When was the last time you bought purely on impulse?

Have you ever gone out to buy print toner and walked away with a $1500 laptop?

How much research do you do before buying that new car? Do you wing it or does your decision take a while?

Most buyers take their time before feeling comfortable with a purchase. Do they need it, value it, want it and trust it?

Most potential buyers need 7 or more reminders before they begin to formulate decisions about a purchase. How often do you follow-up? Do you have a system?

Different methods fit depending on the sales cycle. Hot prospects need a different approach then general leads.

Top Six "Lead Follow-up Techniques" that help me

6) Send out quarterly informational updates or reports:

Send out a general information mailer every 2 to 3 months via mail. Don't be selling. Just offer general information that summarizes your industry. The aim here is to position yourself as a subject matter expert with no sales mandate. Try to sensitize the readers to issues in their industry. Obviously pick topics that your product may solve, but whatever you do, don't sell to them.

5) Personal Emails: Send occasional emails to your clients.

Don't hit them with some offer, but instead ask them how things are going. Offer to listen to their issues. If you know of a common problem in the industry, engage them about it.

"Say, I heard that the watershed has risen again in your area, how are you coping with that? Perhaps I can find someone with a similar problem that may be able to share some ideas on how to cope."

4) Information Sessions

Host a series of information sessions that help your clients through common problems. Most clients are lazy and will stick to their standard routine, but many have problems. If you can identify those problems and sensitize them to their issues, you may open the door for change. Invite a guest, either an industry client or panel of clients, to speak on behalf of the industry, talking about common issues.

It's human nature for many entrepreneurs and top managers to want to "peacock". Set up the forum for them to communicate and become the connector of information. You can do this either through workshops, seminars or online. However, if you do host this at a live location, remember to record the event and rebroadcast it as most of your audience will likely not have the time to attend.

3) Mailing lists

Opt-in email campaigns are very powerful tools to communicate with peripheral leads and opportunities. Lists give you a chance to broadcast out on a regular basis to many people.

Make sure your emails are brief, crystal clear, concise, highly targeted, trigger a response and sensitize to issues. Use video in your email campaigns to make them stand out. This is an ideal time to deliver audio-visual excerpts of your workshops and client events. If you don't host group events, stage them through interviews.

Make sure videos are conversational and brief (3-5 minutes). Include an image of the video session at the top of the email, with an obvious "play" button so people feel compelled to play the content. This will make the email stand out.

Include your recommended solution in the text below the video.

2) Follow-Me Banner Advertising     MY PICK!

Highly targeted follow-up banner advertising is one of the most powerful and cost effective ways to get noticed, trusted and remembered online. 

Follow-me banner advertising connects a website or landing page to a pay-per-click banner advertising campaign.  Once a client or prospect visits your website, you record their visit, and then connect this visitor to a follow-up campaign leveraging thousands of participating websites. When the lead visits any of those sites your advertising will remind them about you.

Most banner advertising on the Internet is random and unrelated to the internet user.  But if you own a Golf Pro Shop in SW Calgary, and someone who visited your website suddenly sees your advertising all over the web, such as on golf forums and news information forums, they will notice and remember your ad.

See an example of how this works:  CLICK HERE to experience first-hand how I use this to follow-up technique. 
*** Don't worry, I won't know what sites you visit... the campaign is managed by Google, who keeps all that information private.

1) The Ultimate Goal: Incoming Phone Calls

Each incoming call is worth dozens of outgoing cold calls. The best phone call is one you receive. The lead is hot, and the psychology of the sale favours you, the seller.  If you communicate well through the above methods, you will receive more calls. Make sure you are there to answer the call! When they do call, make sure you asking many questions. Don't just verse a pitch.

Know where those calls are coming from.  I use a web service www.tollfreeforwarding.com that tracks incoming calls from regional numbers.  Google also offers specialized campaign phone numbers.  Make sure you track the source of the call.  Is it coming from your banner advertising?  Is it from a website banner? From an Event? 

Use unique numbers to track your traffic.  Analyse the information to help you focus on campaigns that are working.  If you don't have these tools implemented, make sure you ask the caller how they found you.

Do you have other ideas? Please post and share them below.  Do you need help implementing these techniques?  Why not get help from us...

I offer simple follow-up campaigns that start as low as $500 and require just an hour of your time. http://www.newlucid.com/

Kersten Kloss is a web strategist located in Calgary Canada. He specializes in new world communication techniques as applied to new business development.