Recently on a mini-vacation, the group I was with decided to pop into an open house in the neighborhood where we were staying after discussing and comparing home prices. Nobody had any real interest in the home, but we wanted to check out some real estate in the area for fun. As we oohed and awed over the interior the agent nicely requested my information. Obviously, I couldn’t demolish any hope she may have had that any of us were actually interested in buying, so I politely agreed and quickly forgot about the home…until the follow-up.
Ahh yes, the follow-up. There is not one strategy that will magically create success for your business, however, the follow-up does have the ability to transform leads into clients. The follow-up ‘thank you’ text from the real estate agent with a link to the home and a photo of her attached immediately made me think that this woman meant business. Why? The follow-up showed me that she cares about her business and building connection. The text automatically began to build trust because it displayed professionalism.
Although the real estate agent’s follow-up caught my attention, there are a few things that could have made it better. Here are a few tips that would have made her follow up more meaningful and will help make your next follow-up on point.
If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again
Many people shy away from the follow-up in fear that they might look too pushy, but this is a mistake you don’t want to make. ZoomInfo reports that at least 60 percent of customers say ‘no’ four times before saying ‘yes’, and 92 percent of salespeople give up after the fourth failed attempt. That means 92 percent of salespeople are missing out on over half of their potential sales.
Following up sends a message that you value building a relationship. Just like any relationship, it takes work and time to make it meaningful. When you meet a potential friend, you don’t stop at the exchange of information. There is follow-up effort that must be put forth to make that first meet-up happen. Don’t be afraid to show leads that you care and want their business through a timely follow-up. The follow-up text I received regarding the home would have been more impactful within the first hour of leaving the home, opposed to the next day. As reported by Hubspot, an analysis of 2,200 American companies found that those who followed up within the hour were 7 times likelier to engage in meaningful conversation than those who waited even 60 minutes. This is powerful!
As usual, Hubspot provided some additional statistics worth mentioning, and reported that 19 percent of buyers in the awareness stage who are first learning about a product, want to connect with a salesperson. Don’t get discouraged if your follow-up attempt isn’t successful on the first try. On average, it takes 18 follow-up calls to connect with a buyer. Online buyers want to receive at least 2 phone calls before a company gives up, and 12 percent would like a company to try as many times as it takes to reach them. Change your perspective on follow-up; stop looking at it as rejection, rather, view it as a bit of a challenge.
Create a clear goal, always
Before pushing the ‘send’ button on that follow-up email, sending a text, or dialing the number to a potential client, ask yourself—what am I hoping to achieve? If you don’t have a clear answer, pump the breaks. Every interaction should have a clear goal, always. Know where your buyers are in their journey because the follow-up goal is going to look different for each person. The real estate agent sending me the link to the home was a great way to keep it on my mind, but the message could have been improved by taking it a step further. Maybe I’m a first-time home buyer and could have benefitted from an article on getting approved for home loans. Or, I could be interested in buying, but not that home. A follow-up phone call to discuss other opportunities might have sparked my interest further. Here are a few examples of ways to connect with a goal.
Educate: When someone has shown interest and is just beginning to learn about your product, educate. This doesn’t need to be a sales pitch, just a way to connect while providing education on how your product has helped benefit others, and how it could also benefit them; leave that information with them without pushing a sale.
Show gratitude: Follow up to say, ‘thank you’. Show a lead appreciation for their time spent connecting at a conference, submitting their email, or requesting information.
Nurture existing clients: You want to increase your ROI? Create follow-up goals for existing clients. Research done by Frederick Reichheld of Bain and Company and reported by Forbes, states that by putting in the effort to increase customer retention rates by only 5 percent, profit rates should increase by no less than 25 percent. Make your follow up successful by nurturing the clients already purchasing your product by connecting and ensuring they’re still happy.
Personalization makes perfect
Again, understanding where your audience is at in the buyer’s journey will contribute to the success of your follow-up, but taking this awareness to the next level will set you apart from the competition. How? Personalize your message with video interaction. Why? How much time do you have? Seriously, I could go on and on about the power of video. Video drives engagement because it provides an opportunity to feel connected and involved on a more personal level. Using video can help build trust through human to human experience by adding emotion during a time when your usual marketing strategies feel stale.
Sure, the follow-up photo of the real estate agent and link to the home was enough to remind me of the open house experience, but there was no call to action. Should I call that number to discuss the home? How can I get access to the agent’s other properties? The answers to these questions would have facilitated engagement and video would have planted a stronger message. Our brains are naturally drawn to visuals, as 30 percent of nerve fibers from the eye are connected to the visual cortex in the brain that receives and scans messages to be stored in our memory, as reported by Discover Magazine. This explains why video can strongly and efficiently convey more emotion to viewers and strike connection. Using video to personalize a follow-up message will better connect viewers and drive engagement.
Verb can help personalize your video and facilitate interaction with taggCRM.
Through video, your audience’s senses will be sparked, and a call to action will be clear with taggs by taggCRM. Insert buttons within videos that appeal directly to the target audience to guide the viewer’s next move. Personalize a follow-up video for leads who have shown interest in your product, and tagg a button directing them to call a member of your team directly with questions using the “phone pad” feature. Or, for existing clients, create a follow-up video thanking them for their business while encouraging them to sign up for the newsletter to receive future offers by clicking the “sign-up” button tagged in your video. Whatever your goal, taggCRM has got you covered and will help build your confidence in the follow-up by providing analytics necessary for successful interaction. With taggCRM, you can identify who is showing interest in your videos and utilize that information when making your next move.
Here is a video follow up from a recent conference. Can you guess the percentage of responses?
Don’t be afraid of the follow-up; it will set you above the competition by showing you care and take customer relationships seriously. Incorporating video into your follow-ups will increase connection and, with the help of taggCRM, facilitate meaningful engagement.
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