Home Business Information

You look at any business and the management of that business so often determines the level of success or failure.

And yet when someone starts a home based business this is one area most people are clueless in, especially when it comes to managing followup.

In the typical home business especially those affiliated with network marketing this one area is the most critical to your success. Lack of followup is the kiss of death in a home based business. Very few people purchase on the first exposure to your product, thus you must followup with those people or you are doomed. Followup to a home based business is equivalent to advertising for a traditional business. Most businesses that don’t advertise don’t stay in business.

Okay now that we realize the need for followup in a home based business we need to have a plan in place for the management of that followup. We’re going to have several types of contacts for which we need to have a plan in place.

There are typically two main types - personal acquaintances or a contact from your cold market.

What you want to have in place are management plans that cover:

1. The intervals between followup contacts.

2. The method for contact (phone, email, etc).

3. The type of message /content of your message.

4. How you will keep track of when you previously followed up and when you should schedule your next contact.

Now that we have established a basic template for our home based business followup plan let’s further detail it.

1. Intervals – After the first contact you’re going to want to set up your followup schedule. The first followup should be about 2 days later, the 2nd seven days later the 3rd about 2 weeks after the 2nd and then every 30 days after that. After 3 months based upon the contacts perceived interest you could go to contacting them once every 3 months.

2. Method of contact – for someone you know the first several contacts should be by a brief phone call followed up by an email. After that continue to followup with them by email with an occasional phone call worked in. For someone who you would consider a cold contact (i.e. -purchased lead) you’re typically going to spend most of your effort with email followups – of course if they respond back to one of your messages you want to get on the phone with them. Preferably with someone else you’re working with (a 3-way call)

3. Type of message – obviously with someone you know your message will be more direct about your product. For someone who you would consider a cold contact (i.e. -purchased lead) I prefer an indirect approach. In an email I mention a great history of a product or great news headlines or benefits without telling the prospect the name of the product. I want them to contact me back out of curiosity as much as anything else.

This next part is key: Whenever you followup with someone always have some new piece of information to present to them about your product, etc. Always keep several pieces of information about your product or business for exposure later. Of course you’re in the cat bird’s seat if you’re fortunate enough to be marketing a product or service that’s hot and consistently in the news. Conversely it’s a little tougher to come up with new information when you’re marketing a non-news making product.

4. Your system for tracking your followups – This could be in the form of an Index card box where you simply have a card pocket for each day of the month. You create a card for each person and place them in the appropriate days slot you’re due to followup with them. You could also use a spreadsheet or database software for tracking the same thing. Depending upon how many contacts you have to email you could use an autoresponder. However, if there aren’t too many you could keep separate email folders and simply place one email for each person in that email folder. Than at the appropriate time based upon your schedule you would simply resend the new followup email only after copying and pasting the new message you’re sending.

The bottom line is if you continue to followup on a regular basis you should be pleasantly surprised with the numbers of people who eventually decide to try your product.

# posted by Medical Information : 3:28 AM