I’ve been trying to get my kids to put their dishes in the dishwasher.
Like most things I try to establish here, it took a few months of me calling out, “A., come get your bowl.” Or “O., is this your plate on the table?”
Too often I’d just pick up the stray dishes myself, grumbling all the way to the kitchen . . . Only to reprimand myself once I arrived that I was just keeping the problem going.
And then I’d go back to hollering.
If you’re a parent you know part of your job is to teach your children well.
But while we could have a huge discussion about what to teach your children, what rules we want them to live by, there’s one thing most parents can agree on . . .
It takes consistency.
The lessons we learn in life . . . the ideas that we grasp and hold onto and keep close in our pockets . . . the ones that we act on . . . are ones we hear again and again.
And the actions we take are more often than not something that comes as a result of lots of reminders.
This is true for even things we want to do. Not just putting dirty dishes in the dishwasher.
I wanted to go to peach picking at a nearby orchard. But it took several conversations and several false starts to finally get us on our bikes and head on over.
As marketers we’ve got to put this understanding into our marketing plans.
Especially in this economy . .
Marketing To The Natural Health Crowd: No Longer A One-Shot Deal
See, part of my job as a copywriter is to write a sales letter that grabs my prospect “by the eyeballs” as Clayton Makepeace would say and gets them to buy in one fell swoop.
But while this will happen for maybe 2% of your prospects who read your sales piece for the first time, it won’t work for a truly sizeable majority.
But that doesn’t mean that they don’t want what you’re selling.
It doesn’t mean that they aren’t going to buy what you’re selling.
It only means that they weren’t ready to move right at that second when they first got through your sales letter.
As marketer Bill Glazer explains, most of your customers are sitting on the fence. In other words, huge profits are sitting on the fence.
And this economy, this is especially true.
Whereas a few years back, people would whip out their credit card with a nonchalant, “What the heck!” and buy something that piques their interest.
Now, each purchasing decision requires deliberation.
And unfortunately, your sales piece isn’t the only thing that’s weighing on their mind . . .
Within a matter of days, hours – no minutes! – your sales piece can be easily forgotten. Dust in the wind.
Unless you do something about it . . .
The Follow Up Autoresponder Follows Your Customers Even When They Might Forget About You
That’s where the autoresponder email comes in.
I love autoresponders. They’re fun to write. And they’re powerful.
An autoresponder series is a set of emails programmed to go out over an established interval to people who have demonstrated some interest in your product and provided you with their email address.
Usually they’ve opted in to watch a video or download a report or gotten a free sample in the mail.
They’re interested. Their eyeballs have been grabbed. But their heart is still indecisive.
By sending out a series of emails you can continue to nurture your relationship with them and keep their mind on what you offer.
What A Good Follow Up Autoresponder Does
A good autoresponder doesn’t just sell. A good autoresponder . . .
- Builds a relationship. By using storytelling and telling more about yourself and your business, you help people to get to know you. And by finding ways to speak to their interests and experiences, you demonstrate that you understand them.
- Reminds them that you have a solution for them that they’ll like.
- Reinforces some of the concepts in your initial report or video and then gets them to the sales letter to see more.
- Reinforces the message of the sales letter, helping to move them off the fence in your direction.
- Gets them in the habit of opening your emails and clicking onto your links. Leads them to other content you have on your website. Ultimately it gets them used to your presence in their inbox.
So don’t sell yourself short with single-shot sales letters.
Don’t do your potential customers a disservice by dropping them cold when they still need convincing, have questions. And don’t want to forget your solution.
Set up an autoresponder series.
This is an essential tool for both B2B and B2C companies who don’t want to leave money on the table.
Oh yeah, and when it comes to dirty dishes? Finally, I’m seeing the results. My daughter just walked straight from the dinner table and loaded her plate in the dishwasher where it belongs.
It took a bit of reminding – but it’s working!
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