This month’s theme is “How to Get Clients Even if You Hate Marketing.”

A popular phrase in the direct sales world is, “The fortune is in the follow up,” and it holds true in the general business world, too. Just think about the impression you make when someone signs up to your list, downloads your lead magnet, then they never hear from you again. They’ll forget about you in a heartbeat or will question your dedication to your business when they finally hear from you again.

If your customer service is stupendous, your customers will remember you forever. If your customer service is less than stellar, you’ll hear about it on social media! Creating a warm and inviting customer experience is all part of customer service and retention.

In this video, I show you some important tips on how to stay in touch with new contacts and why you need to drop the “just checking in” line and what to do instead. 

Welcome to Systems Sunday, we are wrapping up this month’s topic of how to get clients even if you hate marketing by making sure your follow-up game is on point. I am Lisa Wells, your Virtual Assistant Trainer.

A popular phrase in the direct sales world is, “The fortune is in the follow-up,” and it holds true in the general business world, too. Just think about the impression you make when someone signs up to your list, downloads your lead magnet, then they never hear from you again. They’ll forget about you in a heartbeat or will question your dedication to your business when they finally hear from you again.

If your customer service is stupendous, your customers will remember you forever. If your customer service is less than stellar, you’ll hear about it on social media! Creating a warm and inviting customer experience is all part of customer service and retention. Your prospects and customers are not loyal to you yet; you still need to prove yourself so don’t send one email and then disappear. Your follow-up strategy should be a standard part of your overall marketing strategy.

Why should you follow up?

• Sometimes people need more time before making a purchase and this is doubly true when choosing someone to work with.
• Maybe they like what they see but need to wait until they have more income.
• Other people may legitimately forget to pull the trigger and appreciate that last reminder.
• That prospect you met at a conference who was all gung-ho about hiring but never called may have had a family emergency to deal with first or other unexpected life event
• People want to be heard and following up is a way to engage with prospective customers directly.
• Customers want a way to reach a live person and putting a follow-up system in place makes it easier for customers to reach you.

These are just a small sample of reasons why people don’t follow through with a purchase.

Instead of taking the passive approach of waiting for people to find you, be proud of what you have built and of the services you offer. Promote yourself on social media. And follow up with every single person you have met in any business capacity, either by telephone or by email. If you can’t help them specifically, they might have someone else you can reach out to. This is the basic premise of networking.

Here are some important ways to stay in touch with new contacts:

• An email funnel series is one way to schedule consistent messages to your list. This frees up your time for money-making tasks, such as creating your next product or bringing in more clients. Remember to set up a different funnel for each of your services and/or products.
• Create a follow-up system. You can create templates outside of your email autoresponder so that it’s systemized and you know which message to send people as they contact you. For example, you’ll want to circle back with people you meet after live events. You can customize a template with the name of the live event and a personal reference to how you met (“I loved chatting about XYZ with you at dinner!”)
• Reach out after EVERY phone call with a potential client. A simple, “It was great chatting with you today! As I mentioned, here are my services that my clients find most helpful.” Create a template for all of these instances so you or your VA knows exactly which message to send to whom and how to customize each one. Every email you send out should also include your social media links and a link to your lead magnet in your signature.
• Nudge inactive clients to see if they’re ready to re-engage. Personally go through your personal client list and reach out via email or social media to see if they’ll re-engage with you. You never know what has happened in their lives and they may feel awkward reaching out to you again after a long absence. You reaching out may be the ice breaker they need to get involved with your services again.
• Don’t be afraid of using the telephone. Email often seems like a crutch for some business owners but a personal call is almost unexpected these days, so it could make you stand out from the crowd. Instead of thinking of these calls as “sales pitches” think of them instead as simple conversations. Ask a few questions about what they need and tell them what you have to offer along with any special pricing or deals.

PRO TIP: Drop the “just checking in” line. Whether you’re emailing or making phone calls, be more assertive about why you’re calling in. If you already know the problem they’re having, leaving a message about how you can solve that problem is likely to get you a callback. Simply saying, “I’m just checking in,” is very non-committal and vague. Don’t be afraid to say why you’re calling.

Lastly, get out of your head if you’re thinking that following up with prospects is annoying to them. Sure, if you do it every day, that can get annoying. But if they’re not ready to give you an answer when you call, simply ask when would be a good time to call back. Let them be in charge. If they say to call back in six months, mark that on your calendar. Just because someone is not ready to commit to your services NOW doesn’t mean that will be the answer forever.

I’ve made it super simple for you this week and have a free downloadable – Prospect Follow-Up Sample Emails. It’s a collection of 20 sample emails that you can copy/paste. I have emails for making a referral or introduction, cold introduction or outreach, reconnecting and networking, and follow-up emails.

All you need to do is scroll down and you’ll see the sign-up – add your name and email and it will be delivered to your inbox.

If you enjoyed this episode and want to take it further, grab my Business Building Action Kit – 7 Ways to Get More clients for your VA Business. These action kits contain a full done-for-you action plan to give you guidance, resources, and keep you on track with checklists and worksheets.

Catch up on previous “How to Get Clients” episodes:

• [Video] Funnel Your Clients to a Kick-Ass Freebie
• [Video] Grab Their Attention with Bite-Sized Videos
• [Video] Expanding Your Reach Exponentially by Collaborating

Did you enjoy this episode and want to put it into action? Grab this kit!