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Hello, hello. Have you ever felt like you're putting your heart and soul into your marketing and you're just not getting enough sales? And it's kind of a bummer. It bums you out, and you're doing everything that you can. But what if it's not your strategy? What if it's a lack of follow-up? And we've all heard the wonderful quote from Jim Rohn: the fortune is in the follow-up. What if that needs to be amped up a little bit? And that's exactly what we're going to talk about today in this week's podcast episode, The Fortune is Still in the Follow-up.

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Welcome. I'm Marissa Shadrick, host of the Resilient Faith Online Show. I'm an online marketing coach and certified copywriter. And in this podcast, you'll find a different perspective on the external and internal challenges we face as online entrepreneurs. Join me for some inspiration and practical tips as we create positive change in the world. To continue the conversation, join me in my private resilient creator community. Go to MarissaShedric.com forward slash community.

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Hello, hello, everyone. How are you doing? Marissa here with another podcast episode, and we're going to talk about a topic that I was really actually bad at. I've learned learning experience, right? It's all learning experience about follow-up, which I call touch points. And there's two parts to this, really. There's touch points before they enter into your ecosystem, any of your target audience. And there's also touch points once they are part of your email list. So it's sort of twofold. And the more I have increased my touch points, the more I have seen results. And so we're going to talk about that a little bit today. So just as a reminder, this podcast episode can be found on any of your favorite podcast platforms like Apple, Spotify, and also on YouTube. So we have a video version as well. So when you go to my website and you see podcasts in the tab, you'll be able to see both a place where you can listen to it or watch it if you prefer. So of course I have notes because I gotta have notes. I usually prepare for these and I try to give you as much value as possible. But this was a particular topic that was going to share within my private community, and we talk about different topics in that. And the second time I show up live, we talk about the back-end tech to figure out how to do what it was that I coached them on. So, because sometimes, you know, it's great to get theory, it's great to get ideas, but then we sit there in front of the computer and wonder, how do we do it? So I want you to understand the concept behind follow-up. And we're going to just start from the beginning and we're just going to go over some things. You probably know this already, but I don't want to assume anything and I want to just break it down very easily. So the first thing is a definition of touch point. So I found this one CRM called ACT that had a pretty good definition, and I modified it slightly. Not a lot, but just slightly. And it says a touch point are, or touch points are various interactions a prospect has with your business before making a purchase. So there's the before they're in your ecosystem, right? Or maybe they are part of your email list already, but sometimes we use marketing where uh they enter into a funnel and those become touch points until they buy. Or sometimes we offer something, maybe it's even a free resource. How many touch points did it take to get them to download that resource and become part of your email list? So the rest of the definition, let me repeat this: a touch point or touch points are various interactions a prospect has with your business before making a purchase. They're the contact points that you use to follow up with prospects and nudge them forward in the sales funnel. So, long story short, it's real simple is how many interactions do you have with people before they download a free resource? Or how many interactions do you have with your email list so that they can buy a certain product or service? Because this is what I used to do. I used to figure, you know, I'm wonderful with checklists and I love to create a checklist and just check it off, check it off, check it off. But the follow-up was something that it's not done yet. You got to go back and do more. And I'm not one to want to redo things. And so I sort of, you know, I sort of, you know, mess myself up there because it's important to realize that the first time you offer something, people aren't necessarily going to say yes. And it takes a certain number of times before they say yes. So some people understand this and they realize that it there's a lot of truth to this. But one of the things that I realized when I did a little bit of research on this is that it's it's across the board. It's not just solopreneurs, it's not just coaches or s or service providers, it's across the board. A lot of times there's salespeople that that is their livelihood, and so they're going to the next call, the next call, the next call until they get a yes, until they get a yes. And those no's, they never look back at those no's, right? They don't become as much of a hot list to call on because they've already been cycled through once. So here's an interesting quote from an article that I read, and it said that Microsoft conducted a study that shows that by the fourth contact, a full 89%, almost 90% of salespeople had given up on that particular contact. They didn't go back to contact them. So it's interesting to think, what if I did repeat a message, or what if I came in from another direction, or maybe followed up a few months later, a few weeks later, to a certain audience, even though they may have said no, and we don't hear the audible no. It could have been that they never read it, or it could have been that it they were on vacation. You just never know why somebody doesn't take you up on an offer, whether it's free or paid. You just don't know. And so sometimes, you know, our mind plays, messes with us and plays tricks on us, and it makes