Hey, How Do You Follow Up With Your Clients?

Believe it or not, this simple line is the best way to approach a business person about SendOutCards. Everybody has, or should have, some form of regular contact with their clients, business partners or prospects. But also, most people do not do as well as they should or could.

Here's some statistics:

48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect.
25% never make a 2nd contact.
12% only make 3 contacts.
ONLY 10% of all sales people make more than 3 contacts!!

2% of sales are made on the 1st contact.
3% are made on the 2nd.
5% are made on the 3rd.
10% are made on the 4th.
80% of all sales are made on the 5th to 12th contact.

So where do you fall in this?

I know that I am all over the map and I'm sure that you are too. I stay in contact with some clients and prospects better than others. But I also know that very few people, whether in my mortgage practice or SendOutCards, make the decision to do business with me on the 1st contact.

The Dilemma:

I have a lot of technology and systems.

• I have several websites that attract prospects to me
• I use the phone and talk in person or leave a voice message.
• I send emails and have access to 4 different e-newsletter providers, as well as 4-5 different email platforms to send email blasts or campaigns.
• I use several social media platforms that I use to inform and attract.
• I have a program that can send a custom letter out to a prospect and tell him/her how much of a loan they would qualify for and then send mass mailers out via USPS AND
• I have SendOutCards.

I don't mention to brag. In fact it's overkill and ineffective. Voice mails are rarely returned unless I have an established relationship. Emails often don't get past the SPAM filters and most correspondence from a mortgage company gets thrown away.

The Solution:

For me, SendOutCards is often an icebreaker, or door opener. Let's look at a couple of examples.

I spoke with a prospect today for my mortgage practice. They are looking at purchasing a home.

1. They found me on the Internet at www.PDX-Mortgage.com, and filled out a contact form.
2. They immediately received a email via auto-responder and I received a text message alerting me that someone had filled out the form.
3. He was immediately enrolled in my website's monthly e-newsletter .
4. I immediately sent another email much more personal and asked when a good time to call would be.
5. We talked soon after and he went back online to complete the application.
6. I also sent out a Thank You card via SendOutCards.
7. We talked again today and will most likely again tomorrow.

So, in the course of a couple of days, I had 6 unique touches via 4 different ways and he will receive my e-newsletter in a couple of weeks. In this situation, SendOutCards is more of a Nice Touch that will help to differentiate me from the next guy.

Here's another example:

I have a twitter account: www.twitter.com/NiceTouchMktg and www.twitter.com/Larry_Morris (follow me). When someone follows me I send out a canned response with a compelling question. Those who respond with a personal answer get a card if I can find an address and a tweet letting them know that they should watch their mail. I follow up with a phone call to a prospect who has been somewhat warmed up.

I just started this approach, so we'll see how it works, but I know it's far better than a blind phone call from some dude trying to sell cards.

Is SendOutCards necessary? Of course not. But it does something that none of my other touches can do. It bypasses most SPAM and JUNK MAIL filters. It gets opened. It catches people's attention. It is as creative as I want it to be.

Give it a try. What have you got to lose? Fill out the email request and give me your address. Let's see if it works.