Improving efficiency
In this article, we will discuss how you can make your life a whole lot easier and your business a great deal more efficient. You’ll learn how you can follow-up and communicate with prospects and clients more, while saving time and maximizing your efficiency.
Make sure you have a “Contact Us” form on your website that automatically pulls leads into your CRM database. As soon as a lead fills out your form, you’ll want to be notified by email so you can contact that lead right away and assign them to a drip email marketing plan. A good CRM will have drip marketing plans pre-designed for you. A drip marketing plan is a series of emails that get sent out automatically at various time intervals.
It’s important to assign all new leads that you’ve captured to a drip marketing plan so you can “nurture” that lead, build a long-term relationship with them, and stay “top of mind.” When the lead is ready to finally become a client, you’ll win the business, not one of your competitors.
Marketing plans
A good CRM should have a number of pre-designed marketing plans to choose from. These should range from marketing to prospects to keeping in touch with clients. One of the challenges busy professionals and small businesses face is keeping in touch with past clients on a consistent basis. The beauty of drip marketing plans is that they automate much of your marketing communications, which frees up time for you. While you’re on the road at appointments, you’re also keeping in touch with hot leads and building stronger relationships with past clients at the same time.
The best way to keep in touch with people is to use a multi-pronged approach. This means using a variety of marketing communication channels such as email, direct mail, phone calls, and face-to-face meetings or events. Use your CRM to plan and schedule all of your “keep in touch events” in your CRM. You’re reminded when key dates arise and when certain actions have to be performed. It’s like having a virtual assistant by your side! If you’d like to wish your clients a “Happy Birthday” you can also use your CRM to automatically alert you.
Staying organized and proactive
Effectively following up with your prospects can mean the difference between a highly successful business built from referrals and repeat clients versus just making enough money to get by. It can mean life or death for your business.
When you have the right systems in place, like the right industry-specific CRM, it’s easy to stay organized and proactive. When you take the correct steps to keep in touch effectively, you’ll see your referral and repeat business grow, and more of your leads turn into valuable, lifelong clients.
UV
May 1, 2012 at 12:01 pm
Hi Matthew,
Aren’t drip campaigns dead?
Property alerts+IDX & offline followup all that matters in today’s day & age?
Don’t consumers smell automation from a mile away?
Its cool when I’m following a company and there’s a shortage of information on that subject. But most consumers can’t shake a stick without pointing at an agent. What gives?
The above are just my opinion. Not necessarily the facts. Seeking clarity to wrap my mind around this subject.
Cheers
Matthew
May 3, 2012 at 4:17 pm
Drip campaigns are absolutely not dead. They can be highly effective if done right. They key is to ensure the emails in the automation sequence are personalized and well-written. The beauty of a CRM is that you can assign drip email campaigns to different groups of contacts based on their unique needs and interests. And with a good CRM, you can add mail merge fields within the body of your emails so the contact things it was sent just to them. You can also customize the salutation preferences which also makes the emails more personalized.