The Fortune Is In The Follow Up!

followupfile2 As a business owner you have heard it a million times, if you don’t follow up with your prospects and customers you are giving your business away to your competitors!

This is not another article that touts the importance of follow-up to your business. No, I don’t think you need to be convinced of that. This article is a step-by-step how-to Follow-up System that has transformed my business!

So what does your follow up plan currently look like? Is your desk over flowing with business cards that you have to search through every time you need someone’s phone number? Maybe you have graduated to a day timer or online calendar. Maybe you are a real pro and have a contact manger. These are all great tools but they’re only that, tools, what is your strategy for implementation?

Without a plan or a strategy the above tools are no better than if you said “I want to build a house, I have my new hammer, some great nails and a truck load of wood. Well, now what? You must have a plan, a blue print or strategy.

Not long ago my own follow up system consisted of a box (really several boxes) of business cards. Oh and I also had a fancy business card holder for my more prominent contacts. I also had several legal pads on which I would record the name and number of a prospect or client I needed to follow up with. In addition, I had a contact manager and e-mail autoresponder. Everything was scattered about and, I admit, very unprofessional. If I were interviewing an employee to fulfill the job of “follow-up” in my business would I hire me? The answer was an obvious no.

So after some thought and research I came up with a system that has been working fantastic for me and I want to share it with you in a step by step How-to-Create-A-Customer-Follow-Up-System

Step One: Selecting Your Follow up Tools
What does it really mean to follow-up with someone? Does it mean to call them every day or follow them on twitter? No, as a professional you will need to select several medium or marketing tools to reach out and touch your prospects or customers on a regular yet professional time frame. You do not want to become a stalker as you risk looking desperate for the sale and completely turning off your potential customer. On the other hand you do not want to appear too casual thinking they will just call you when they are ready. Chances are they will have forgotten all about you and moved on to your competitor.

So here several tools that you should be using to stay in touch with your prospects and customers.

1. Phone
2. E-mail with auto responder
3. Newsletter
4. Post card, Thanks cards and Birthday cards

I strongly recommend that you use several automated tools in your follow up system. Take time to write out several email messages and put them into your autoresponder, I use AWeber. That way you do not have to write out a message from scratch each time you need to send an email. Also, try a card service like Send Out Cards for your thankyou’s. If not what are the odds that this step will get done if you have to go to the store for a card, get a stamp and write the card. Is it any wonder few businesses send cards? It’s time consuming, so automate it and you will be doing something your competitors are not.

In addition to the above tools you will need to acquire a file folder crate, hanging file folders and regular file folders. This ideally needs to be an external type filing crate because it is a visual reminder that you have work to do. It is not out-of-site and thus out-of-mind and forgotten.

Step Two: Putting Your System Together

Divide your filing crate into2 or 3 sections depending on the typical sales cycle of your business. I begin with
1. Prospects, then move to
2. Consultations, and finally
3. Customers
You could combine the first 2 if you prefer.
Now in each of your sections you will hang several folders for each stage of contact or follow up.

Prospects
• Phone Call
• Email Newsletter
• Phone Call
Consultations
• Product Demo
• Call Back
• Thank you E-mail
• Email Newsletter
• Phone Call
Customers
• Thank you card
• Research
• Phone call
• Consultation
• Optimization
• Referral
• Email List

The obvious idea here is to move your prospect through your sales funnel in a professional and systemized sequence of events. So each hanging file should represent one follow-up event in your sales cycle.

Step Three: Adding Your Contacts

Here I have taken a normal business folder with tab on top. I prefer the right tab as my hanging folder tabs start top left. To each tab I staple my prospects business card. If I don’t have a card I create a label. The folder is great as now I have their contact information in a visible place and I can write notes on the folder and put additional items inside like sales slips, research records, anything pertaining to that customer.

Now each folder goes in the corresponding file for the stage of contact you are on.

Example: If I have already completed a product demo with a prospect then I move them to my call back file, they will remain there until I actually call them back. Once I satisfy that event I move them to the next step, if they become a customer I skip the prospect e-mail list and go straight to the Thank you card file.

Keep your file crate in your office and schedule time each day to go through it. Persistence coupled with a clear follow up plan is absolutely necessary and this system is an excellent, organized visual Follow-Up System that will help you improve your follow-up, if you implement and use it. It pays off!

To Your Success!
Cindy Youngblood
www.Magnetic-Web-Marketing.com
Online Solutions for Real World Results!

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