Does any of this sound like you?
- Do you have stacks of business cards from networking events that you’ve been meaning to follow up with?
- Does it take you longer than a couple of days to follow up?
- Have you ever forgotten to follow up?
- Are you afraid of coming across as pushy?
Whenever I’m working with clients this is probably one of the biggest areas where they are looking to establish a system behind managing their email. Too often they come back to their office from networking events, speaking engagements, conferences or trade shows with stacks of cards or sign-in sheets and then get caught up in the day-to-day of their business. Those potential clients that they have sitting in the palm of their hands will likely not become clients anytime in the near future.
In establishing any system, the first thing is getting organized. Whether you decide to use an automated follow up system, like Infusionsoft, or setting up a manual system that you or your assistant can manage, it’s going to be important that you document an organized process.
Example of a manual follow up system:
- Cards/Sign-up sheets are put in an envelope and sent/given to assistant
- An established template for a follow up email can be populated with the person’s name and where they met
- Determine how many days you will wait before you follow up again and how you will follow up again
Example of automated follow up system using Infusionsoft:
- Create a campaign with an internal form to fill out with the person’s name, email address and where they met
- Have that form tag them with the event and to populate a follow up email with merge fields of their name and where they met
- Determine how many days you will wait before you follow up again and how you will follow up and set that up and set up the balance of the follow up to happen automatically
Gartner Research says that 67% of prospective clients that say “no” to you today will be ready to buy in the next year. Now count how many leads you have sitting on your desk and when that clock could have started on them.