If you break the word marketing down into the real basics; there are two general steps to it. The first is to gather a list of contacts who are potentially interested in what you do and the second is to follow-up with them effectively in order to ultimately get a meeting and sell to them.
Sounds easy doesn’t it? But, following-up with your contacts is one of the hardest things to do and for a long time, that’s where my own marketing fell down. Not anymore though – I make sure I follow-up with potential clients now.
So, how do you make sure that you follow-up effectively and don’t hassle people? Well, let’s start at the beginning. Firstly, you need to make sure you’ve got a list of contacts who could potentially be a customer for you – more about this in a future article. But, if you’re in business, have a look at who you’ve got in your business cards or contacts database and sort out who might be a potential customer for you. Look at past clients who haven’t bought from you for a while, people who expressed an interest in the past but never bought from you and anyone else you can think of. Put these down on a list.
Don’t worry about sorting your contacts out at this stage. Just put everyone you can think of down. Also, don’t worry if this list is short – it’s much better to have a short list of properly qualified potential clients than a huge list of people who are never going to buy from you.
The next stage is to sort them out. We need to ‘qualify’ your list. In other words, we need to decide who is a ‘proper’ potential client and who is not. The quickest and easiest way to do this is to make contact with everyone on your list and see how they’re getting on.
Now, if you’re anything like me, it may be that you absolutely hate the thought of picking up the phone and talking to someone that you haven’t spoken to for a while. If that’s you, simply draft a quick email saying that you were looking through your list of old contacts and you noticed that you hadn’t touched base with them in a while. You just wanted to see how they were getting on and if they’d like to have a chat on the phone with you.
By the way, if you’re not like me and don’t mind picking up the phone, go for it and call all of your contacts on your list to see what they’re up to. If you can’t get in touch with them though, it’s worth dropping them an email based on the above.
From the email (or your phonecall) you’ll be likely to get several responses:
1) No response. If you don’t get a response, I would say that they’re telling you that they’re no longer interested or they’ve gone out of business. Take them off your list.
2) A response saying yes, but can we talk later. This probably means that they’re still interested in what you do, but not that interested. Put them lower down on your contacts list.
3) A response saying yes, let’s talk. Great – you’ve got an invitation to talk to them. Pick up the phone and go for it.
All of a sudden, you’ve gone from an old list of contacts to an active list of potential clients.
Then, in the future make sure your list doesn’t get to be an old list of contacts. Whenever you meet someone who is potentially interested in what you do, make contact with them again shortly after you meet and have a chat on the phone (drop them an email first if you feel more comfortable that way). If there is potential there, then is the time to set up a meeting. That way, you ensure that you always have a list of active potential clients on the go.
Follow up with them on a regular basis by email, phone or post to see where they’re at in the buying process.
How can you make sure you’re not hassling them though? Well, simply stick to the rule of 3. In other words, if you’re hearing no three times in a row, just put them at the bottom of your contact list to drop them an email every six months or so to see how they’re getting on.
Remember, following-up effectively is the key to any good marketing strategy. Following-up with my contacts transformed my marketing and it could do the same for you. Go for it!
How to follow-up effectively with your contacts - To learn more about this author, visit Helen Dowling's Website.
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