Let's face it. It's pretty annoying when you pick up a call thinking it's an important one… only to hear scripted promotional talks and advertisements.
But why? Why do you feel annoyed? It's just a routine outreach program, after all.
The answer is pretty simple. These telemarketers are conducting these campaigns the wrong way.
Yes, it's important to reach as many people as you can. But if you're not crafty about it, people will be more annoyed than pleased. Quality is just as important as quantity in this sector, alongside creativity.
So, which follow-up strategies should you opt for for maximum engagement? And what kind of mistakes should you avoid while employing these strategies? Let's find out all about that in today's write-up.
10 Best Follow-Up Strategies Which Will Never Go Out of Trend
As you conduct more and more outreach campaigns, you'll find that there are some core follow-up strategies that will never go out of trend. Here's a brief overview of 10 such strategies - cherry-picked by experts!
Be Prompt to Convert More Leads
“Strike while the iron's hot.” You've heard of it, no?
You’ll have to stay on your toes if you want to secure a lead. Whenever a prospective client reaches out, reply as soon as you can before they lose interest in your product.
Respond quickly and keep your client engaged with you. Ghosting your clients for a prolonged period, on the other hand, will make you seem rather unprofessional.
Understand Your Audience's Pain Points
To increase your response rates, get the answers to the following questions -
- Why should a person read this mail or take this call?
- How can my product or service improve this person's life?
- Which issues may this person be facing & how can I offer a solution?
Is the gist clear yet? Understand your target audience’s pain points to curate your follow-up messages in such a way that they can relate to. The more pain points you can cover, the more convincing you'll sound to the prospective clients.
Cultivate A Natural, i.e., Personalized Tone for Outreach Success
If you want to convert more leads, then you need to develop a personal relationship with the people on the other end of the device. That means you can't sound automated or scripted.
You need to sound like a human, i.e., have a personalized tone so that the conversation flows naturally and the client trusts you with their concerns and needs. And the more the client trusts you, the more they will trust the product or service you're providing. It's that simple!
Space Out Your Outreach Programs
While reaching out to your clients or leads, it's best to space out the emails or calls. Otherwise, they might feel annoyed and put you on the blacklist.
For instance, if you've delivered a product, wait at least a few days before sending a follow-up email about the usage experience. Avoid timeline crashes and don't spam someone's inbox with unnecessary mail. That's bound to do more harm than good in the long run.
Turn Skepticism into Positivism
It's natural to be skeptical before signing up for a new service. Good follow-up strategies don't see this as a hindrance but as an opportunity instead.
Why, you ask? Well, think of it like this. By clarifying the features of your services, providing solutions to the customer's concerns, etc., you get to follow up on your leads and turn their skepticism into positivity with every mail or message.
Essentially, you're not just sending empty, soulless updates; you're providing clear, specific, & useful information every time. And that's a great way to convince more leads to sign up for your provided services.
Keep Your Messages Short & Sweet
Remember that it's a busy world filled with busy people. So, keep your messages to the point and don't add any fluff.
Again, if you're reaching out to someone via direct calls, don't take up more than 7-10 minutes. Keep your speech short, informative, and useful. Clients don't need to hear the whole pitch; they just need to know how your service can benefit them.
Don't Limit Your Outreach Programs To One or Two Channels
The world that we live in is a digital world. There are tons of ways to contact someone and generate leads. So, to ensure your response rates go through the roof, you should make use of as many mediums as you possibly can.
That's right. Don't just stick to emails that will likely end up in the spam folder. Diversify your approach and try out different platforms as part of your Multi-Channel Outreach Strategy. For instance, Facebook messaging, direct calls, etc.
This is a great way to whip up some extra engagement because you end up covering a good number of exits. Some people are more comfortable with emails, while others dislike or never even open them.
Again, many potential clients prefer to take calls, while others don't answer the phone when it's an unknown number. So, by spreading out your messages across multiple platforms, the chances of getting noticed by your leads increase as well.
