5 Important Steps to Build an Effective Follow-Up System

According to a study by Dartnell and McGraw Hill:

- 80% of all sales are made only after 5 or more contacts.

- 48% of all sales people give up after the 1st contact. 25% after the 2nd contact, and 17% after the 3rd or 4th contact.

- In other words, 90% of the sales people give up before 80% of the sales are going to be made.

Clearly, the follow-up stage in marketing is the most neglected and misunderstood stage in the marketing process. Follow-up comes into play immediately after you make contact with someone, and, as highlighted in my article Cross Country Move Highlights Time Required to Build Relationships, it requires patience, tenacity and persistence. Contrary to what many people think, it's not about making the sale (that comes later), it's all about nurturing relationships and creating credibility.

And, now, for true confessions. Through my recent undertaking to set up a fully integrated Customer Relation Management (CRM) system I have come face-to-face with my own failure in this area; my failure to nurture the relationships with ALL of the people with whom I’ve come in contact. Yes, I'm quite good at staying in contact with people with whom I've made a direct connection. However, through my efforts to put together my keep-in-touch back end system I've discovered how many more people I've let slip through the cracks over the past couple of years. I don't want this to happen to you!

I won't deny it. The level of thinking that has been required to design the elements of the CRM system has fully taxed my brain, but like all things that create breakthroughs in effectiveness, taking the time put this together has already been worthwhile. I offer you the 5 steps that have been critical to the process.

Step 1: Before diving into this project take the time needed, if you haven't already, to fully develop the vision, mission and the critical success strategies for the next 3-5 years. How many people do you want to reach, what is your message, how do you want to interact with your prospects and clients, etc.? Building a successful business is not a spring event, it's a marathon. Give planning the time it's due.

Step 2: Select 2 to 4 high-end marketing strategies you'll use to make initial contact with your target clients. By choosing no more than 4 such strategies (I actually recommend only 3) you'll have an easier time deciding just what to do with the leads you receive through these strategies. Get too many pipeline balls in the air and you're likely to burn up your available resources on filling the pipeline.

Here are my top 3 pipeline strategies for a relationship-based business:

- In-person Networking

- Public Speaking

- Webinars or Teleconference classes

Step 3: Identify and create 1 or 2 "easy-to-say-yes-to" offers for every one you meet. Make sure that you create offers that naturally and easily suggest a logical next step. Here are a few offers that are relatively easy for people to say yes to.

- 1 or 2 special reports through which you can share practical, immediately useful tips and information. These reports should allow you to easily lead them to the next opportunity.

- A newsletter or blog that you publish every 1-4 weeks through which you can talk to prospects about the issues that concern them. Don't go overboard, but do include information about how they can do business with you.

- A no-cost webinar or teleseminar that addresses one of the top issues your clients face.

- Invitation to attend a networking event, seminar or webinar that features a speaker or topic of interest to both of you.

Step 4: Here comes the most difficult part, for me anyway. Outline pathways to easily and naturally pull people from the initial contact to the next level of connection and more directly into your pipeline of qualified prospects. Use paper and mind mapping if it helps to start, or use a software program that allows you to map out the steps. (I used MS Word.)

Step 5: Carefully research the features of several CRM systems. The research required to identify the best software for this purpose will help you understand what constitutes an effective CRM system. They are not all the same, and there are many out there. I've looked at a couple which I'll describe in "resources" below. To consider:

Cost: monthly vs. potential ROI

Growth Potential: Will you be able to continue to use it as the number of contacts grows?

Prioritize: Each system has different functions and capabilities. It's unlikely you'll get everything you love in one system, so prioritize most important to least important. You might do this before starting your research.

Integration and compatibility: with your shopping cart, contacts and follow-up system

Ease of use: can you get around, can you see yourself teaching someone else

Support: even if you don't need it, contact support to ask a question to test responsiveness.

Bonus Step: Get help! Even if you're a detail person by nature, as I can be at times, this is a time when you want to invest in your business and hire help. I have 2 people helping with project: one person is helping enhance the marketing end of my keep-in touch system (what you would see on my web site) and the other is helping create and and implement the sales side of the keep-in-touch system.

As I said at the beginning of this article, doing the research and designing your follow-up system takes time and brain power. You're likely to get this done more quickly, and with a better outcome, if you get help.