7 Secrets to Fabulous Follow-up The Fortune is in the Follow-up!

Kathy Paauw Productivity Consultant Business and Personal Coach Entrepreneur / Business Owner for 17+ Years

A weak follow-up program! Intention vs. Reality The #1 reason you are losing sales, customers and money every day… A weak follow-up program!

Research shows… People do not pursue 70% of leads generated by expensive marketing efforts. Example: 67% of leads generated at trade shows are never followed up with. 80% of sales made on or after the fifth contact. 30-45% of leads that are not ready to buy NOW are ready within 12 MONTHS.

Why Follow-up is Critical Every month you are not in contact with your customers, you lose 10% of your influence with them. The #1 reason customers stop doing business with a company is “perceived indifference.” They don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care. Customers who feel appreciated generate more referrals for you: $0 advertising generates 80% more results than a cold lead.

Why Follow-up is Critical Stop chasing new cold leads and focus on building a better relationship with your current clients. You’ll have an endless stream of repeat and referral business!

Case Study Business A and Business B start their businesses at the same time. Year One: Both use advertising and cold market methods to generate leads and convert them to customers. “A” doesn’t stay connected with his clients and build relationships with them. “B” stays in regular contact with his clients with the intention of keeping them for life.

Case Study Each gets 80 clients their first year, 80 clients the second year, and 80 the third year. Both have 240 clients. Because “B” has focused on relationship building, 20% of his new business is now by referral only, so he has less marketing costs. “A” needs to keep prospecting to find 80 more clients, which increases marketing costs.

Case Study After five years, both have 400 clients, but “A” still has to hustle and spend big dollars on marketing and advertising to find 80 more new customers. “B” now has his 80 new customers totally by referral from his current customer base (20% of 400) – with NO advertising or marketing costs, except the minimal investment in his follow-up system.

Case Study Because “A” never followed up with his current customers, he has lost a number of them to the competition. “B” has a solid relationship with his customers who feel appreciated and that “B” cares about them. “B” has a steady stream of repeat and referral business for life!

Case Study – Lessons Learned If you want to spend less money on advertising and marketing, having a successful relationship building strategy is critical to make sure you are giving the right attention to your prospects and customers. Personalized follow-up system is KEY!

Which Follow-up System? You need a SYSTEM that takes the time-consuming work out of the process, is easy to use, and is cost-effective. Challenges with these methods: Direct Mail– UNLESS it is personal and engages the prospect or customer emotionally, only 1/4% - 1/2% is opened. Phone calls- time-consuming, sometimes viewed as an intrusion or interruption. E-mail is increasingly unopened, filtered out by spam filters, deleted and ineffective due to its impersonal nature. Up to 87% is deleted!

Attributes of an Effective System Easy to set up and maintain Minimal time investment Inexpensive Tangible – not email, e-cards or text messages Personalized specifically for the recipient Provides reminders for important dates – birthdays, anniversaries Tax deductible business expenses Add your own personal video message Ability to include gift cards or tangible gifts

7 Secrets to Fabulous Follow-up SECRET #1: A Handwritten Card! Personal handwritten note has a power that other methods lack. It tells your prospect or client that you’ve taken the time to recognize them as an individual and they are important to you. GREAT way to differentiate yourself from your competition because so few people bother, especially in a personal way. If your competition sends an e-mail or a mass-produced flyer and YOU send a handwritten card, which of you is more likely to get the sale?

Secret #1: A Handwritten Card Joe Girard Honored by the Guinness book of Records for selling MORE cars than any other person for 12 years. He sold 1425 vehicles in his best year! Joe’s secret: He sent thousands of greeting cards each month to his customers.

Secret #1: A Handwritten Card Tom Hopkins Within 5 years he went from making less than $50 a month in Real Estate to building an annual sales volume of over $14 million Tom’s secret: 10 hand-written thank you cards every single day! (99% of his business was by referral within 3 years)

Secret #2 – Utilize the Automated Greeting Card Strategy Three primary reasons why people don’t send cards: Time: It is inconvenient and time-consuming to drive to the card store and pick out cards. Then it takes time to address it, hunt for a stamp, handwrite the message inside the card, and drive to the Post Office to mail it. Cost: Cards typically cost $3-5 each at the card shop, plus the cost of gas to drive to the store and the Post Office. We forget:  Birthdays and important occasions are hard to remember.

Secret #2 – Utilize the Automated Greeting Card Strategy Send out multiple cards at once. Set up campaigns with different messages to different subgroups all going out in the mail on specified dates (similar to an email autoresponder, but for cards) Set and forget so important occasions are not forgotten.

