Whelp, that was interesting…
I did my very first giveaway in February. It was for a free copy of the No B.S. Trust-Based Marketing book, and to enter all you had to do was be a current subscriber and comment on the 3 changes you’d make to an ad I had pictured.
I thought it was pretty easy and who doesn’t like for a chance to win anything?!
Well, it took a few days after the giveaway was published for someone to enter. A few days!
Then, it took another 10 days to get 3 more entries. But, this time, I sent out an email to all subscribers mentioning the giveaway and that their chances to win was EXCELLENT (Follow-up #1).
The day before the deadline to enter I sent out a final reminder notice. This brought in another 4 entries (Follow-up #2).
Here’s the Breakdown:
- 2 entries were from just finding the giveaway.
- 3 entries were from the first follow up via email.
- 4 entries were from final reminder email (Notice I got the most entries with the Final Reminder. Something to think about).
Total of 9 entries.
I was actually surprised by how few entries there were. But, for the first giveaway I think it went pretty well.
Interesting to note, if I would have never made those two follow-up emails I would most likely only had 2 entries. Can you believe that?! I’m giving away something for free and I have to follow-up to get more people interested in entering to win.
Now, I know, it’s just a little book. So, maybe if I was offering something like Magnetic Marketing, which comes with over 200 examples of marketing pieces you can implement into your business, I would have had a lot more entries, since it’s of higher value (Sells for $497, though I can get it for you at $279. If interested you can check it out by Clicking Here),
Anywho, what I’m trying to get across is…
You MUST Always Follow-up with Your Prospects, Customers, and Clients.
You MUST!
7 out of the 9 entries were because of the two follow-up emails. Can you imagine how much more you need to follow-up with your prospects, customers, and clients, who are going to be buying something from you? If it’s that hard to give something away, then it’s that much harder to get someone to buy something.
And, for your business, following-up can happen different ways.
You can Follow-up with:
- Phone Calls
- Emails
- Direct Mail (handwritten note is a nice touch)
- Online Ads (yes, you can do this)
- In-person Visits
- and many more ways!
Just be sure you’re doing something to follow-up with your prospects, customers, and clients.
March 2016 Giveaway!
This month’s giveaway is going to be a copy of legendary copywriter John Caples’ book Making Ads Pay.
Great book on creating ads and sales letters that reap the rewards. The copywriting techniques can be used for offline and online marketing methods.
Here’s how to enter to win your copy of Making Ads Pay:
- Be a current subscriber (And I know you’re already a subscriber so you can check this one off your list).
- Comment below on ways that you follow up with your prospects, customers, and clients. If you don’t follow up, then comment and tell me why not and what you’re planning on doing to fix it! (If you’re reading this on email just click the title above or Click Here so you can see the comment section)
- Be in the U.S. or Canada. Sorry international friend, but I’ll make it up to you someday. You can still play along if you’d like. 🙂
- I will be randomly selecting the winner on Thursday, March 31, 2016 at noon via Random.org (I will send you an email letting you know that you won. You’ll have two days to respond or I’ll have to draw another winner).
Good luck and…
Go take action!
I usually have a sequence of actions that I take. eg. If I was mailing out a postcard, I know that most people will not take action. So there is pretty much no point having a one step process. If it is a direct mail piece like a postcard I always try to reduce the cost of the follow up with an email asking if they got the postcard. Another step I know I should improve on is a further follow up with a phone call. But one problem I have is time zone differences although that is not really a problem, more of an excuse. An area to improve on for sure.
Thanks for sharing, Greg! Yep, it’s amazing how many people do the ‘one-and-done’ type of marketing. They’re leaving so much money on the table. Get calling! 😉 -DH
Right now I am not in control of the business, though I am slowly trying to inch my way into a decision making position to encourage changes like the ones suggested on this site:
Right now my boss uses Commissions Inc to generate leads (though the office admin says that most of the listings come from just being here on a main road for 45 years). Once in, the leads are emailed to the office manager (who is retiring in July), then entered into Infusionsoft to have calls made to them (which is a mess). If we reach them and they are not interested, we calendar them for a few months then call using the Craig Proctor Universal Script (I hate the program, as it is dated and always has something ELSE to sell members).
Thankfully, since many of my suggestions have been working, I hope to be able to make more in the future, such as email newsletters, social media, etc.)
I have suggested pulling the names of ALL buyers and sellers from the past and making calls to them, as there are many. I guess I now just have to wait and see.
Hey James,
Sounds like you’ll be in a decision making position very soon, especially if you’re suggestions have been working! Definitely call up the past buyers and sellers. Also, another suggestion, look up expired listings from 6 months and older (heck, you can do any time range). Check to see if they’ve been relisted or sold. Chances are you’ll find some expired listings that never relisted or never sold. Contact them and find out what happened. You never know when they’ll be ready to sell. Plus, those expireds are usually long forgot by all the other agents.
I’ve never used Craig Proctor’s systems, but he does have a good chapter in Dan Kennedy’s book No B.S. Direct Marketing. http://www.NoBSDirectMarketing.com
Good luck! -DH
Mike (Australia) here… darn being so far away from you guys! I want that book.
Anyhow – I’m a bit follow-up obsessed since reading Dan Kennedy’s comment that follow-up is the most UNDER-UTILIZED piece of the marketing system in small business.
That alone made me boost my ‘touches’ with prospects and clients using online and offline media and mail.
Thanks for sharing, Mike! Hehe! I’m going to make it up to y’all!!! Just not sure how right now. 😛
It’s amazing how much money is left on the table just by not following up. But, we’re all guilty at one time or another of not following up like we should.
Onya! -DH