Follow Up - Part two

I just got another great email that's like the second part of last week's post. This is an excellent article on following up - great stuff...

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Open Sesame: The Follow-up Formula
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Remember "Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves?"

In this story from "A Thousand and One Arabian Nights," Ali Baba
discovers the secret words that give him entry to the cave of the
Forty Thieves, where a vast treasure is hidden.

Simply by uttering the words, "Open Sesame," the door to the
cave swings open and the treasure is his for the taking.

There's a modern equivalent to Open Sesame that opens the
doors wide to new business. If you master this secret formula you
will never want for clients and you will grow your business in ways
you once thought were impossible.

I call it the "Follow-up Formula."

Introduced last week, hundreds of More Clients subscribers now
have access to this Follow-up Formula in the form of my new
Audio Program, "The Art and Science of Telephone Follow-up."

In today's eZine, we'll explore some of the ins and outs of this
Follow-up Formula and the impact it can have on your business.

Four Applications of the Follow-up Formula

There are at least four marketing activities where you can apply
the Follow-up Formula. (How many of them are you using?)

1. Follow-up after networking

2. Follow-up after receiving a lead

3. Follow-up after giving a presentation

4. Follow up after a mailing campaign

These activities are ways to turn business connections into
qualified prospects. But if you don't follow-up, all your marketing
efforts will be wasted. To get results with the Follow-up Formula
you need to apply these rules:

Rules of the Follow-up Formula

1. Always follow-up sooner, rather than later. Don't wait a week or
even a few days after making an initial connection. Do your best
to follow-up in one or two days. For every day you wait, you
lessen the impact of the follow-up call.

2. If you don't make the follow-up call, the chances the prospect
will follow-up are extremely low. It's not that they are not
interested in your services, they might be; it's simply that it's
your job as the service provider to make the call. Don't think of it
as an intrusion, but as an opportunity to connect.

3. Think of these calls as "introductory calls," not as "sales calls."
The follow-up call is the bridge between marketing and selling. Its
purpose is to determine if the opportunity to do business with a
prospect exists in the first place.

4. Be prepared. Never "wing it." Use a script or outline to guide
you through the call. This keeps you on track and focused on what
you are saying instead of worrying about what the person you are
calling is thinking. This is the key to effective calls.

5. Always end the call with an agreed-upon action. a) you won't
call again as there is no interest in your proposition, b) you will
call back at a later time to explore further, or c) you will set an
appointment (in person or by phone) to explore working together.

The Numbers of the Follow-Up Formula

My experience is that, on average, with three to five follow-up
calls, you can turn at least one into a client. Sometimes you will
do better, sometimes you will do worse. (But if you don't call, the
results will be a big fat zero!)

Think of your marketing activities over the past month. How
many opportunities to follow-up have you taken full advantage of?
How many times have you avoided making a follow-up call or
done a poor job with the call?

By some some estimates, the average Independent Professional
misses (or blows) six to ten follow-up calls per month. And that
means two or more new clients you didn't gain that month.

If you put some basic marketing activities into place, you will
generate qualified prospects. And then, if you do make those
telephone follow-up calls, you will predictably turn a percentage of
them into paying clients.

Isn't it time to master the Follow-up Formula?

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The More Clients Bottom Line: When you understand the Follow-up
Formula and apply it to your business consistently, you will have
the power of Ali Baba who uttered the words "Open Sesame" to
receive untold riches. Yes, this formula is a little more complex;
the good news is that you can learn it easily.

By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit
Robert's web site at actionplan.com for additional
marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional
service businesses

Did you read that? - 1 out of ever 4 calls will turn into a customer/booking/etc. But ONLY if you make a follow up call. Time to test his theory, don't you think?