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How To Quintuple Your Chances Of Getting New Clients
by Steve Slaunwhite
A prospect is five times more likely to hire you if you follow-up with him consistently than if you do not. Five times! Now if that isn’t a good reason to have an effective stay-in-touch plan, I don’t know what is!
What is a prospect? That depends on who you ask. My definition is this: A prospect is someone who
a) has expressed an interest in your services,
b) has a need for copywriting,
c) is someone you want to work with (fits your profile of an ideal client), and
d) has NOT used your services yet.
A prospect may have come your way through a variety of means. She might have called you for a quotation, responded to a voicemail message you left, downloaded a free report from your website, chatted you up at a business event, or replied to an ad or mailing.
Having an effective stay-in-touch plan is critical. Even if a prospect is impressed with your services she might not need a copywriter right away – or might even be using someone else. So you want to make sure that, when things change, you’re on her radar screen.
I recently got a call from a prospect that has been in my stay-in-touch system for more than two years. He recently moved to another company and needed a series of e-mails and landing pages written. Fortunately, I was on his short list. But I’m convinced that I wouldn’t have been if I had not kept in touch.
How do you keep in touch? A monthly e-mail newsletter is one of the best methods. However, not everyone likes e-zines. And there’s a monotony to constant emails that negates the personal touch.
I’ve found that it’s better to mix it up a bit. A friendly phone call. A letter. An e-mail. A gift, such as a new report or book. A classic technique that works just as well today as it did fifty years ago is to clip a useful article and mail it with a sticky note that says something like: “Tom. Thought you’d be interested in this. Steve.” Holiday cards are also effective.
Make an effort to personalize as much as possible. If you know that a prospect is interested in blog marketing, customize your follow-up accordingly. (For example, send him a helpful article on the subject.)
How often should you follow-up with prospects? I don’t know if there’s a magic number. But I’ve found that seven times a year is just about right. And I make at least two of those contacts a phone call.
Do YOU have a stay-in-touch plan for your prospects? If not, consider what the opposite is to the statistic I mentioned in the first paragraph. If you don’t follow-up with prospects they’ll be five times LESS likely to hire you. Ouch!
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