It took me over three years to learn why I had been successful and also why I had been failing so bad in MLM. It all boiled down to one thing: My ability and determination to followup with prospects and with new distributors after they signed up!

Why so long to do a "duh" you might ask? Very simple! My mentors did not know it or use it either! This is part of the reason that MLM has a 95% or so "failure" rate. People do not understand marketing and thus the strategic importance of following up on prospects.

Read this statistic about the importance of following up from an association of professional salesmen, the National Sales Executive Association. Their statistics show that the most sales by far are made from the 5th through the 12th contact! Here is the data they have compiled about on which contact sales are made:

2% of sales are made on the 1st contact
3% of sales are made on the 2nd contact
5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact
10% of sales are made on the 4th contact
80% of sales are made on the 5th-12th contact

Are you beginning to see why your response rate is so low?

Here is another example of why repeated exposure is important. How many times a day do you see or hear about Coca-Cola or McDonalds or Pepsi? I know there is a statistic somewhere on this but I'm betting it's in the dozens or higher per merchandiser. You hear Coke ads, you see them on billboards, you see them in magazines, on TV, on radio, and on and on.

Why? You already know you like Coke. You already know where to buy it. You already know the cost or nearly so. Why does Coke pay millions per month in advertising costs? One reason: To keep Coke on your mind as often as possible so you will be more likely to crave it and therefore buy it. They want you to think of Coke as often as humanly possible!

You should consider marketing your products or services to your buying prospects the same way. It's war out there where everyone is vying for part of the consumers mind. You don't have to play dirty to win but you MUST play the game HARD consistently, persistently and with the utmost determination to succeed.

That means getting your message in front of the prospect repeatedly over the course of time from your initial introduction to him until he tells you to stop sending information. This may seem drastic, but who will be sending your prospect information if you are not? Guaranteed it will be someone else who will be there when the time is right for the prospect and you will have lost a sale because you failed to continually stay in the prospects face.

"I don't have the time or system to do that!" you say. "YOU MUST" I say!

You can either do it manually with pencil and paper records. Or, you can do it with some sort of database reminder system. Or with a folder system either manual or electronic. Or, you can let technology do it for you!

I vote for letting technology do it for me! One system that takes my prospect from the initial "Send Info" request to 6 or more followups! All automatically. That's right! Automatically, out of my hands. The system just lets me know who requested info and when and it does the rest for me.

See our site at http://www.lifeforceintl.com/7635201/index1.shtml and fill in your info there. You will see the value of followup and how it is done professionally.

BUT! Don't think technology will do it all for you. You can close another 20% of your contacts with personal contact. People buy "You" as much as they buy a product or service. Personal contact makes you into a real person instead of a simple email address or Fax-On-Demand piece of paper.

I most highly recommend calling your prospects. I don't care if you are good on the phone or not. Don't try to "sell" anything on the phone, don't make up a canned pitch like some insurance salesman or mortgage broker. Just strike up a conversation and see what concerns they have. Answer their concern(s) if you can or promise to get back to them via phone, fax or email with an answer. Always be polite and honest and you will be amazed at how many folks respond positively to you.

Finally, you MUST have a good message, good product, good prices and a better deal than everyone else your consumer has seen. If you followup religiously with crummy messages, poor grammer, writing that is not client-centered and benefit-focused, you will NOT see more sales no matter how many times you followup. A lot of that "better deal" is YOU too but your written message must be powerful and totally client-centered. If you are not a good writer, find a seasoned copywriter to help you work up the hard-hitting pieces you will need.

So, what are the rules here?

1. Followup from 5 to 12 times to get in that 80% bracket.

2. Let technology do the followup for you.

3. Call your prospects on the phone and make a friend.

4. Use client-centered, benefit-focused copy to get your message across.

By the way, depending on what you are selling in products or services, almost everyone is a potential customer most likely, if not now, then in the future. Do you think it makes sense to keep in contact with them? If you said YES, you are right!

How can you do that without pitching them on your product they don't want or need now? Start a periodic ezine (like this) and followup weekly with useful information!

Remember; the fortune is in the followup. Your accountant will love you if you do followup. You will be out of business if you don't.

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FVRaley@erols.com
Fred is the webmaster@momtomom.com He is the publisher of the power- packed, controversial marketing ezine, "Hot Coffee - Wake up to Success Marketing" Visit http://www.lifeforceintl.com/7635201/index1.shtml to see what followup is really all about and how you can benefit. 9/25/99 12:01 PM