7 Reasons Why Your Business
Needs A Drip Marketing System
(Print And Share At Your Next Sales Meeting)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word count: 228
• Approximate time to read: 1.0 minutes (at 250 words per minute)

Look at your database of prospects/past clients and tell me the ones who will buy from you in the next 90 days. In all reality, you and/or your salespeople will be off by 90% (YES, 90%) or more. Do you know why? People buy when they are ready and not when you or your salespeople want them to.

Why You Need An e-Mail Drip Marketing System.

The benefits of an e-mail drip marketing system are numerous. In fact, it is the fastest, simplest, and most economical way to build trust, credibility, and brand recognition in the marketplace (which helps your sales pipeline immensely):

1. 27% of your sales force turns over each year (according to Harvard Business Review); therefore, an automated drip marketing system maintains contact with a salesperson's database.
2. Keeps prospective buyers in play as they travel the sales cycle.
3. Help find sales opportunities in your database of prospects, clients, and referral partners.
4. Encourages referrals from your database of clients & referral partners.
5. Finds cross-selling opportunities.
6. Build value in what you/your business brings to the marketplace.
7. Provide an EXCELLENT reason to follow up with someone with an "Oh, by the way" call. 

Now Here's The #1 Reason: 

• The #1 Reason: Business "situations" change all the time, from your competition falling short with their customer service efforts, product or service performance, a vendor taking their client's business for granted, to a vendor increasing their prices. 

Staggering Stats About Salespeople.

Fact: 50% of all salespeople stop contacting a prospective buyer and/or referral partner after their first unsuccessful attempt at moving the sales process forward.  A number that skyrockets to 95+% after their third unsuccessful attempt.  A lead nurturing process (drip marketing system) is designed to solve this issue.

It’s Your Job To Stay In Contact With Someone. 

People buy from people/businesses they like, know and trust. And the first time someone hears about your business, there's a good chance they won't understand why they should buy from you. So if you are letting your salespeople people your “drip marketing” system, it is a mistake that’s costing you a small fortune.

Executive Summary: A well-articulated drip marketing system will show your database of prospects, referral partners, and clients the value you bring to the marketplace.  More importantly, it stays in consistent contact even when you and your salespeople give up. So tell me, what’s stopping you from installing a lead-nurturing system at your business?

About The Author:

Glenn Fallavollita is a nationally recognized keynote speaker providing money-making advice to help owners, sales pros, and marketing gurus build more profitable relationships with their database of prospects, referral partners, and clients.

Additionally, Glenn is the president of SellMorePayroll.com and Drip Marketing, Inc. and has written 50+ whitepapers and three sales/self-marketing books, Supercharge Your Payroll Sales NOW!, Stop Whining AND Start Selling, and Drip Marketing: A Powerful New Marketing Strategy That Gets Prospects To Buy From You. He also writes blogs for LinkedIn and other national websites.

To hire Glenn for your next conference, visit DripMarketingSpeaker.com.

© Drip Marketing, Inc.  All Rights Reserved May Not Be Used Without Written Permission.

6 Ways To Shake The Prospect Tree
(Print And Share At Your Next Sales Meeting)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word count: 477
• Time to read: 1.9 minutes @ 250 words per minute

Do you want to jump-start your sales?  If you do, I have listed a number of tips below for all owners, sales leaders, and sales pros to read.   

#1: Build A Massive e-Mail Database - If you want to see an immediate increase in sales, work on building a massive e-mail database of clients, prospects, and referral partners. If you don’t have enough e-mail addresses, you should consider our e-mail address acquisition service.

#2: Engage Your Clients With More Proactive Campaigns - Satisfied clients are the lifeblood of any business. That said, here are a few ideas to help keep your clients engaged:

• Say "thank you" to your clients for being a customer.
• Ask your clients to recommend your business to someone they know.
• Survey your database of clients to determine how well you are performing (see point #5 below). 

#3: Sell On Value - Some companies do well as "the cheapest option available." However, for businesses delivering a high-quality service, this is not an attractive selling point. Therefore, your salespeople need to know what sets your business apart from its competition.

