From the monthly archives:

March 2008

Does Follow-up Stress You Out?

by million

If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

It is a normal response when you know you need to do something, and you don’t want to do it, to feel some stress.

In a former life I was a biofeedback and relaxation therapist. Those skills still come in handy and I believe every business person can benefit from improving their ability to cope with stress.

Therefore I recommend to you an excellent resource - my stress management tips available at http://www.burnout-to-blastoff.com

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Marketing Follow-up - Newsletter, Autoresponder, Blog or go Offline - Which to use when?

by million

With so many choices of how to follow up with your prospects, clients, and referral sources, do you ever get confused about which to use when? Of course, there aren’t any hard and fast rules, but I’ve come up with some guidelines.

Newsletter

  • timely information of interest to your market - an upcoming course or event
  • your latest great article

Autoresponder

  • Information needs to be evergreen
  • Works great for e-courses and tips series

Blog Post

  • These can take the place of a newsletter or duplicate the content
  • Great for thoughts and musing that aren’t necessarily news, but still of interest to your market
  • Can be seeds of articles for the newsletter

Offline - Greeting Cards, Phone Calls, etc

  • Personalized communiction
  • Communicates closer relationship than online follow-up

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Four Star Followup

by million

My mortgage broker does the best job of follow up marketing of anyone I’ve done business with in the past 5 years. Every so often I get a postcard from her, telling me what is happening in the mortgage world and such. I don’t really pay much attention to them, honestly. I bought my house almost 4 years ago and have no intention of selling any time soon.

Of course, if I knew someone who was looking for a mortgage and needed a broker, I’d recommend Tonya in a heartbeat. Are you curious why I think she does such a great job with follow up, even though I’ve already told you I don’t pay much attention to her mailings? Here is why:

The last time postage increased, I got a card from Tonya with 10 two-cent stamps in it! I was able to cross one onerous little item off my to-do list that week and I still remember it, even though it has been quite a while.

You may be wondering what postage stamps have to do with mortgages.

Nothing!

And that is exactly the point. Tonya sent me something that didn’t have anything to do with the service she offers - however, it was exactly what I needed at the moment. And at its’ best, marketing is about communicating with your prospect or customer in such a way that they feel good when they think of you. That’s more likely to happen if you anticipate and meet their needs than if you are constantly harping on your latest and greatest product, service, award, etc.

Tonya’s company has a service that mails those things for her. If you don’t have access to a system like that, you’re invited to test drive the system I use to make sure my prospects remember me when I call.

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Know, Like, Trust - What is Missing from this Marketing Mantra?

by million

You have heard over and over that before your prospect buys something from you, they have to know, like, and trust you. And it is true.

The first step is they have to be introduced to you. What most small business marketers forget is that their prospects have to be "introduced" to you many times before they feel like they "know" you. Frequently, a prospect might not even recognize your name as one she "knows" until she has seen it about 7-9 times.
Second, your prospect must like you. There is no better way to encourage someone to like you than to show genuine interest in them and their business. You can’t fake this one. Most business people can smell a phoney a mile away.

Third, your prospect has to trust you. You are a professional, aren’t you? You keep your word and keep your prospects best interest at heart.

Great! You’ve gotten through the first three steps.

So, what is missing?

Your prospect has a short memory. After all the energy you’ve put into "know, like, and trust", if you don’t stay in touch with your contact, your name and great reputation will gradually fade.

She will not remember you!

There are only 3 ways to grow your business:
* get more clients
* get each client to spend more on each transaction
* get each client to make more transactions

Making sure your client remembers you addresses the 3rd way to grow your business. Your prospect may know, like, and trust you. You get one sale. And then you go chase another prospect.

In the meantime, your customer has gone on about her life and will shortly forget you, which means the next time she is looking for your product or service she will be getting to know, like, and trust someone else.

Why? Because you didn’t follow up. And she forgot.

A follow system that works is:

  • Simple
  • Affordable
  • Fun
  • Effective

The key word here is "system". Good intentions don’t get the job done. Make sure you have everything in place and make it easy to follow up.

With an online auto-responder, an automated greeting card system, and a good tickler system for your phone calls, you will not only be known, liked, and trusted, you will also be remembered.

Check out the middle column for tools that will help you set all this up.

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