it we take it personally and it's not a personal thing. At least I used to, but I don't anymore. But I realize that people sometimes are not ready to take that step. And I know because I've done that as well. There's certain things that I haven't bought because I'm not ready. It's not because I don't want it, it's just the timing is not right. And so the same is for those people that you're trying to prospect to. It might not be the right time, but it's not necessarily a no. So I was guilty of that. So I totally get it. So let's first talk about a little bit of a review on traffic sources, just so we're on the same page. Because I want you to understand that maybe there's more you can do with the existing leads that you have rather than trying to find more new leads and more new leads and more new leads. So, traffic sources, just a quick overview. You have different types of traffic sources. You have organic, which is simply not paid, right? Organic traffic could be people that happen to find you from a Google search and land on your website. That's organic traffic, right? And we want to be able to leverage our website. There's also paid traffic, that's when we literally pay ad money to get traffic. We also have referral traffic, and we have borrowed traffic. Now, I'm very much a fan of borrowed traffic, but you have to realize that these traffic sources are kind of like a highway, you know, when you when you're driving down a freeway or a highway, and you usually have multiple lanes, and you have sometimes the the fast lane on the very left, and then you have kind of a middle lane that is kind of you know runs the speed limit. The good old boys, right? Let the good old girls like myself. I usually try to stay within the speed limit, and then you have the slow lane, right? That you just you it just drives you crazy, and you got to get around those people if you're on that right lane where it's a slow lane, maybe it's a slow truck or something. Well, traffic is sort of like that, depending on the type of traffic that you want to generate. It could be the fast lane, it could be kind of right right in the middle, like following the speed limit, right? Kind of slow and steady, you know, wins a race, or it could be slow but effective, like organic traffic. Organic traffic is slow, but if you have a system in place, you know, it could over time be pretty good. And then fast traffic could be add money of something that you've already tested that you know people want, and that could sort of speed up things. So you have to look at it that way. But my favorite, of course, is borrowed traffic, and borrowed traffic, even in local businesses, you can have borrowed traffic, which would be like anything that involves like community engagement, trade show booths, business events, like Chamber of Commerce or something like that, local publications. Most towns have a local publication. You can put an ad in that, um, guest presentations, those are ways that local businesses can do it. But we can also, when we're online, we can do it in the form of podcast guesting. Again, this is all borrowed traffic, right? Speaking venues that allows us to be able to get in front of other people, workshops, doing some type of workshop, appearing on a summit, doing some sort of breakout session, maybe for another entrepreneur, and you come in and you do a breakout session of some sort. Um, and also guest blog posts could be another way, too. So we have different traffic sources. Now, this podcast is not about traffic, it's really about the follow-up. We go through all this trouble and all this work to get traffic, to get somebody even to opt in to our lead magnet, and then we drop the ball. And that's what this podcast is about the follow-up and not giving up on those people that you've connected with, whether they're already in part of your ecosystem or they're not, not giving up because it takes a lot of work. It does take a lot of work to generate uh, you know, people that see your social media posts or people that download your resources. It takes a lot of work. It's a lot of work, a lot of consistency. So why stop too soon? Why not follow through a few more times? So of course, when we're thinking of the follow-up, you want to make sure that all of your traffic efforts, whatever way you're trying to get traffic, is very targeted. Because if you have a hundred people that's a mix and they're not your ideal audience, they may never say yes, right? They may never say yes because they're not the ideal audience. So I would rather have 20 ideal audience to speak to or to talk to or to get in front of in some way, than to have 200 that's just general public because they're not my audience. And trying to follow up, I mean, I could become annoying, right? Because I can't provide value for them because they're not my target audience. So we want to make sure when you do decide what way you want to generate traffic, that it's very targeted, even when it's borrowed, because sometimes we get excited, oh, I get to speak here, or I get to do this, or I get to be a podcast guest. But is it your ideal target audience? Because otherwise, you're spending a lot of time on something that will maybe somebody will download something, but they might unsubscribe, or they're just not aligned, right? And you want to be able to get in front of those people that are very much aligned and people that maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but maybe next week or next month, they'll be a client. And so it has to be very targeted, all of your traffic strategies, very targeted, because you do need qualified leads, then the follow-up makes sense, right? Because when you're following up, there's different ways to do this. And we're going to talk about that. I'm going to share a few ways. So when we're looking at the what type of touch points, you know, are there? There's there's lots of them. Let me go over for say local business so you could see kind of the differences here. With local businesses, there could be advertising or maybe any type of promotional material. You can have that as well. It could be a sales call, that is a touch