#4: Employ A Drip Marketing Strategy - To market your business on a cost-effective basis, I recommend sending a series of bite-size marketing campaigns over a consistent time period versus taking the fire-hose approach of information. Remember, segmented marketing campaigns (by target audience) are the way to go.  

#5: Pick Up The Phone More Often - Once a drip marketing campaign has been sent, make sure your salespeople call to follow up a campaign (this is the best way to shake the prospect tree). To help you sound more professional on the phone, I have outlined two voicemail scripts to consider:

• Hi _______this is ______ from ______________. I’m just quickly following up on an e-mail we sent to you about our free HR assessment offer.  If you would like to find out how our HR assessment can reduce your exposure to an employee lawsuit, call me at (800) 555-1212, again, (800) 555-1212.
• Hi _______this is ______ from ______________. I’m just quickly following up on an e-mail we sent you about our free ________ demo.  If you would like to find out how we can increase/reduce your ______ sales/costs by 33% next week, call me at (800) 555-1212, again, (800) 555-1212.

#6: Survey Your Clients - A client survey can provide you with a tremendous amount of feedback. Specifically:

• How well your business is performing.
• Generate more referrals (we show our clients this all the time).
• New products/services a client may need.

Executive Summary: Bringing on new clients is the lifeblood of any business. And if you want to see an increase in new business, you need to TAKE ACTION today; not tomorrow. 

7 Elements To A Great Company e-Newsletter
(Print And Share With Your Marketing Team)

By Glenn Fallavollita - President, Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word count: 467
• Time to read: 1.9 minutes @ 250 words per minute

Due to low distribution costs, e-newsletters are an excellent tool for your lead nurturing efforts. Unfortunately, few e-newsletters contain anything worth reading.

If you want more people to read your next e-newsletter, I have listed below a few ideas based on my experience of sending 70 million (yes, million) e-mail campaigns on behalf of our clients.

1. Provide Something Of Value To The Reader: Your e-newsletter must contain information your target audience will like to read. Some ideas are:

• Alert your audience to problems/solutions, scams, and/or safety hazards.
• Educate readers with important how-to articles.
• Give the reader a chance to win something from you.
• Hot industry news, trends, mergers, etc. in your market.

2. Create An Engaging Subject Line: More than anything else, your newsletter’s subject line will determine whether it gets deleted, saved, or forwarded. Some examples:

• 3 Tips To Help Close 50% More Sales Leads
• 5 Crazy Things People Are Doing With Our Product
• Prevent Cyber Attacks: 3 Things YOUR Business Needs To Do TODAY
• How To Do A $49 Oil Change For Only $19
• This Employee Lawsuit SHOULD Change The Way You Do Business

If you are having doubts about what to use for a subject line, run an A/B test on your top two subject lines.

3. Get It Professional Designed: If you want to give people a better brand experience, consider having your newsletter professionally designed. Remember, a newsletter design is a one-time cost since you can use it again by “copying it.”

4. Your Frequency: Weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly is the ideal frequency for a newsletter (we recommend a bi-weekly frequency).

5. Send Time: I recommend a two-step approach to sending an e-newsletter:

• Step 1: Send your newsletter on a Tuesday @ 8:30 AM.
• Step 2: On Thursday night or Friday morning, make a list of the e-mail addresses that “did not open” Tuesday’s e-mail. After this list is created, resend Tuesday's e-mail to this list Friday @ 8:30 AM.

IMPORTANT: I have found Mondays are notoriously the worse day to send a mass e-mail campaign; therefore, avoid this day altogether.  

6. Avoid Writing A Wall Of Text: A reader should be able to “scan” your newsletter. That said, use headlines, sub-headlines, bullet points, and short and snappy sentences. If you need more room to tell a story, give a reader a “Read More” hyperlink to a landing page. 

7. Use This 6-Step Proofing Process: My company’s six-step review process is:

1. Write 100% of your content in Word.
2. Run your content through Word AND Grammarly.
3. Cut and print the copy into your e-newsletter.
4. Print the campaign for proofing (have multiple people proof it).
5. Make the necessary changes from step four.
6. After step five, wait an hour or two and then reproof it.

