For instance, you might start your second letter by saying, "10 days ago I sent you a letter..." You might also consider stamping message, "2nd Notice" on envelope to let people know this is second time you’ve contacted them.

Referencing previous communication links what you’re saying with what you’ve already said and reminds your prospect that you care enough to continue conversation.

Usually, when doing direct mail you should include three to five mailings spaced out about seven days apart. When using a sequential autoresponder you can have as many follow ups as you want because using email is basically free (that’s why you always want to get a prospects email address).

One of my clients has over 20 follow-ups in his autoresponder sequence that go out over a six month period.

Each sequence should follow a logical argument and you might consider bolstering offer with each communication using a deadline as a motivator to act now.

As an example, in third communication you could say, "I’m surprised you haven’t taken me up on my generous offer. What’s holding you back?" Or consider saying, "I’ve written you three times and you still haven’t taken me up on my offer so I’m going to pull out all stops and make you an offer you simply can’t refuse."

Notice how language always links previous communication and increases boldness of offer. It’s same type of conversation you might have in a regular sales conversation.

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How to Put Your Follow Up Marketing System on Autopilot _______________________________________________________

What I’m about to reveal to you is key to developing a powerful follow up marketing system because it overcomes number one reason most businesses don’t follow up.

You must automate your follow up system as much as possible so that there are few, if any, physical interactions from your employees with system. It’s required physical interactions (i.e. printing letters, sending emails, inputting leads etc.) where 99% of all breakdowns happen in well-intentioned follow up marketing systems.

To automate your follow-ups you should consider using robotic marketing systems and outsourcing any manual interactions to a dedicated service.

For instance, to capture your leads you should consider using a toll-free automated recorded message system that captures your prospects contact information and automatically transcribes it and sends your leads to you in a spreadsheet every morning via email.

If you’re using a direct mail follow up system (and you should be), find a fulfillment house to do mailings for you. To find a fulfillment house, simply go to your local printer and ask them to refer you to a fulfillment house in area.

Now step back for a moment and see power of what I’ve just revealed to you. Imagine running an ad, having your prospect call up and give their contact information via your recorded message system.

Then having your leads automatically sent to your fulfillment house via email, after which your prospect receives a five-sequence direct mail package containing your most persuasive marketing message -- without you lifting one finger!

You can set up exact same type of "hands-free" follow up marketing system using an email autoresponder system. Your prospect will not only be receiving your direct mail messages, but you can insert your email messages in between your mailings.

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What About Calling to Follow Up? ____________________________________

You’ll notice that I didn’t say anything about calling your prospect. That’s because you want your prospect to have already received your educational marketing messages and have most of their questions answered before they call you. An educated prospect is your best prospect.

They already know why you’re different, what your value proposition is, and how you’re uniquely qualified to meet their needs. In essence, they’ve pre-qualified themselves before you ever have to spend time physically speaking to them.

This drastically reduces sales cycle and increases your conversion rate because you have positioned your small business to be their only logical choice.

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Conclusion _____________

Follow-up marketing will boost your closing rate and dramatically increase your customer satisfaction. Following up with systematic processes allows you to leverage your salespeople’s time and enhance their productivity, which will result in more sales with less effort and isn’t that what you want? Start winning more sales today by implementing your own follow-up marketing system.

1. What percentage of time and emotional energy does management team routinely devote to revenue growth?

2. Are there just exhortations and talk about growth or is there actually follow through?

3. Do managers talk about growth only in terms of home runs? Do they understand importance of singles and doubles for long-term, sustained organic growth?

4. How much of each management team member’s time is devoted to making effective visits with customers? Do they do more than listen and probe for information and then try to “connect dots”?

5. Does management team come into contact with final user of your product?

6. Are people in business clear about what specific future sources of revenue growth will be? Do they know who is accountable?

7. Would you characterize your company or business unit’s culture as cost cutting or growth oriented? If answer is one or another you need to start doing both. Do people in leadership positions have skill, orientation, and determination to grow revenues?

8. Does company practice revenue productivity? Does it think through whether there are ways to more effectively use current resources to generate higher revenues?

9. How well does your sales force extract intelligence from customers and other players in marketplace? How well is this information communicated and acted on by other parts of your organization, such as product development?

10. How good are upstream marketing skills- that is, ability to segment markets and identify consumer attributes- in your business?

About Author:

Ram Charan is coauthor of landmark Fortune article "Why CEOs Fail" and an adviser on corporate governance, CEO succession, and strategy implementation. He was named as Best Teacher by Northwestern's Kellogg School and as a top-rated executive educator by Business Week. He is author of Boards at Work, coauthor of Every Business Is a Growth Business, and a frequent contributor to Harvard Business Review. (6/2000)

By: Regine P. Azurin

Regine Azurin is President of BusinessSummaries.com, a company that provides business book summaries of latest bestsellers for busy executives and entrepreneurs.

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