Excuse to Call
Posted by AndyM on March 16, 2010 under Business Growth | 
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During my seven years of leading and managing a national sales organization, my team and I often talked about wanting an “excuse” to call on a prospect or a customer. As a sales person one often feel like a nuisance — like you are looking to take more than to give. I had a flashback recently when working with one of my clients — we needed to “tee up” situations that would allow my client’s sales rep to touch base with current clients.
What did we do? We created a simple, but valuable, promotion that we plan to send out via email. I signed up my client with Constant Contact so we can do it quickly, make it attractive looking, and monitor our results (how many people opened the email, how many clicked through to visit the web site, etc.). Once that email goes out, the sales representative on my client’s team will have a reason to call — just to follow up on the promotion their customers should have all seen in their emails.
It may seem like such a simple concept — a little mundane, in fact, in this age of complex marketing programs. All she will do is call each of the people who received the promotion via email to:
- Make sure they noticed it (it’s easy to overlook emails these days isn’t it?)
- Ask them to either open it up, or send them another copy if they can’t find it
- Explain a few details and ask if they have any questions
Who knows where the conversation will go from there, but this little two-step plan accomplishes a few things:
- It communicates that my client doesn’t just blast messages at their clients and prospects. By simply following up, they are making it clear that the messages they send have useful information. They wouldn’t be calling to confirm receipt if they didn’t feel so!
- Increases the likelihood that future messages will be noticed. It’s so easy to become numb to the emails you receive! Once the receiver makes the stronger connection between the message and who the sender really is, future emails will get more attention. Even when my client merely leaves a voice mail that is never returned, the exercise will be worth it.
- Oh ya, it will increase immediate results. If you’ve created a good offer in the first place, you’ll get more people to pay attention and take advantage if you follow up with a call.
I urge you to not overlook the simple things when designing your next “system” for increasing profits through more effective marketing and selling.
More information about Constant Contact
As a business partner, I offer business owners who sign up through me (simply by using either link in this post) the same price as available by signing up directly. I ALSO provide a free 2-hour email marketing strategy consultation. If you’ve been kicking around the idea of email marketing, it may be time to take action! Let me help you get started.
