I have seen similar numbers before but these just really hit me hard while I was reading “Conquer the Chaos: How To Grow A Successful Small Business Without Going Crazy” by Clate Mask and Scott Martineau. So I wanted to share them with you.
| Percentage of People Who Buy | Number of Contacts | When Companies Stop Contacting Prospects |
| 2% | 1 contact | 48% |
| 3% | 2 contacts | 24% |
| 4% | 3 contacts | 12% |
| 10% | 4 contacts | 6% |
| 81% | 5 contacts | 10% |
So almost half of us as salespeople stop after only 1 contact with a prospect. But we know only 2% actually buy at that first contact!!
Only 10% of marketers have a system in place to make 5 contacts with that prospect. But we know 81% of the buyers are making their buy decision on or after that 5th contact!
Contact means in person, by phone, voice mail, email, social media post, direct mail piece, etc. Anything that puts me and my services in front of the buyer.
You and I have to develop a marketing plan and system to ensure that we reach those prospects multiple times!
There is an additional benefit to this type of marketing system. When people do make a purchase or do business with us, the follow up helps build a relationship so they will do business with us again. The second or third sell to a client is always more profitable than the first sale.
How do you develop your system? You can plan the steps then set up them in a Customer Relationship Management software (CRM) such as Outlook, Google Contacts or Zoho. You can use a sales automation software like InfusionSoft or SalesForce. You can set up task templates in software like ToDoIst.
I don’t know about you but I’m going after that 81%!!
Your Computer Lady was selected by Constant Contact as an All Star recipient for the 12+ year! Only 10% of all of Constant Contact’s referral partners receive this designation. It is based on not just on the number of clients YCL has at CtCt but also on the quality of the email lists, the Open Rates and Click Rates of all YCL client emails. This recognition assures you that YCL does know about email marketing and how to do it successfully. YCL believes that email marketing is the best tool available to the small business person to promote their business and build client relationships. If you aren’t using it, call Pamela TODAY!
Don’t ask for client reviews once. Ask many times in many different ways! You can’t tell when a client will have the time and the focus to do a review. So ask often and make it easy! Here is a good example. Event Espresso is a plug-in for WordPress to organize events and ticket sales. They did a 7 day series of email lessons. At the bottom of #7, they inserted a link to their Twitter profile. They asked for a tweet. This is an easy type of review request. I didn’t have to think of what to write, look up their Twitter ID. Nothing like that! Click on the link and share the word.
This graphic based on data from SalesForce reminds us that changing a prospect into a real lead then into a sale takes multiple actions. There is no silver bullet that will convert that prospect instantaneously. Email marketing is a good tool in that cycle of touches. Not the only one but a really good one. It can be automated. It can re-use content you have already written. It is low cost. You can measure its effectiveness.