Following up is the blocking and tackling of marketing and growing your business.
We may dream of creating that perfect blog post or advertisement that will bring a flood of prospects to our door, credit cards in hand, asking where they get in line for the register. But, like most things, building your business takes more effort than that.
Consistent follow-up is the key to predictable revenue, and the key to consistent follow-up is creating a systematic approach. Every business owner I’ve ever met understands, on an intellectual basis, the importance of following up with prospects, customers, referrals, etc.
The problem usually lies in the ability to execute on following up when all of the other day-to-day pressures are bearing down on us. If you don’t have a system in place that makes it as easy as possible to perform your follow-up tasks, chances are those tasks will get squeezed out of your day when other fires arise.
Let me give you an example of what I mean. In the professional services world, it is common for the same person to be responsible for selling and delivering the service. Many accountants, lawyers, architects, etc., are responsible for going out and finding new business.
Once they make a sale, they must also “do the work” and deliver the service. I hear from folks like this who always describe their pipeline as “feast or famine” or “like a roller coaster”. When they don’t have a lot of work, they are busy hunting for new business. Then they make some sales and become very busy working and meeting their deadlines. Following up with prospects and referrals takes a lower priority – opportunities may fall through the cracks without a system in place. Once the current work is completed, the cycle begins again.
The first step in breaking this cycle and taking your business to the next level is to map out your follow-up sequences. Think of following up (and all of your other marketing activities) as a business system. It is essential to map out your goals, along with the people, processes, messages, and other tools you will use to achieve those goals, before you jump into marketing automation software. Marketing automation can be a significant help, but you need a system in place before you can automate it.
Once you start mapping out your follow-up sequences, you will discover that many areas of your business require follow-up. Don’t try to automate them all at once. Pick one area, create a follow-up system, automate it if appropriate, take what you have learned, and then move to the next.
Marketing automation is often associated with online marketing, but you shouldn’t limit yourself to only online activities. There are still many offline or person-to-person interactions that also need strong follow-up. If you are having trouble thinking of a place to start, here are a few example scenarios requiring follow-up:
- Meeting a potential referral partner at a networking event
- Onboarding a new customer
- A request for a free consultation
- Receiving a referral from your BNI group
- Registration for your event or webinar
- Attendance of your event or webinar
- Downloading an eBook from your website
- Conversation at your trade show booth
- Giving a referral to someone in your network
Another way to review opportunities for systematizing your follow-up is to examine your sales funnel and ask yourself what type of follow-up is necessary to help a prospect move to the next stage in the process. Illustrations of sales funnels often make it appear as though gravity does the work; in reality, it requires effort to help a prospect reach the point where they feel comfortable making a purchasing decision.
Lead generation is a crucial part of marketing and is often the most expensive and time-consuming aspect. Make sure you’re not throwing that money away by putting strong follow-up systems in place.
