Thursday, December 29, 2011

Follow Up with an Autoresponder After You Generate Leads

By Miguel Pancardo


So, you're aware of how important lead generation is to your business. You also know it's important to keep your leads afloat. But what do you do with leads AFTER they are generated? In other words, what's your next step? Let's take a look at the answers to these questions.

Following up with a new lead is about as important as fertilizer is to a farmer's crops. It helps the growth process. That person on the other end of the computer needs to know that you are real and trustworthy. So you don't want to be aloof and remain totally anonymous. In other words, you need to follow up with that contact immediately.

The best way to do this is with the use of an autoresponder. This is a piece of software that helps you keep track of new contacts, manage older contacts and follow up with them regularly. This is especially vital at the start of the relationship. That's right - relationship. In essence you are building trust and faith with each other.

As soon as someone signs up for your mailing list, an autoresponder immediately sends an email welcoming the new lead or thanking them for joining. The autoresponder can be set to send as many messages as you need at the intervals you determine are appropriate. While the initial message should be sent right away, later messages can be sent at the intervals you set in the autoresponder. These intervals can be daily, weekly or any other time period you select.

Subsequent messages will walk them through your system, offering other items along the way. Since you probably gave them something for free at the outset, you have already set a precedent that you do what you say you will do. As you bring the prospect along, you can sell them other low end products and build their trust as you do. At the end of this process, you will then offer your main money maker and hopefully they will buy it.

As much as the autoresponder helps in this manner, it provides other services as well. If you are getting a lot of inquiries, the software organizes your list and tells you exactly where each person is in the process. You also have he ability to send singular messages, called announcements, whenever you may need to. Perhaps you have come across a particularly good product at a ridiculous price. You can offer it in this way.

One thing with email marketing of this sort is the danger of SPAM reports. Autoresponder software guards against that with an "unsubscribe" option embedded in every message. If the customer has the option to leave at any time and they don't, then the emails you send are not SPAM; they are expected and you are safe from that, so it's like insurance, in manner of speaking.

Here's the bottom line: you need to follow up with your prospects and maintain contact at all times. Autoresponder software will do this for you easily and automatically. Customers actually expect to hear from you periodically. If you don't contact them from time to time, they'll think you're useless and will opt out of your contact list without even saying goodbye.

You can prevent this by using an autoresponder to follow up on your leads. When you do, your contacts will continue to be satisfied.




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