Convert Prospects to Clients Through Drip Marketing
In early June, an advisor who reads my blog sent me an email called “Sales Statistics.” It provided some interesting statistics about how many times one must contact a prospect before making a sale. Here is what the email said:
I don’t know the source of this information so I can’t verify its accuracy, but even if it is not completely accurate, it demonstrates a valuable point: You must regularly contact prospects if you wish to convert them to clients. Just as you should touch your clients 24 times in a year, you should touch your prospects 5 to 12 times. If only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts, you will obviously be at an advantage if you make more than three contacts. If 80% of sales are made on the 5th to 12th contact, the formula is simple – contact your prospects 12 times. Simple, right? And while this can be a time consuming process, if executed as a systematic drip campaign you’ll be able to touch your prospects 12 times without much additional effort on your part.
A drip campaign is a marketing campaign where an advisor or firm sends communication to a prospect on a regularly scheduled basis. There are several ways you can do this. If you already have a plan to touch your clients throughout the year, you can just add your prospects to the same schedule with a few modifications. For example, if you are already sending monthly or quarterly newsletters to your clients, you can add your prospects to the email or mailing list. If you host client educational seminars or webinars, invite your prospects to attend as well. If you send holiday cards, make sure your prospects are on the mailing list. By adding your prospects to the same communication program you have created for your clients, you’ll be able to touch your prospects five to twelve times in no time.
If you don’t have a communication calendar for your clients, or you want to reach out to your prospects in a different way than you do with your clients, you may want to consider setting up a drip email campaign. There are plenty of email services available that will let you set up automated email campaigns that will deliver messages to your prospects at regularly scheduled intervals. All you have to do is decide what kind of information you want to send to prospects and at what interval you want to send them and the system handles the rest for you. Aweber, iContact, Constant Contact and GetResponse all offer drip marketing services (also known as autoresponders).
Some advisors are uncomfortable with email marketing because of their own feelings about receiving marketing emails. If you fall into this category, you may want to try another approach using direct mail. There are services like Vertical Response and SendOutCards that allow you to create postcard or greeting card campaigns that can be created and sent directly from your computer. This is a more costly option than email but can still be a good alternative.
To get started on creating a drip marketing campaign, begin by pulling out a calendar and writing down the one way in which you will reach out to prospects each month. Educational information will always be more effective than sales messages, so focus on articles and events that bring value instead of advertisements. Also focus on relationship building activities such as birthday and holiday cards. You will find this is more successful than constantly reminding your prospect of the different services you offer.
The next step will be to make sure you implement the campaign as scheduled. Try to find automated systems that will market for you so that you don’t have to be involved. Finally, if a prospect doesn’t convert to a client after 12 touches, consider removing them from your list. If your drip campaign does not have much cost associated with it (e.g. email marketing), you can probably leave them on the list. But if there is a cost (e.g. direct mail), consider removing them from the campaign so that you don’t waste any more money.
Remember! You spent your valuable time meeting a prospect. Don’t let your efforts go to waste. Let your marketing help you efficiently convert your prospect to a client.
Kristen Luke is the Principal of Wealth Management Marketing, a firm dedicated to providing marketing strategies and support for financial advisors. Kristen works with independent advisors to develop effective marketing plans and provides the back office support required to implement the strategies. For more information, visit www.WealthManagementMarketing.net.
48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect.25% of sales people make a second contact, then stop.12% of sales people only make three contacts, then stop.Only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts.2% of sales are made on the first contact.3% of sales are made on the second contact.5% of sales are made on the third contact.10% of sales are made on the fourth contact.80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact.
I don’t know the source of this information so I can’t verify its accuracy, but even if it is not completely accurate, it demonstrates a valuable point: You must regularly contact prospects if you wish to convert them to clients. Just as you should touch your clients 24 times in a year, you should touch your prospects 5 to 12 times. If only 10% of sales people make more than three contacts, you will obviously be at an advantage if you make more than three contacts. If 80% of sales are made on the 5th to 12th contact, the formula is simple – contact your prospects 12 times. Simple, right? And while this can be a time consuming process, if executed as a systematic drip campaign you’ll be able to touch your prospects 12 times without much additional effort on your part.A drip campaign is a marketing campaign where an advisor or firm sends communication to a prospect on a regularly scheduled basis. There are several ways you can do this. If you already have a plan to touch your clients throughout the year, you can just add your prospects to the same schedule with a few modifications. For example, if you are already sending monthly or quarterly newsletters to your clients, you can add your prospects to the email or mailing list. If you host client educational seminars or webinars, invite your prospects to attend as well. If you send holiday cards, make sure your prospects are on the mailing list. By adding your prospects to the same communication program you have created for your clients, you’ll be able to touch your prospects five to twelve times in no time.
If you don’t have a communication calendar for your clients, or you want to reach out to your prospects in a different way than you do with your clients, you may want to consider setting up a drip email campaign. There are plenty of email services available that will let you set up automated email campaigns that will deliver messages to your prospects at regularly scheduled intervals. All you have to do is decide what kind of information you want to send to prospects and at what interval you want to send them and the system handles the rest for you. Aweber, iContact, Constant Contact and GetResponse all offer drip marketing services (also known as autoresponders).
Some advisors are uncomfortable with email marketing because of their own feelings about receiving marketing emails. If you fall into this category, you may want to try another approach using direct mail. There are services like Vertical Response and SendOutCards that allow you to create postcard or greeting card campaigns that can be created and sent directly from your computer. This is a more costly option than email but can still be a good alternative.
To get started on creating a drip marketing campaign, begin by pulling out a calendar and writing down the one way in which you will reach out to prospects each month. Educational information will always be more effective than sales messages, so focus on articles and events that bring value instead of advertisements. Also focus on relationship building activities such as birthday and holiday cards. You will find this is more successful than constantly reminding your prospect of the different services you offer.
The next step will be to make sure you implement the campaign as scheduled. Try to find automated systems that will market for you so that you don’t have to be involved. Finally, if a prospect doesn’t convert to a client after 12 touches, consider removing them from your list. If your drip campaign does not have much cost associated with it (e.g. email marketing), you can probably leave them on the list. But if there is a cost (e.g. direct mail), consider removing them from the campaign so that you don’t waste any more money.
Remember! You spent your valuable time meeting a prospect. Don’t let your efforts go to waste. Let your marketing help you efficiently convert your prospect to a client.
Kristen Luke is the Principal of Wealth Management Marketing, a firm dedicated to providing marketing strategies and support for financial advisors. Kristen works with independent advisors to develop effective marketing plans and provides the back office support required to implement the strategies. For more information, visit www.WealthManagementMarketing.net.
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