Is Your Autoresponder Really a Hammer?

by Dan B. Cauthron
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If your autoresponder was a hammer, then your advertisements
would be bags of nails. Now, if that doesn't make any
sense at all, please read on.

It's no secret that only a very small percentage of sales
are made on the first contact; some knowledgable experts
say as little as 1% to 2%. Those sales are easy, and
practically automatic, as within any given market there
will always be a few predetermined customers.

In other words, before even seeing your offer, those people
have already determined a need or desire for a product or
service similar to what you offer. Those people will buy
right off the bat.

However, the question that arises here is, "Can your
business survive on a 2% sales margin?" Most businesses
can't. That fact in itself defines a need for a more
aggressive and protracted approach to marketing, if you
want to grab any part of the other 98% that is laying out
there waiting for you.

One nationwide sales association* in the United States has
put forth these figures as the result of their studies.

Then it goes without saying that to be successful, any
sales organization in the bricks-n-mortar world would need
to have a well-oiled machine set up specifically to extract
the highest possible percentage of sales from those figures.
Note clearly that this concept does not differ one whit for
those of us who do our business on the Internet. The only
point that may differ is the sort of machine that we use.

The primary phase of the machine is the lead/prospect
generating system. This part is critical, in that it must
supply an ongoing list of qualified [targeted] prospects
who have a demonstrated and proven interest in the product
or service that is being offered.

In the case of Internet marketing, the most cost effective
lead/prospect generating method to date is the 'two-step'
eZine ad. If that brings old Merle Haggard tunes to mind,
it's okay.

However, what it really means is that the advertisement,
generally a small one, is not intended to make the sale up
front. It's only purpose is to pique the reader's interest
and induce her to respond for more information. That action
on the reader's part automatically qualifies her as a
'targeted' prospect.

She has demonstrated a predetermined interest in what we
have to offer. Yet she likely will not be a two percenter,
and may require repeated contact and further information,
before she makes a buying decision.

Any successful brick-n-mortar sales executive will spend a
lot of time and energy in cultivating her prospect list.
She will contact her potential customers on a repetitive
basis, making sure their needs are met, new information is
distributed, and any possible services and favors are
performed.

By doing this, she is effectively narrowing the gap on that
other 98% of her prospects who will not buy immediately.
Over time, she will extract the maximum number of sales
from any given number of prospects.

Again, none of this changes in cyberspace. Yet we Internet
business owners must deal with the disadvantage of not
being able to pay a personal visit to our prospects in
their offices or homes. Telephone contact will certainly
suffice in many cases, but may not be cost effective unless
our product or service is priced accordingly.

For those of us who market our wares and services on the
Internet, repetitive and systematic contact by email has
become the accepted and highly effective method of keeping
in touch with a targeted prospect list. No doubt, some of
this contact can and should be done on a personalized
level. But a great deal of this work load can be shouldered
by an effective autoresponder based follow-up system.

If you're not making full use of your hammer (autoresponse
systems) to drive home the nails (advertisements) in your
Internet marketing efforts, three things are probably
happening.

1. You're working way too hard.

2. You're wasting a majority of your ad budget.

3. You're throwing up to 98% of your sales out the window.

We strongly suggest getting a hammer.

*National Sales Executive Association ()