7 Deadly Sins of Follow-Up — That was the name of the very first workshop I ever held!!! And FOLLOW-UP is still one of the most important elements of your marketing campaign.
Did you know that at one time it was said that it took up to 12 ‘touches’ before a customer would know-like-trust you enough to purchase from you? Today, due to the overloaded media world, those numbers have almost doubled. Hence … if you don’t keep your name top-of-mind, your prospects soon forget what you do and how you can help them!
In summary form, here are the 7 deadly follow-up sins and how to avoid them so you can turn your pile of business cards into paying clients!!!
1. Make sure you have an effective, practical WRITTEN process to follow up with your prospects. Imagine you meet someone at a networking event, what’s your next step to keep in touch with them? Do you send an email? What about social media? Do you call?
2. Follow-up with your prospects frequently. Why do you think your favorite restaurant or clothing store has you on their email list? To keep their brand top of mind with you! When should you stop following-up? Only if they tell you to, not before!
3. Know your prospects personally so that you can send them valuable information. If they are your Dream Client, how can you make their lives better?
4. Send them educational information. Most of the time our prospects have ‘real’ lives outside of business. How nice would it be for them to receive the occasional piece of information from you about their favorite sport? rock star? pet? It not seem important but it certainly makes a lasting impression.
5. Create marketing content that is about THEM instead of ‘me’ marketing which talks all about you/me. In fact, your Dream Client doesn’t really care about your credentials or that you think you have the best company…. they want to hear solutions to their problems.
6. Have a clear and consistent Call-to-Action (CTA) in each follow-up piece. I know it sounds cheesy but people are overwhelmed with information today and need to be told what to do next — even if it’s just watch a video or read a blog post.
7. Create a system that is both time & money efficient!!! Can you automate? Schedule? Can you make it memorable? Funny?
Those are 7 important concepts to include in your follow-up strategy. Stick with me and next week, I’ll share 9 ACTION STEPS to help you create your personalized follow-up system! I want to make sure that you get the best bang for your buck when you are networking (5 Skills to Improve Your Networking).
In gratitude,
Diana
PS. By the way, this past week was so much fun with clients at the Achiever’s Club 2-day marketing magic AND the virtual planning day – BEST-YEAR-YET!!! Want to know the #1 secret to moving your business forward in 2017??? Book your Business Breakthrough Session here!
PPPPPSSS. Have you bought my best-selling book from Amazon.ca yet??? Check out SHIFT into RICH: Navigate the 9 Roadblocks to Small Business Success!
