It’s a common saying among salespeople that it takes up to seven contacts to make a sale. When the economy is sluggish, though, the number of required contacts can quickly climb to as high as 16.
That is why it makes sense to use a multi touch sales process. A multi touch sales process involves making contact with a prospect multiple times as well as using multiple methods of communication such as an e-mail campaign, follow up calls, direct mail, text messages, and voicemails. The multi touch process can be effective whether your sales staff is cold calling or warm calling.
Multi Touch Sales Process – Next Wave Marketing Strategies
Stage 1: Intro Call and E-Mail
If you are cold calling, your first contact with a prospect is likely to be a brief phone conversation. If the prospect sounds interested, send him or her a follow up e-mail highlighting the benefits of your insurance plans and providing your contact information so that the prospect can easily reach you with questions. This intro call and e-mail marks the beginning of your sales process.
Stage 2: Follow Up and Nurturing
Over the next several weeks, follow up with the prospect on a scheduled basis. An e-mail campaign is an efficient method of follow up, allowing you to easily send additional information about your programs. When you use e-mail, you can also gauge your prospect’s interest by checking to see whether he or she is opening the emails and clicking on the links provided.
In addition to sending a series of e-mails, you should also make follow up calls, leaving voicemails if necessary. Your goal, of course, is to attempt to engage the prospect directly so you can assess whether or not he or she remains interested in purchasing insurance from your organization.
In many cases, stage 2 ends with a sale.
Stage 3: Final Call and Voicemail
There are times when a prospect is simply not ready to make a purchase or, for whatever reason, does not want to make a purchase from your company. At some point, he or she may ask to be removed from your contact list. Alternatively, you may realize that you are making no progress and decide to move on to other, more promising leads.
Making a courteous final call and voicemail leaves the door open is the prospect becomes ready to buy from you in the future. In your final voicemail, thank the prospect for his or her time and remind the prospect that you and your organization are available to answer questions or to help in any other way.
It’s a hard fact that you won’t convert every lead no matter what sales process you use, but Business Acceleration Strategies found that using the multi touch method can increase a company’s sales by more than 200%. The more chances you give customers to buy from you, the more likely it is they will take you up on one of those chances.