Just make sure that you maintain a consistent persona across all the platforms to represent your brand value correctly. However, you communicate with prospective clients, don't deviate from the message that you're trying to convey.
Implement Clear CTAs Everywhere
Clients love to see service providers take direct steps! So, in addition to keeping your messages short and direct, you should implement clear Call-To-Actions.
Specify in every mail or message about the approaches you want to explore next. And most importantly, make your prospective clients feel like they are in the loop.
That way, you can sound both professional and convincing. Clients will realize that you're analyzing the pain points and taking direct actions accordingly. This, in turn, will encourage them to pursue your services.
Keep Room for Open-Ended Conversations
What are follow-up strategies even about? Following up on how the clients are, right?
And what's the best way to know how a client is doing? Why yes, of course, hearing it from the client himself.
While most follow-up strategies don't usually leave room for direct conversations, it's highly recommended if you want to boost your response rates.
Let the clients feel like they can share their concerns freely. Take that information into account to curate a better outreach program. Win-win situation for all, isn't it?
Analyze & Improvise: Change Your Approach To Fit Your Client's Needs
Don't stick to the same playbook if you want to convert more leads. Improve your follow-up strategies by analyzing and comparing the results from the previous outreach campaigns.
Point out the tactics that clients loved, scratch the tactics that acted as deterrents. For instance, change your wording, use better CTA-s, add more features, address your client's concerns to make them feel heard, etc.
In essence, shape your strategies according to the statistics of the campaigns. Don't just magnetize your leads, improvise to retain them as well.
Pitfalls Of Follow-Up Procedures: Mistakes That Hinder Maximum Outreach Success
Outreach success is defined and at the same time, demolished by the presence or absence of the three P’s. They are - planning, promptness, and persistence.
Let's check out the pitfalls that can arise due to the absence of the three P's and find out how they can lead to zero responses from potential clients.
Lack Of Planning
Planning is the cornerstone of each and every follow-up strategy. From choosing the correct wording to determining a schedule, planning is required everywhere. Most businesses forget to plan ahead and end up losing most of their leads in the process.
Refusing To Be Prompt
As a service provider, it's important to be prompt so clients can rely on you whenever they face any issue. If you take too long to answer or can't provide solutions in time, then clients won't feel bothered to check your follow-up messages anymore.
Not Being Persistent
Persistence is key to increased response rates. Remember the saying - ‘out of sight, out of mind’. If you're not persistent, clients will slowly forget about your existence, and with it, about your product.
Marketing is all about staying relevant, and for that, you need to be persistent. However, that doesn't mean you should be pushy. You need to space out your campaigns suitably to reach your clients consistently and effectively.
5 Tricks to Overcome Such Pitfalls
Where there is a pitfall, there is a way to get out of it as well. With these 5 tricks, you won't need to worry about the hindrances in your stairway to success!
- Record Every Response: For analytical overviews, record every response to generate accurate campaign performance reports.
- Solid Customer Support: Hire a good and reliable team to ensure promptness across every platform.
- Avoid Being Pushy: Curate your messages with a confident tone, but don't end up sounding arrogant in the process.
- Know When to Stop: When a client is clearly uninterested, it's best to draw the line and move on.
- Use Automated Tools: To stay on top of things, use tools like Mailshake, Hubspot, Orkap, etc., to send tailored emails and organize your leads based on datasets.
That's How You Follow Up!
Simply put, you need to tackle follow-up strategies from a tactical point of view as well as an artistic one. You need to be creative enough to hook your target audience. At the same time, you need to act clever enough to retain their interest.
Understand your audience's pain points and study their needs thoroughly to devise your game plans accordingly. A potential client needs to feel heard, but they will feel discouraged if you come across as pushy.
Hence, to receive responses that truly matter, make sure to provide solutions to the common problems that clients may face. Sound nurturing yet confident to get the most out of your outreach campaigns!