If you’re trying to respond to every single customer by yourself or not keeping in touch with your prospects, you may want to review your internal processes to include autoresponders.
An autoresponder is a type of program that automatically answers emails that are sent to it. At some point when using email, you have received an autoresponder when an email you sent could not be delivered. You likely received a bounced message that your email “could not be delivered because”.
An autoresponder can help a small business owner keep in touch with their prospects, respond to customer inquiries, and provide immediate information to your prospective customer. It can also then follow up with them at pre-determined time intervals.
If you’re thinking that having an autoresponder message is impersonal, you’re missing out on a key leverage point. With carefully written messages, your prospects or customers will welcome your timely messages and appreciate that you’re staying in touch with them.
The key mistake entrepreneurs make is that they talk “at” their customers rather than “to” their customers/prospects. Consider each message in your series as an encounter. Let’s say the first encounter is that someone downloaded an ebook you offer. The first message welcomes them and directs them to how they can download your ebook. The second message, programmed a day or two later, might ask them if they have had a chance to read it. The third message might ask them how it was going or to connect on social media. Each time, you’re opening up the lines of communication and engaging them – not dissimilar to how you might connect with them through a phone call. They likely will respond to this pre-programmed message and you will receive their responses directly. You then can further chat with them or set up a phone conversation or other type of interaction.
Today’s messages through autoresponders should communicate as if you are writing each email individually. When you do, you’ll find that having this systematic way to keep in touch with your prospects is effective, leverages your business, engages them, and cultivates that relationship with them.
Lisa Mininni is a best-selling author and President of Excellerate Associates, home of the sought-after Entrepreneurial Edge System teaching small business owners how to automatically bring in pre-qualified prospects and turn them into invested clients. Pick up her ebook, Get Ready, Get Set, Go! at http://www.freebusinessplanformat.com.