point. It could be maybe even a Yelp or a Google review is a touch point because that's someone that maybe you have had as a client and you've left that, and they've left that review for you, and someone else is going to see it. So that becomes a touch point for new potential clients. And then also, we don't want to forget customer support is also a touch point. Even though they're already clients and we're giving them customer support. Hopefully, you have other things that they can buy that could be a way to be able to keep them as clients and offer them other services that would be beneficial for them. So that's also a way to do that, or even having something fun like a uh customer success program. That would be fun too. I know with my um private community, I use Mighty Networks and they have these little like badges. Like if you invite somebody, they they have this like bronze, gold, silver thing. It doesn't really mean anything, it's just kind of a way of saying thank you that you've earned this little badge. But those are little incentives, right? And those are those are touch points. You make it fun, right? Now for digital, when we're online, there's touch points that can look different ways. It could be a live stream that you do, it could be a podcast like this, right? Because not only does my community hear the podcast, but it could be new people hear the podcast. So it could be podcasts, could be a touch point, social media posts can be a touch point, right? If you do this consistently, they begin to see it in the feed. Maybe they they want to follow you and like you, and maybe they'll comment on it, but they begin to see it. And you can tell by the impressions how many people are actually consuming and viewing your posts, and then direct messages is another touch point, it's another way to do this. Now, granted, all of these are before they're in your ecosystem, right? Before direct messages, and then once they are in your ecosystem, of course, you have things like email campaigns, that's a way to continue the relationship and create more touch points and create email campaigns. Maybe you have a newsletter, maybe if you have a blog, you you publish it every week and you push that out to your email list. So there's lots of ways. And then even when people are marketing, they can retarget ads. That's a way for people to see that ad again. There's, you know, virtual events, there's all kinds of ways. But once they're in your ecosystem, the touch points are really, or the the you know, when they say the the fortunes and the follow-up, that's why we have funnels, right? That's why we create email sequences because we're bringing them through a process and we're dripping out either content or we're trying to bring them in at maybe a low offer, or maybe we do some type of campaign or something for some program that we have. So once they're in our ecosystem, it's the funnel that brings them through this various touch points. Okay, so hopefully you've got that. So um when you think of why they don't say yes, like I said, it could be lots of different reasons. They may just be getting to know you and trust you. It may just take a little time. Maybe they enjoy what you have to offer, but they're not they're not quite ready yet. And and that's okay. That's okay. Other times is it depends on what is called the five stages of awareness, and it just depends how aware they are of the solution you provide. So the five stages of awareness are unaware, they're they're unaware, they don't realize that they need this solution, or maybe they're they're problem aware, but it's not top of mind. Maybe they're solution aware and they're not sure where to get it from, or maybe they're product aware and they want to see, you know, what makes you different than other people, right? And so they're trying to discover that. Or if they're most aware, they've been within your ecosystem, they've been consuming some of your content, they realize that you have a solution for them, and they are ready now. So we don't know really how long that takes. In one article I read, some people, you know, kind of stick to the seven to eight touches to make a sale, others say it takes about 13. I don't think they really know. The thing is, what we do know is that people quit too soon. So how many is too much, right? And this is where in your strategy, if they are part of your email list, is you want to consider, you know, how the frequency of your emails. And I like the 80-20 rule, the the Pareto principle, and I like to provide lots of content value, and then 20% of the time, then do some kind of campaign. And I kind of follow that on social media too. I don't like to just promote, promote, and I I just we have so much of it out there, right? And a lot of my programs, you know, the six-month mastermind, you know, I'm not promoting during that time because I'm fulfilling and I'm working with clients then, and then I do copywriting as well. And so there's only certain times a year that I'm really promoting some of these programs that I have. So I don't have to necessarily always do that. I could always promote the membership, and I probably should do it more than I have been, but um, I've been wanting to really see the direction of that. And I think I've got some clarity that next year there's probably going to be a more targeted outcome for the membership. You know, it's all a learning experience. None of us just get an idea and say, okay, this is it, and it we just seal it, right? And this is it. We evolve because we're keeping our our finger on the pulse of the market. Everything changes, right? And we're trying to figure out how can I serve my audience best? What do I need to change? What do I need to improve? What do I need to remove? What do I need to add? You know, all of these things. But when your audience, if they're ready to buy, sometimes people are busy and they just procrastinate and they don't click that link the first time they receive that email. So rule of thumb, I would say, is to create a variety of touch points and keep asking, as long as you're not promoting something every single day or every single week, right? Use