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Introduction
You’ve realized the importance of follow up… but that’s only the start of your story. Now you need to create a follow up cash plan – one you can use with every campaign. Setting up a good plan that is flexible yet consistent contributes more to becoming an authority figure – one who people naturally and automatically turn to – than any other single strategy.
Using your follow up plan with every campaign ensures you make the most profit possible out of all the work you do and every product you create.
In this Special Report, we’re going to take a detailed look at what makes a top-notch follow up plan – and why. Understanding not just the `what’ or ‘how’, but also the `why’ makes it easy to implement and adapt your follow up methods to any online (and offline) marketing situation.
Exactly What Is “Follow Up”?
In talking to website owners about follow up, some surprising assumptions emerged. Some people thought “follow up” was something you do only after a product has been delivered. One defined follow up as “troubleshooting problems when they don’t like your product”. A third defined it as: “Bugging people to buy your next product.”
One common belief held by this group of newer marketers was that follow up was being aggressive, or indulging in “hard sell” tactics.
In other words, these particular respondents were far more comfortable politely sending a letter to their list, waiting for the sales, and then accepting (with disappointment) a fraction of the results expected – or indeed possible!
Internet overwhelm, distraction and not having “six pairs of eyes and hands and any employees” were also offered as reasons for not implementing a regular follow up routine.
One or two of this group admitted to sending a reminder a few days before their introductory offers were about to end. (And that’s a good follow up tactic – a lot of potential customers simply forget about your offer, especially when you’re not consistent in maintaining the relationship). But they also admitted that they had “no particular reason” for sending that follow up letter – and indeed didn’t do it every time.
Sending a single “this offer is about to end” is not using a follow up plan. It’s like only putting eyeliner on one eye; then wondering why your prospective new employer looks at you funny during your job interview (before hiring your perfectly groomed rival to become the new TV anchorwoman).
Follow up is not an area you can choose to ignore. Inconsistent, spotty or hit-and-miss follow up efforts brand you as inexperienced and unreliable. They weaken your credibility.
Consistent follow up routines and practices encourage people to have confidence in you. They brand you as a seasoned professional, and strengthen your reputation and web worth.
Consistent follow up routines produce tangible, consistent results!
Beyond Consistency
Do you know why Olympic athletes are able to achieve such superhuman results? It’s because they not only train systematically until they are consummate experts: To them, that’s only the basics. Once they’ve become the absolute masters of their sport, they then spend an equal amount of time refining the smallest details and addressing the most minor weaknesses until they shave milliseconds from their fastest times, or add millimeters to their highest jumps.
They do all this because, at the Olympic level, even a millisecond or millimeter can mean the difference between a Gold Medal… or coming in fourth and “falling off the podium”. Now, you certainly don’t have to invest the years that an Olympic athlete invests in order to become a successful marketer. But adopting Olympic-level work ethics and focus when it comes to your follow up habits really will help you get miles – not millimeters – further ahead than many of your peers.
Here are the 7 hallmarks of a strong follow up plan. It should:
1. Take familiar, consistent steps, presented the same way in the same format every time, so that people “recognize” and welcome your email or letter, when it arrives.
2. Feel helpful – not intrusive – to your site visitor or list member. It should make everything easier for them.
3. Bring you a consistently predictable profit ratio with every campaign
4. Have measurable results you can track and improve upon
5. Run on autopilot, requiring minimal investment of time and effort from you.
6. Solidify your reputation and boost your credibility.
7. Help your visitor move through the follow up process smoothly and easily.