“Prospecting is the most difficult part of the sales process for salespeople.” (HubSpot, 2017) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
Now, you may be wondering how “prospecting” and follow up are connected.
That’s okay. I did too, at first.
You see, with prospecting you are constantly trying to reach out to someone who may or may not be interested in what you have to say. It can be discouraging reaching out to hundreds of people who have little interest in you.
While, with follow up, the person you’re trying to reach has already figuratively raised their hand and joined your email list. This tells you they are somewhat interested in what you have to say.
As such, we’re going to talk about follow up and its importance to your marketing efforts.
If you have someone who’s already raised their raise, given you permission to contact them, why would you neglect that budding relationship?
For most businesses, their reasons fall into these categories:
- Don’t have time to plan out a communication strategy.
- Tried follow up one or more times and gave up.
- It’s too complicated.
- Simply, don’t know where to start.
Consider the following statistics on both consumers and professionals who want to receive communication from you.
“86% of consumers would like to receive promotional emails from companies they do business with at least monthly, and 15% would like to get them daily.” (Statista, 2015) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
“86% of professionals prefer to use email when communicating for business purposes.” (HubSpot, 2017) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)
What do these statistics tell us?
People are eager to hear from you via email.
Why do we want to email people who are interested in what we have to say?
Simple. Email is used to…
- build rapport with them.
- gain their trust.
- help them get to know you and your business.
- provide offers at the right time to get them to buy something from you.
Remember, people buy from people they know, like, and trust. If people don’t know you yet, then that’s where you need to start. Help them get to know you.
If people know you, then your goal is to get them to like you.
If people like you, your goal is to get them to trust you.
Can you see the pattern or process developing?
Your main intent with email communication is to move the person from one place to another. You’re working on engaging with your audience, so they will in turn know, like, and trust you.
So, what’s holding you back?
Take action today. Start by storyboarding your email messages out. Keep it simple, not too complicated or else you won’t finish.
Figure 1 Indoctrination Series Example
The storyboard you see above outlines five messages in an indoctrination series designed to get new subscribers familiar with the organization.
If you don’t have an email plan yet, this would be a great place to start.
And if you need help creating an indoctrination series I’d be happy to help you.