the 80-20 rule. And when you have an opportunity to literally talk to someone, just ask until they say no. And no is okay. No is a good answer. For some reason, people feel uncomfortable saying no, but they need to realize that no is a good answer. It is an answer. And so the nice thing for somebody that's offering something, if they hear no, then they go, okay, thank you for letting me know. And that way they don't have to, you know, keep sending them something. That's why it's nice to also put unsubscribe and some promotions and campaigns. You can do that as well and say, you look, if you're not interested in this particular offer that I'm running this promotion, just click here to unsubscribe from this promotional campaign, and you'll still be within our community. You could do that too. That's a good way to do that so that people have a choice. I'm not interested right now. I'll unsubscribe from this promotion, but I'm still part of the community. I'm still there. And I'm still receiving your emails, but I'm not going to receive all the emails for this campaign. So we have to just be kind of sensitive. If we're actually talking to people and they're saying, well, I'm not sure, then I'm going to take it. They're not sure. And I'll follow up until I hear no. And so I'm trying not to quit too soon because there have been people that have said no to me and I've let them, you know, I've left them alone. And then they come back and say, actually, I do want to join. So go figure that one out. I can't figure that one out. But in any event, um, it's something that you can't have a blanket rule. You have to just be very respectful and mindful of people, but know that it's okay to ask again, as long as it's not week after week. You have to see the frequency of it, but know that you've got potential people that could become clients that are already maybe part of your email list, or people that are actually maybe following you or reading your content on social media, and maybe it takes a DM message. So even that, the DM messages, you know, we've all seen it. We've all seen where somebody, you know, joins you and the DM is all pitching, pitching, pitching, and they want you to buy something or do something, and it's horrible. Don't do that. Don't do that when you reach out to people, have courtesy, five, try to find that common ground. Look at their profile when you're reaching out, trying to connect with them. You know, have a conversation with them in the DM, and then you could text in on LinkedIn. I've said this before. You can text, you can leave an audio message, you can leave a video link if you want. You could put those cute little gifts on there. Gifts, is that what they're called? Gif gifts? You could put one of those cute little gifts in there as a response. You can um do a lot there. So even with the DMs, you can mix it up and offer them your free resource. You're not asking for a sale, you're not asking for an appointment. You can just say, hey, uh, are you interested in in marketing? And are you trying to get more leads in sales? I have a resource or I have a video training that is absolutely free. If you'd like it, I can send it over to you. And then just ask them. They say yes and you give it to them, and there you go. You just add somebody else to your email list. So the point I'm making today is don't give up too soon. You go through all this work to generate traffic, right? Whether it's organic, whether it's paid, even borrowed, you prepare for a public speaking event, right? Don't quit too soon. Because just because they hesitate or they don't respond, doesn't mean they may maybe be interested later. They're just not interested right now because something's happening. Life happens to people. People get married, people move and relocate, and they have kids, and people are taking care of their elderly parents, and there's lots going on. So we have to have empathy for people and realize that if they don't say no, if they don't unsubscribe and they're still getting things, let's make it easy for them to unsubscribe from a promotion if it's not the right time yet. Be very conversational in your emails, be conversational in your direct messages, offer them a free resource, be helpful, right? And I've said it before, take random out of random acts of kindness, right? Just be kind, just be human, just be you, and I think that'll go a long way. And don't stop too soon. Obviously, three or four touches, according to some of the statistics I saw, is not enough, right? That's why many people that do webinars they say, don't give up. You know, if you got a closed cart date, that's the date that you need to send out like three emails on that last day because people usually wait till the last minute. There's a reason for that. There's a reason Jim Rohn said the fortune is in the follow-up, right? So let's look at it as an opportunity to maybe convert existing context that we have rather than looking for more and more and more new stuff. Let's work with what we have. And I'm preaching to myself because I was really bad at this. I'm getting better now that I have a CRM and so forth, and you can use tags and different things to be able to see, you know, where someone is in that journey. So hopefully this was helpful for you and you were able to get a few tips from this. And I just want you to know that all your efforts that you're doing, you know, I applaud you for that because I know how hard it is creating content. I know because I do it, right? I'm in the trenches with you guys. So I understand. So if you're doing that, don't stop too soon. You know, keep in contact with people, provide value, and don't be afraid to ask if this is a good time to maybe schedule an appointment and talk about some a program that you have or someone that you talked to before. You know, we talked before and I realized it wasn't a good time. I was wondering if you wanted to revisit this and have a call. So don't give up too soon and keep reaching out. They don't give you a no. It's not a no, right? It's still a maybe. So hopefully that helped. All righty. Well, you take care, and I will talk to you soon. Bye bye.