Secret #2 – Utilize the Automated Greeting Card Strategy Check out some ready-made campaigns for these professions: General stay in touch Generic referrals Holiday cards Real Estate Agents Mortgage Brokers Insurance Agents Accountants Dentists Chiropractors Attorneys Carpet Cleaners SendOutCards www.SmartFollowup.com

Secret #3 –The More Personalized the Greater the Effect Include photos of yourself, your product, your place of business, your staff, or your customers and prospects Include a heartfelt message written in your handwriting Include customized photo gift

Secret #4 – Take Advantage of Multiple Relationship-Building Opportunities Relationship-building situations where an automated yet personalized card can generate business: Networking Meeting Follow-Up Seminar Follow-up Prospect Follow-up & Keeping in Touch Customer Welcome & Ongoing Appreciation Customer Retention & Reactivation Customer Birthdays, Special Occasions & Holidays Referrals Invitations or Announcements of New Products & Discounts

Networking Tips from my book, The Music of Your Heart Network with those who are doing what you want to do, and soon you’ll be doing it too. If you are the role model that everyone looks up to in your network, it’s time to upgrade your network. Collect and record info about people you meet. The size of your network determines the size of your net worth.

Secret #5 –Set Up a Database with a Reminder System Remember your prospect and customer birthdays, special occasions and significant dates--like the anniversary of when they started doing business with you. Set reminders for when it is time to honor a client’s birthday, anniversary or special occasion. Keep track of their personal data all in one place: Contact info Conversations, phone calls & meetings, mailings NOTE: Takes about 5-8 contacts before someone makes a buying decision--keep track of all mailings, phone calls, etc.

Secret #6 – Appreciation Marketing The easiest and least expensive customers come from referrals and repeat business. Most business owners and professionals miss this and spend too much time and money battling for new “cold” prospects. Remember, the top reason customers stop doing business is because of perceived indifference and feeling taken for granted. Make your customers feel appreciated and they will become customers for life.  They will consistently send their friends and family to you -- referrals that cost you nothing!

Secret #6 – Appreciation Marketing People do business with people they know, like, trust… and REMEMBER.  If they don’t remember you it doesn’t matter how much they know, like and trust you.  Greeting cards create positive emotion and a feeling of personal trust and likeability for the sender.

Secret #6 – Appreciation Marketing The biggest secret:  People want to know you are thinking of them without always selling them something! This is the heart of appreciation marketing.   Send your customers cards WITHOUT mention of your latest sale, offer or product… and watch your relationships grow and your referrals double!  This was what Joe Girard and Tom Hopkins did!

Secret #6 – Appreciation Marketing Tom Hopkins --#1 Sales Trainer in the world. Sending cards is one of his most powerful sales tools. Thank you for talking with me on the telephone. Thank you for meeting with me. Thank you for your business. Thank you for your kind referral. Thank you for taking your time to consider letting me serve you (after first refusal). Thank you for taking your time to analyze my services (after they buy from someone else). Thank you for the excellent service you have provided for me. Thank you for using our service/product (sent at one year anniversary).

With an automated greeting and postcard system the Secret #7 – Cost Effectiveness ($6/customer for Follow-up Marketing Success) Send one card every other month to your top 50 customers throughout the year. (Example: a birthday card, three thank you cards, a thinking of you card, and a holiday card.) The result over the following year would be: Increased top-of-mind awareness Differentiation from your competitors Making the customer feel appreciated Increased customer loyalty and retention Increased referrals Building solid, positive relationship with the customer With an automated greeting and postcard system the total cost is about $6 per customer!  

What can an Automated Customer & Prospect Follow-up System do for you? Enable you to follow up using the most personalized system, investing only minutes a day. Be way ahead of your competitors, getting more repeat and referral business without advertising, and never losing a customer again.

Take 5 minutes… Who needs to hear from you and why? Who have you forgotten to thank? Who can you thank today? Who just pops into your mind for no reason at all? (This is called a prompting and you want to act on those!) Who has a birthday coming up? Who did you just meet?

Take 5 minutes… How many names did you write down? More or less than you expected? What do you plan to do with these names?

Let’s send a card now! www.SendOutCards.com/kathy

QUARTERLY POSTCARD $0. 31 postcard $0. 33 stamp $0. 64 x 4 = $2 QUARTERLY POSTCARD $0.31 postcard $0.33 stamp $0.64 x 4 = $2.56 per person/yr. QUARTERLY GREETING CARD $0.62 card $0.46 stamp $1.08 x 4 = $4.32 per person/yr.

From brick & mortar to click and order! What Netflix and iTunes is to the movie and music industries, SendOutCards is to the greeting card and gifting industries.

Individual heartfelt cards Include a gift or gift card if you wish Single piece campaigns: Thanks for the referral (sent to individuals) Happy birthday (sent to individuals) Happy holidays (sent to groups) Multiple piece campaigns sent to individuals or groups (prospects, customers, referral partners Birthday and anniversary reminders

Personalize: Photos Video (QR code) Photo gifts Your own handwriting and signatures

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