I have a confession to make. Even though I’ve written about how powerful a followup marketing system is to generate more business, I don’t have a systematic followup system working for me. I’ve always procrastinated in creating a followup system because the whole idea overwhelms me.
- Who should I contact and how many times?
- How to contact them?
- What to talk with them about?
- How to plan it all out?
- How to keep track of everything?
And so, I’ve always been stuck because of this overwhelm. Sure, I send out emails when work seems slow. And write newsletters and blog posts every so often. But I’ve not invested time in being disciplined to create a followup system that works like clockwork. Because I always thought it was too much work. It was all too hard. How wrong was I!
David Frey, one of my marketing mentors recently asked me to read this short 128 page book “60 Second Referral.” And the book is a real gem. Quick to read. And gives easy ideas you can implement right away.
The whole book is pretty good with tons of ideas. It reads like a super brainstorming tool. You’ll never be out of ideas as to how you should followup and stay connected with others. But my favorite parts were:
- Page 18
- and the Appendix
Page 18: 5 Key Circles of Relationship
On page 18, the tells you how you should segment your list. Seriously – you don’t want to send the same message to your aunt that you send to your client – do you? So how should you segment your contacts? You segment all the contacts into one of 5 lists:
- Clients
- Prospects
- Business associates (vendors, suppliers, partners, lawyer, accountant etc)
- Friends and family
- Aquantiances
And then create a distinct plan of followup for each of these 5 circles.
Appendix: Sample Plan for Your Perpetual Contact System
A whole another book could actually be written on the Appendix. Because the appendix gives you a sample plan for each of the 5 circles of relationships! Sit down with the appendix and create a timeline for following up. And within no time, you’ll end up with a superb well tuned referral system that will keep you with more business than you can cope with!
Action Summary:
- Segment your contacts in 5 groups.
- Create a schedule – a plan to follow up with all of them.
- Buy the book “The 60-Second Referral” by Anita Williams to get choke full of ideas on how to follow up effectively.
