Page 118 - Social Media Marketing

Dating Your Leads before Someone Else Does 101

everything was carefully planned to ensure that no detail was over-
looked and your sweetheart would at least be willing to consider a
second date.

Just think of what a fiasco it would be if you waited until the last
minute. The florist is closed, your favorite restaurant is packed, the
performance is sold out, and you don't even have a decent suit to
wear. You pick up your date and spend the entire evening looking
for something to do. By the end of the evening, you're ready to go
home alone, exhausted, while your date is busy thinking up excuses
for the next time you call. You begin to wonder why you've never
had a second date.

Proper lead management means proper planning. You need to
put a foolproof system in place before your lead arrives, so you
know the precise steps you will take to transform that lead into
a paying customer. Ideally, your system will be automated, so the
process of following up with leads does not require a great deal of
time and effort.

Systems may vary depending on the product or service you sell
and the way your customers typically shop and ultimately make a
purchase decision. However, you can use the following system as
an example on which to model your own custom lead follow-up
system:

1. Add the lead's contact information to your database or contact-
management program.

2. Contact the lead via either phone or e-mail. Introduce yourself
and let the prospect know where you heard about her and what
you can do for her. The first sales representative to contact the
lead is the most likely to make the sale.

3. Assign the lead to a category. If you are in real estate, for exam-
ple, you may categorize leads as first-time buyers, sellers, up-
sizers, downsizers, looking for a second home, or investors. In
other cases, you may categorize leads based on where they are
in the decision process: just looking, gathering information,