A $500,000 closed account due to stupid simple on autopilot follow-up Email system.
– Info you are sitting on can be put to great use.
– Two places most screw this up… Paul didn’t.
– Warm up people before you call or meet with them.
– Being provocative gets their attention.
A coaching client I worked with called me from his car having just left a client meeting. “Scott, that Email follow-up system we set up just made me $500,000.”
Paul, that’s great news. Tell us how the battle was won.
1. The technology to do this is cheap and simple.
2. It took some time to write the initial article series, but it was info that was already kicking around in some form or it was part of his standard rap. Once written it was done and he hasn’t had to touch it again.
3. On this big account he just closed Paul told me this was a potential client he had been chasing for years who always blew him off. But this time, just before the guy was about to cut him off Paul said “Hey, I have a series of articles I would like to send you on the topic. Can I put you on the list.” The prospect mumbled yes before good-bye. Paul entered him into the system. (You could employ the same concept with snail mail in various formats.)
4. Paul told me that when he wrote the series he ended up deviating a bit from my advice. The first few touches were kind of dry and serious and didn’t give options for action. But the subsequent articles had interesting headlines, good openers, an easy path for the next step, which in Paul’s business has to be a meeting.
5. Paul said that what really worked was being a bit provocative in his articles. Saying things that were a bit direct or controversial got him phone calls and talking directly to good prospects. Many people make the mistake of not wanting to be controversial to anyone, so their info is dull and boring and ignored. Paul discovered that his most provocative articles were forwarded to others and now his list is growing organically.
6. The prospect called him due to an article on retention bonuses. Money paid to employees to stay on awhile when a company is sold. This prospect that Paul had been chasing for years CALLED HIM UP and said “You really know what you are doing. I have some questions on retention bonuses.” Paul did not make a fatal mistake often made. He refused to give the info over the phone. He sold a face to face meeting with the prospect to answer his questions. After a couple of meetings he gets a major deal signed. At the crucial moment he stood up to this very demanding trophy prospect and refused to do what he wanted. He insisted on a meeting. Got it, and the sale.
7. Paul also said that the response form we designed was really working. He had tested a couple of versions but the offer of an informative series of valuable info and strategies on topics near and dear to his audience generated him inquiries, phone calls and opt-ins to his work.
8. Paul told me that one of the differences he noticed was that people he talked to were now warmed up. Without him having to manage the touches, these prospects had heard from him before and gotten his best stuff. It made a big difference in the initial conversations. Plus, it was enabling him to build a relationship with a whole class of people that were previously ignored due to lack of time.
9. One of my observations about Paul and why he is so successful is that he is able to see a bigger picture than most and work not for the day but the future. In this case the future was three months and the payoff was half a million dollars.
10. Now Paul is in a highbrow high-level big money industry where simple emails and low-cost snail mail touches couldn’t possible work. Wrong. Good marketing is good marketing. Hit the right people with the right message consistently and you will get results.
Best wishes for big profitable sales,
Scott Channell
