FIX YOUR FOLLOW-UP PROCESS CAPTURING THE LOST OPPORTUNITIES IN YOUR SALES FUNNEL Automated Advisor - Fix Your Follow Up Process BRANDON STUERKE 1
Fix Your Follow Up Process The Cold, Hard Facts Here is an incredible stat: According to Focus.com, nurtured leads make 47% larger purchasing decisions than non-nurtured leads. But, according to the same study, fewer than 10% of businesses are using any platform to follow up with prospects after the initial communication. That s a whole lot of businesses that are missing out on a whole lot of revenue. We don t want that to happen to you, so we ve outlined a few principles that will help you keep your follow-up on track. Lead generation is all about attracting, capturing and sorting prospects. In turn, you ll create opportunities for meaningful interaction with those prospects, hopefully leading to converting those prospects to clients. But leads are not disposable commodities. Today s leads are tomorrow s (or next month s or next year s) clients. The goal of lead generation is to create a workable prospect database that you can effectively and efficiently market to over time, even if they don t buy something on the first go-round. A study done by the Association of Sales Executives revealed that 81% of all sales happen on or after the fifth contact. Even when people show interest in your services, they usually don t want a pushy sales call or process, who does?! They need time to work through the buying process. Today it s the client that decides when they are ready to buy. So how do you engage with them until they are ready to buy? The answer is follow-up. When you focus on follow-up (lead nurture), you ll have a productive pipeline that will yield new clients month after month (and year after year) as long as you keep nurturing. Automated Advisor - Fix Your Follow Up Process 2
Think Like a Marketer, Not a Salesperson There s nothing wrong with thinking like a salesperson, and most advisors can find decent success with a sales mentality. But it also means that there will be ups and downs, good months and bad months, easy mortgage payments and difficult ones. There s an ever-present stress that comes with a sales mentality, and it can haunt the financial advisor day and night. To educate your prospects the right way, you ve got to think like a marketer. Most advisors think differently; they think like salespeople. As advisors we have to make the shift from hunter (thinking outbound) to harvester (thinking inbound). By doing so you ll enjoy sustainable, long-term success that doesn t rely on your personal sales skills (even though you are probably pretty darn good at closing a deal). Understand the Future Value of Your Leads Effective lead generation means understanding the real value of a lead. This all goes back to the bedrock principle of marketing that says, People buy when they re ready to buy, not when you re ready to sell. When you understand this principle, you realize that acquiring new clients is all about timing. And just because a lead is not ready to buy from you today does not mean that that person will not buy from you in the future. Today s leads are tomorrow s (or next week s or next month s) buyers. Automated Advisor - Fix Your Follow Up Process 3
How Do You Like Them Apples? It s kind of like waiting for fruit to ripen. You can either pick the ripe, low-hanging fruit right now (also known as making the sale) and then go on your way, never to return. Or you can think longer term. You can see all the unripe fruit (also known as potential clients) and wait patiently for them to ripen. You ll have to continue watering, fertilizing and otherwise nurturing them, but they will eventually be ready to harvest. All of your leads have the potential to become amazing fruit (clients). Here are a few tips to help you nurture your leads until they are ready to take action and implement with you: Treat each prospect as a future customer - they ll hear (and feel) the difference in your tone. Talk to prospects in a way that makes them want to become a client. Share client success stories and make them feel like part of the family, even before it s official. Give prospects value. Give them a taste of the benefits they ll get when they become clients. This could be delivered in the form of a helpful newsletter, an e-book, a webinar series and more. Don t be in a rush. Take time to educate and motivate your prospects until they are ready. Don t overwhelm prospects. An email or newsletter should be sent sparingly and only when it contains relevant, helpful information. When you place a high value on your leads, you ll convert many more prospects into clients. Put into place a system to nurture your future sales starting right now! Automated Advisor - Fix Your Follow Up Process 4
Automation The biggest excuse Advisors give as to why they aren t following up the way they should is time. It takes time to follow up. Well, it used to take time. Automated Advisor has paved the way for easy, no-hassle follow-up. With a little bit of time up front for setup, you can have an automatic follow-up series in place that will keep your message in front of prospects until they are ready to become clients. Conclusion Leads supply your business with sales, and sales put food on the table. Taking the time to change your mindset regarding prospect relations/lead generation will have a sizable impact on your business - and your life. There are prospects waiting for your products and services; you just have to know how to find them and how to convert them into clients. And that conversion process takes consistent follow-up, period. For information on how we can help you implement consistent follow up for all prospects and clients, give us a call today, and let us help you become an Automated Advisor. Automated Advisor - Fix Your Follow Up Process 5