The follow-up is as much an art as it is a science.
Julie Andrews once said that “perseverance is failing 19 times and succeeding the 20th.” Albert Einstein also has a quote about following up: “It’s not that I’m so smart, it’s just that I stay with problems longer.”
There may be no musical number or a theoretical equation, but successful sales professionals are the ones who take persistence just as seriously as Andrews and Einstein.
Simply keeping in touch with your aged leads and loyal clients can lead to winning more deals and improving your long-term relationships.
Of course, just because the trick is simple doesn’t mean it’s easy to do and do well. Effective sales follow-ups take the right tools and a good strategy.
Drip Campaign Follow Ups
There’s no better way to reach back-burner leads and existing customers than email. The best type of email campaign to move the needle with these prospects? Drip campaigns.
Drip marketing, as the name implies, “drips” a series of emails out to customers. Drip campaigns are automated, sending out emails at specific time intervals or triggered by set user actions. Campaigns can nurture your back-burner leads for you until they’re sales ready. With action triggers, they can also provide just the right info at the right time, moving leads through your funnel.
Most email marketing tools make it easy to set up a drip campaign. However, you still need the right strategy to build your campaign around. Build your drip campaign with a specific goal in mind. Pardot lists six common drip campaign types:
- Top of Mind Campaigns – Keep leads engaged with your company.
- Educational Campaigns – Provide product info to ready leads for a purchase.
- Re-engagement Campaigns – Designed to win back the interest of back-burner leads.
- Competitive Campaigns – Target your competitor’s customers with reasons to switch.
- Promotional Campaigns – Entice prospects with special offers or promo pricing.
- Training Campaigns – Move readers through a relevant training program.
Email content is just as important. Crazyegg suggests writing the whole sequence of emails in one sitting. That’s because the tone and consistency matter. Short, to-the-point emails that build suspense, have a progressive momentum, and a clear CTA, perform the best and could get open rates of more than 40%.
CRM Follow Up Tools
A drip campaign is a great start of course, but you still need a way to manage those leads once they start interacting with your email campaign. Your trusty CRM system is the best bet for nurturing those leads to ensure closed sales.
Before you start your drip campaign make sure your CRM is integrated with your email system or, even better, that you use one system for both functions. Consider complimenting your drip campaign with other touches: phone calls, postcards, brochures, and so on. Automate the timing of these touches for efficiency. Just set up your CRM to ping you when a user action or timeline marker determines a phone call is in order.
Finally, use your CRM to keep your drip campaign records up to date and to track your lead sources. Accurate data is the foundation of an effective and efficient lead nurturing program. Meanwhile, actionable metrics on what lead sources are working will help you save time and money and maximize your ROI and sales numbers.
Follow Up Until You Can’t Any Longer
However you structure your drip campaign or use your CRM to nurture leads, follow up, follow up, follow up. That perseverance and persistence is the true key to sales growth and the best ROI from those leads currently sitting on your back burner. Keep at it until you can’t anymore.
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