Boost Sales

No matter what you sell--products, services, or causes--one of the key ingredients to your success will be the attention you give your sales lead follow-up system.

Notice that I used the word system to describe your follow-up program. e-mail.

The two most powerful e-mail tools for effective client follow-up are:

==> Your own e-mail newsletter, ezine, discussion list, etc.

==> A programmed system of timed e-mail follow-up messages.

Let's look at each one briefly:

YOUR OWN E-MAIL NEWSL

No matter what you sell--products, services, or causes--one of the key ingredients to your success will be the concentration you give your sales lead follow-up system.

Notice that I used the word system to describe your follow-up program. It's an important conceptual word. If you do not have a well planned, *step-by-step system* for lead follow-up you are leaving a lot of profits sitting on the table.

It is widely formal that it takes a minimum of five to seven attempts to adjust a sale (any sale) in front of the customer has enough information and confidence to buy from you. If your idea of follow-up is to pole vault one autoresponder message back to your on-line inquiry and expect the cash register to ring, you are in for a shocking surprise.

You have heard often, and will continue to hear, that effective marketing is based on the creation of relationships with your potential customers. It's true! Indeed, this is one of the true Power Principles of internet marketing. One of the great benefits of the internet is the ease and cost-effectiveness of relationship building.

We must understand that our potential customer is inundated with competing promotion messages from various media--television, radio, newspapers, magazines, billboards, point- of-purchase, direct mail--and now the internet.

All of these marketing methods presume to thicken a relationship with its consultation in order to make the message credible and believable. Credibility and plausibility lead naturally to sales.

The one media that stands head and shoulders eclipsing the competition is the internet. No other vehicle provides the opportunity to connect with your orchestra in such a timely and intimate way. Using the tie-in of web sites and email you have the graphical power of television and the intimate targeting of direct mail--without the interlocked high costs. It's a powerful combination.

If you really want to 'Reach Out And Touch Someone', the way to do it is with the real Killer enforcing of the internet... e-mail.

The two most powerful e-mail tools for effective vassal follow-up are:

==> Your own e-mail newsletter, ezine, discussion list, etc.

==> A programmed system of timed e-mail follow-up messages.

Let's look at each one briefly:

YOUR OWN E-MAIL NEWSLETTER, EZINE:

I can't say enough touching what a regular newsletter or ezine will do for your hulk line. By responsive useful information to your clients and prospects on a regular justification you are construct a strong bonding relationship with them. Over time, they will broach to see you as a partner in their success. The trust and friendship you have handmade through your newsletter will translate to other pantomiming and increased profits for you.

Managing a newsletter or ezine does not have to be expensive or very time consuming. There are several free services that will host your publication and provide an self-directing subscription process. I just switched one newsletter over to the YahooGroups system for new subscriptions and it seems to work fine. It has eliminated all the hand subscription process and self-governed it for me, all at no cost.

As a marketer, you simply must confer regularly with your distributors... and your product customers. You should give serious consideration to producing your own periodic e-mail newsletter. In doing so, you will be pyramid relationships which will fatten your profits quickly.

AUTOMATED E-MAIL FOLLOW-UP:

The use of autoresponders to supply immediate and comprehensive information to your prospects is a very powerful use of e-mail technology and, I believe, a good one.

But, what do you do rearmost the initial lead response? How do you continue to follow-up at regular intervals? If you deal with very few leads of high quality, it's not a problem to follow-up with custom one-on-one messages and it is imperative that you do so if you expect to convert these leads to sales.

If your lead flow runs to big numbers, however, you have a problem. You simply must automate the follow-up process to insure that every prospect inquiry gets properly timed, on-going, information and reasons to buy--a minimum of 5 times. To do less is to waste your lead generation investment. You must maximize this return-on-investment if you are to succeed and the only practical way to do this is with automation.

A number of e-mail services provide an autoresponder system that will send a series of pre-written, timed, follow-up messages to your leads. This is a powerful use of technology. The real power comes, however, when the messages you send are professionally crafted works of premiere laden sales copy. These timed responses can be profit-enhancing selling tools, or downright intrusions. The difference will be the skill with which you use the tool.

Fortunately, you have numerous high-tech tools available. In order to maximize your income you will want to take start of all lead generation tools and systems provided by your company.

The reward for deanery an self-closing follow-up system is abidingly worth the effort. The time you spend nurturing your follow-up program will result in:

* Increased sales and profits

* Improved image

* More sales leads

* Lower sales costs

* Shortened selling cycles

* Improved cash flow

* Faster Team Building

* Higher Residual Income

* Faster Return-On-Investment (ROI)

Remember... the profits are in the FOLLOW-UP!

© 2005 Thom Reece All Rights Reserved

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