes behind
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What are some of the potential
causes for your special consumer to miss out on product offers? |
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It challenges stereotypes, which is a positive side effect of really taking the time to do an activity like the preceding one. And these are the kinds of presumptions that may prevent us from taking the necessary action.
If you, for instance, despise "hard sell" techniques, you might feel that "bombarding" your list with numerous emails is annoying since you yourself are turned off by those who do so. But completing the worksheet described above might make you understand that there are moments when you really wanted to buy a thing, but you were unable to locate the email or remember to bookmark the link. You actually wanted the goods vendor to send a "reminder"... but the opportunity passes, and you decide not to buy.
Would you have regarded that marketer's reminder as "harassment" if she had sent it to you instead? No. As a result of your:
(a) prior conviction that the product was exactly what you wanted
(b) prior purchases with that marketer, you trusted them enough to make the purchase.
Most likely, the folks you deem "aggressive" and "pushy" actually go overboard. They're aiming for the big sale and the one-time score, but they've overlooked the most crucial rule of all.
Balance
The key component, "balance," can only be found in the best follow up strategies. It entails being: • Attuned to your particular customer
• Timing sensitivity — knowing how well your customer will respond to repeated engagement.
• Being conscious of the rhythm in your marketing interactions and going with the flow rather than attempting to swim against it
How are all these things discovered and practically applied?
While some of it comes down to just getting to know your consumer well, other aspects include adhering to tried-and-true norms that do the job for you. Additionally, you can automate and outsource parts of your follow up.
In other words, you don't actually need six pairs of hands at all!
COMPLETING THE TASK
Here are 7 tried-and-true strategies to help you come across as a well-respected expert and professional anytime you present your follow up offers. How to help you find that vital balance...
1. Fulfill Your
Promises
This is a no-brainer because it's so easy to do! Naturally, you would also prefer to give a product that everyone adores. However, you might not do so at first due to inexperience or, worse, a desire to make a quick profit.
When products fall short of expectations owing to inexperience, it's frequently not because of poor craftsmanship at all, but rather because of well-intentioned but catastrophic errors like:
Lackluster sales copy and material that frequently overstates what can be accomplished or delivered are other examples of poor sales practices. Another is failing to assist the customer in moving smoothly through the sales process.
Products that fall short because one is greedily looking for a quick buck give you anxiety about coming across as "aggressive": Because the people who create them are almost always aggressive and overly persuasive, and you're afraid of coming across that way. But you are not that. Right? You'll be one of the marketers whose emails their subscribers eagerly read because they anticipate finding something truly valuable inside.
2. Assist them continue with your process.
Setting up your sales funnel and follow ups to make it as simple as possible for your consumer to progress through your process is essential to a polished, faultless delivery. Trust, purchasing, receiving, delivery, and post-delivery communication are all included (the one step missed more frequently than any other by less successful marketers)
• Maintenance (it's important to maintain and grow a relationship, especially after a sale);
• Distraction (channeling your customer easily and naturally to your next upgrade, OTO or new offer)
3. Eliminate the hiccups and errors
What should you be on the lookout for in the follow up process as well as your sales funnel?
any obstruction to the "flow". Or, anything that they could potentially trip over.
You must make sure there is nothing on their path to your "purchase" button or fresh offer for them to trip over or draw their attention to.
You are guiding them down your sales funnel with the same ease as if you were sending them down a water slide as they move through your selection of increasingly pricey offers. Nothing should hinder their quick, effortless plunge to the bottom pool.
The same applies to your follow up strategies and procedures.
4. Make yourself accessible to them
Yes, you can automate your follow up using a virtual assistant (VA) and/or a help desk. However, you should test and monitor your system to ensure that it functions properly. If you do have a Help Desk, you can still give people a warm and welcoming way to contact you:
• Producing a fresh, complimentary Special Report that appears to have been created specifically for your consumer
• Asking people to follow you on Twitter and quickly replying to their tweets.
• Maintaining a well-organized blog with frequent posts, each of which discusses and provides answers to their concerns.
• Keeping the tone informal and personal while offering the essential information they are starved for; • Offering helpful mini-email courses that come with warm, personalized emails from you
5. Use automation as much as possible
Why reinvent the wheel is a common saying.
It certainly applies in particular to developing your follow up plans. We've already discussed employing services like help desks and hiring virtual assistants. The only word of caution I would add is to thoroughly test them before letting them "run themselves."
For clients who truly have an issue with a product you've sold, always leave a "back door" strategy. Regardless of automation, there are instances when a personal email is required.
6. Outsourcing Has Benefits
One method to really maximize your follow up is to delegate some parts of your business, particularly follow ups, to experts.
Just be certain that anybody you hire speaks for you and defends your interests (while delighting your clients).
You can utilize the following specialists as follow up: •
Copywriters
• V.A.s
Six suggestions for locating a capable V.A.
• Always check your sources. Calling is preferable to emailing.
Recognize that you won't be their only client - most VAs have more than one.
• Choose one who specializes in the business sectors you want them to handle.
• Don't presume secrecy; rather, expect it. The majority of the time, especially with reputable VAs, you should not be concerned: It is in their best interests to protect your interests because their reputation as a firm depends entirely on their discretion.
· Try before you purchase - Oh, you'll have to pay, alright: But what I actually mean is, start them off with little, single assignments, till you're satisfied that they really do perform. Signing a confidentiality agreement, if you believe your firm justifies it.
• Keep in mind that your VA cannot read minds. Do ensure that you and your VA are clear about your expectations of one another.
It takes time to establish a symbiotic relationship with your VA, who is a contractor rather than an employee. Make sure your relationship is built on professionalism and respect if you are fortunate enough to connect and click with the perfect assistant both personally and professionally.
2 pointers for
choosing the ideal copywriter:
When you are a novice marketer, utilizing a professional copywriter has its advantages because they are well-versed in the follow up procedure.
• Hiring a copywriter can benefit from several of the aforementioned VA suggestions.
• Some VAs also focus on creating specific product copy, and they are frequently - but not always - less expensive than copywriters.
7. Prepare for follow up as soon as you make contact.
Be aware of follow up topics or possibilities as soon as you interact with potential clients, whether it be online or in person.
Use the question she asks as the foundation for a follow up email or a topic in any follow up mini course you decide to create, for instance, if her first point of contact with you is a question about your niche subject or product.
Make a mental (or physical) note of whatever she says if you are seeing her in person, such as at a conference, since it might serve as a topic for a letter you will send later or add a personal touch.
Always be on the lookout for follow up possibilities or topics. Because you are, you may use this to give the impression that you are really connected to your potential client and are continuously considering how to address their difficulties.
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