The Almighty Follow-Up

I used to think follow-up was something you were “supposed to do” after you got a lead at a networking group. (Cut me some slack, okay? When I first started my coaching business in 1996 I’d never been on the internet and had to learn about email!)

Follow-up felt like a chore. Not anymore! I see it as easy money, baby.

Here are a few easy ways to follow up and create a deeper connection with your tribe, former clients and newbies and get effortless sales.

Check in with past clients.

I discovered this one by accident. Whenever one of my former clients would pop in mind, I’d shoot them an email. It was a casual, “How are you? What are the three coolest things going on with you right now?” I had no agenda except to see how they were doing. They’d give me updates and often would talk about an issue they were dealing with. I asked if I could help. Many of them booked a coaching session immediately. They just needed a little reminder that support was available.

Every time a customer purchases a product or service (or even downloads a free gift!) send a thank you email, card, small gift or a fun two-minute video.

If you can automate this process, even better! You want your customers to feel good before, during and after the purchase. And then follow up with one or more emails to check in on them, give them more value and make suggestions about other offers that they’d love and are congruent with the first purchase.

I once threw together an autoresponder email sequence (each email took less than 10 minutes to create!) for a bonus I gave away online. The email said to reply to me if they needed help and I’d hop on the phone with them for a 15-minute strategy session with no strings attached.

Over the last year, that autoresponder has made me thousands of dollars. People hop on the phone with me and receive great value. If I think they’d benefit by buying something else I offer, I tell them about it. No real sales pitch. I just share some options and then follow up our session with a recap by email with website links to the options I suggested.

Send customers a feedback form or a survey.

I do this after every program I facilitate. It anchors the value they received; you’ll get awesome testimonials and great suggestions about how to improve your products, services, delivery systems and customer service. Testimonials on your website can be the deciding factor for future customers to buy.

I once received a flyer in the mail for an audio cassette program (yes, back in the 90s). The quality of the flyer was horrific but they had dozens of amazing testimonials. I thought, “I want to feel the way these testimonials describe!” So, I picked up the phone and ordered it. This program was several hundred dollars and I still recommend it to my clients every month. It was really good.

Great testimonials can save really bad marketing and put some money in your pocket!