Most prospects won't buy first time they hear about your product or service. You can increase your total sales by 50 percent or more if you periodically follow up with them.

Your follow up procedure can be as simple as contacting previous prospects every month or two with a new offer. Or it can be more elaborate such as publishing a weekly newsletter with information and articles related to your product or service.

PROBLEM FOR INTERNET MARKETERS: Many visitors to your web site want what you offer -- but they're not ready to buy right now. You can't follow up with them if they click away from your site before you find out who they are and how to contact them.

THE SOLUTION: Post a free offer on your site for something valuable to prospects in your targeted market. Deliver it ONLY by email. This enables you to capture email address of each visitor who requests it. For example, offer a free subscription to your email newsletter if you publish one. Otherwise, offer a special report, a source list or other valuable information they cannot get anywhere else.

TIP: Try to get each prospect's first name too. Use it to personalize your follow up messages. People can't resist reading something that's personally addressed to them.

You'll never be able to convert every prospect into a customer. But you can convert more of them than you do now by implementing these 2 procedures. And... these additional sales will be very profitable because you don't have to spend more money on advertising to get them.

---------------------------------- WHAT FOLLOW UP METHOD REALLY WORKS? ----------------------------------

Following up with each lead individually, multiple times, but at set intervals, and with pre-written messages, will dramatically increase sales! Others who use this same technique confirm that they have all at least doubled sales of various products! In order to set this system up, though, you need to do some planning.

First, you'll need to develop your follow up messages. If you've been marketing on Internet for any length of time, then you should already have a first informative letter. Your second letter marks beginning of follow up process, and should go into more detail than first letter. Fill this letter with details that you didn't have space to add to first letter. Stress BENEFITS of your products or services! Your next 2-3 follow up messages should be rather short. Include lists of benefits and potential uses of your products and services. Write each letter so that your prospects can skim contents, and still see full force of your message.

The next couple of follow up messages should create a sense of urgency in your prospect's mind. Make a special offer, giving him a reason to order NOW instead of waiting any longer. After reading these follow up messages, your prospect should want to order immediately!

Phrase each of your final 1 or 2 follow up messages in form of a question. Ask your prospect why he hasn't yet placed an order? Try to get him to actually respond. Ask if price is to high, product isn't right color or doesn't have right features, or if he is looking for something else entirely. (By this time, it's unlikely that this person will order from you. However, his feedback can help you modify your follow up letters or products, so that other prospects will order from you.)

The timing of your follow up letters is just as important as their content. You don't want one prospect to receive a follow up day after he gets your initial informative letter, while another prospect waits weeks for a follow up!

Always send an initial, informative letter as soon as it is requested, and send first follow up 24 hours afterwards. You want your hot prospects to have information quickly, so that they can make informed buying decisions!

Send next 2-3 follow up messages between 1 and 3 days apart. Your prospect is still hot, and is probably still shopping around! Tell him about benefits of your products and services, as opposed to your competitors'. You will make sale!

Send final follow up messages later on. You certainly don't want to annoy your prospect! Make sure that these last letters are at least 4 days apart.

Following up effectively seems complicated, but it doesn't have to be! So many potential customers are lost because of poor follow up - don't you want to be one of few to get it right?