Follow-up, the ultimate game changer
We recently surveyed 3,564 of our clients and prospects and we asked them what’s the biggest challenge they face when following up with prospects and clients? The general response was hardly a surprise: I don’t have time.
It’s a painful situation to spend a huge chunk of money and energy drumming up new sales leads, only to let them slip through the cracks because of dropped balls. The fact is, most companies don’t follow up with prospects or clients NEARLY enough despite having paid dearly to find them, even though follow up is hugely important to sales.
Research shows that 79% of marketing leads never convert into sales, with the most common cause of this poor performance being attributed to a lack of lead nurturing. And 65% of B2B marketers haven’t established any lead nurturing…at all; which is why an estimated 50% of marketing leads have never received any follow-up from sales.
But companies that don’t set up any follow-up processes are throwing away money, hand over fist, because nurtured leads make 47% larger purchases overall than non-nurtured leads, and relevant emails drive 18 times more revenue than generally broadcasted eblasts do.
So, Why Don’t Companies Follow Up?
Our experience working with thousands of small businesses and entrepreneurs suggests a few reasons:
1. They don’t have the time to write and deliver follow-up messages.
2. They don’t know what to say.
3. They don’t have a system to deliver the follow-up messages.
4. They don’t want to screw it up.
5. They don’t think it’ll work.
Now, I have a question for you, and it’s a serious one: Are you lacking a system to deliver follow up messages to leads and losing sales because you don’t think your follow-up will work or because you don’t know where to start?
Before beginning creating your process for follow up, it’s important to get clear about the goal. The overriding goal of marketing is to ensure that you and your company is, in the mind of your prospects and clients, the preferred provider of your product or service. That is, your goal is to have your prospects and clients desire your business regardless of price or competitive offers.
To accomplish this, you’ve got to get a few things done.
1. Get them to know, like and trust you.
2. Make a great offer, clearly and compellingly.
3. Overcome objections and offer proof.
Your follow up system is going to play a big part in achieving all these goals, and we’re going to make it easy to create. The Follow-up Made Easy guide will guide you through creating a great follow-up system that you can use immediately.
First things first, download your Follow-up Made Easy guide and get started on the short exercises to create the ultimate follow up. Stay focused and don’t worry, we’re here to help you get through this. You’re in this for customer satisfaction and ROI!
Second, get out your calendar. Mark down 60 minutes to meet with at least one co-worker or peer that you can count on to be focused and think clearly to think about what to include in your follow up. Then, come back and knock this out all at once. Put it in your schedule now to get started on your prospect and client follow up.
