No Follow-Up

June 4th, 2012 by Diane Conklin under Direct Mail, Marketing. 2 Comments.

You just made some sales, whether it was from the platform, on a teleseminar, after sending an email or your online newsletter, or from a direct mail piece.  It doesn’t matter how you made the sales, you’re feeling pretty good about it.  Most marketers think this is the end of the road, that their work is done.

The smart marketers, like you, know this is just the beginning.  This is where the fun starts.  The real money is made after the initial sale, on the backend.  Your follow-up system can decrease refunds by as much as 53% and increase backend sales 100 times, or more.

Following up with your clients is an area of your business where systemization is essential, because it makes your life a lot easier.

You should have a multi-step process, also known as a stick program, for following up with your clients after you make a sale.  You might send them an unexpected bonus; have a staff member do a courtesy call, as a customer service gesture, just to check in with the new client; send them a thank you card; or send an email with a free download.

It might be as simple as a customer service call after they receive their package to see if they have questions.  On the other hand, your follow-up program might consist of five to seven steps, or more.  You might send them out a thank you card for their order, then, a week later, you might do your customer service call to make sure they’re happy, followed by the arrival of a box of cookies, after which a telemarketer might contact them to see if they would like to attend your upcoming seminar, and then they get your monthly newsletter.

Your process might be simple or more complex.  The more times you touch your new clients after they make their initial purchase, the less likely they are to cancel.

Once you have the client on your mailing list, they should be getting regular communication from you – at least once a month.  More communication will be necessary as you begin to market new programs and services, or have upcoming events you would like for them to attend.

You should also have a follow-up system for your regular clients.  People who are buying from you multiple times a year should also be followed up on.  This is called relationship marketing.  Everything you do in your business is either adding to or taking away from the relationship you have with your clients.  The better your clients feel about that relationship, the more likely it is that they will buy the next product or service from you.

Your clients must know, like and trust you.  If they do, they will stay a client longer, buy more, refer more new clients, and freely give you great testimonials you can use in your marketing.

Every program, every event, every sale you make, should have its own follow-up program, and your staff should know the steps to follow for each of those programs.  If you have five to seven contacts or “touches” with your clients after every program they invest in, after they register for your seminar, workshop, or teleseminar, and after they become a coaching member, your profits will skyrocket, and less and less people will refund and drop out.

Taking the time to institute follow-up programs will increase your profits.  Once you have the program in place it should take very little staff time, and none of your time.  It will be one of those things that happens seamlessly in your business but that dramatically increases your profits.

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