The Ultimate Follow-Up Strategy

Here's the scenario: a visitor finds your site through Google. They sign up for your ezine, report, audio—something free that your visitor sees as valuable. You get their email address when they sign up. In the Multiple Streams model we call this freebie the pink spoon, after Baskin-Robbins© appetite-whetting sample. The report is automatically downloaded and your visitor- now a prospect-reads or listens to it over the next couple of weeks. They really like the information and they decide to put it to use. After a couple of weeks your prospect finds out it really works. Wow-that was great advice! Maybe they remember where it came from, but maybe they've forgotten all about you...

What if your prospect downloads your pink spoon and doesn't read it right away—in fact, what if they forget about it altogether? It downloads into a temporary file and disappears. If they have trouble remembering you under the best of circumstances, and they do, they're certainly going to forget you when your pink spoon is gone.

The bottom line is that we rarely make a significant purchase impulsively. We think about it, mull over it, discuss it with our friends, and choose to buy it or forget about it. There's usually a contemplation period between our initial exposure to a product and our purchase. So if you're not marketing your services and products to prospects consistently over time, you're losing out on valuable sales.

So what is the least expensive, and yet extraordinarily impactful method of staying in touch with your prospects and customers?

Autoresponders.

An autoresponder is a sequence of emails that is sent automatically to a prospect or buyer. For example, if you buy a service or product online you will usually immediately receive a response or electronic receipt via email. Anytime you make a purchase from Amazon, for example, they send you a prewritten confirmation email of your purchase.

Therein lays the power. Autoresponder messages are prewritten. Once you've written them, you load them into the autoresponder server, and they're sent automatically to anyone who signs up for your ezine, report, product, or service. The messages can be very personalized or more general, depending on how much information you've requested from the prospect.

Once your visitor has given you their information, you can continue to send messages over as long a period as you wish. The type of information you send should have some interest to the prospect—more information about your products, announcements, tips, new ideas you've heard about. By consistently sending information and not just more sales pitches, you're keeping your business alive to the reader.

If you have a variety of offerings, ranging from a free report to an ecourse to coaching services, an autoresponder is invaluable. Not only will you be able to stay in touch with your prospect, but you can also guide them through your marketing funnel.

The first step is capturing your visitor's email address by offering something of great perceived value. Your autoresponder sequence can then continue to provide valuable information related to the initial product, and also suggest ways in which your other products and services could be of help. Anytime you develop a new product or service, you can develop an email campaign that introduces your offering and allows your subscriber to take a free test drive.

NEXT STEPS

Some of the most popular services for autoresponders include Aweber and Constant Contact. Explore these products briefly, and compare fees and services. How much will they charge monthly to send out your ezine? Is the cost based on how many subscribers you have? How easy is it to put a subscriber form on your site? How many messages can you send? Over what period of time? Both of these have tutorials, and free trials.

Your next quick assignment is to write your first three messages for a made-up email campaign. Take a service or product you already offer, and play with some ideas of how to promote it over 3 email messages. Again, these are people who have voluntarily signed up for your free pink spoon already, so don't be afraid of marketing "too much". If they like what they've gotten already, they'll be receptive to more. And if they didn't care for the pink spoon, they can always unsubscribe...