Executive Summary: Newsletters ARE a great tool; however, you need to create more than an e-mail newsletter to market your business.

Why Drip Marketing Is A
Critical Sales Strategy
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word count: 615
• Time to read: 2.5 minutes @ 250 words per minute

Since no one can predict the exact moment in time when someone will be ready to buy what you sell, you need to maintain CONSISTENT contact with EVERYONE in your marketing databases. That being said, drip marketing is a great short- AND long-term strategy for any size business. Plus, it will go a long way to building trust, credibility, and brand recognition for you in the marketplace. 

Why Is Drip Marketing A Critical Sales Strategy?

Here are a number of solid reasons:

• 50% of all salespeople stop calling a prospect after their first unsuccessful attempt at moving the sales process forward - a number that skyrockets to 95% to 98% after a salesperson's third unsuccessful attempt. 
• It takes anywhere from 7 to 21 personal touches before someone makes a buying/referral decision. 
• 80% of what you tell a prospective buyer or client in a face-to-face meeting is forgotten within 24- to 48 hours; over the phone, it takes less than 60-minutes for someone to forget 80% of what they were told.
• People make buying decisions when they are ready; not when you or your salespeople want them to.

Types Of Drip Marketing Tactics/Campaigns.

• Phone call blitz sessions.
• e-Mail Marketing Campaigns (e.g., sales intro letter, product or service spotlights, newsletters, press releases, sales promotions, etc.).
• Direct mail campaigns (e.g. postcards, letters, and lumpy mail campaigns).
• Prospect drop-off kits (e.g., sales literature, samples, etc.).

Sample Drip Marketing Calendar (For A Database Of Prospects):

• Day 1:  e-Mail a press release on an upgraded feature, new hire, security upgrade, or service/product promotion.
• Day 3: e-Mail an educational newsletter.
• Day 4: A follow-up call is made to gauge interest/set appointments (use a 2/4 call strategy).
• Day 10: e-Mail an introductory letter.
• Day 10: Mail a postcard with a special offer.
• Day 17:  e-Mail newsletter.
• Day 28: e-Mail a product or service spotlight campaign.
• Day 42: e-Mail a newsletter.
• Day 49: e-Mail a product or service spotlight campaign.
• Day 56: e-Mail e-newsletter.
• Day 63: A follow-up call is made to gauge interest/set appointments.

The Pros Of A Drip Marketing System:

• A continuous cycle of well-written marketing messages will go a long way in building trust, credibility, and brand recognition in the marketplace. 
• It is a great way to position yourself/your business as a thought leader in the industry. 
• "Situations" change all the time; from your competition falling short with their customer service efforts, product or service performance or taking their business for granted to price increases. 
• New decision-makers enter into the buying cycle.

The Cons Of A Drip Marketing System:

• It requires a disciplined person/business to engage in a long-term drip marketing strategy.
• Your content needs to be written by a skilled copywriter (so your messages resonate with a reader).
• It requires a salesperson (or you) to formally follow up a campaign with an "oh by the way" call.  
• Your marketing databases need to be constantly updated to maximize open rates and reduce postage costs when a direct mail campaign is released; however, the ROI is substantial should these steps be taken correctly.

Now The Good News.

A significant percentage of your competitors, even your largest ones, do not have a drip marketing system installed at their business; a mistake that represents a huge sales and marketing opportunity for YOU and YOUR business. Best of all, you don't need to spend a fortune to install one for your business.  

Executive Summary: Sending a consistent series of marketing campaigns will show a client, past client, prospect, and referral partner that you/your business still has an interest in them even when you and your salespeople no longer do.

How To Hire Salespeople
(Who Will Be Engaged)
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word count: 481
• Time to read: 1.9 minutes @ 250 words per minute

An engaged sales team can and will have a direct impact on your company’s bottom line, as they are the ones who will:

• Produce high-quality results.
• Strive for improvements to sales processes and procedures.
• Search for solutions to a customer’s problem.

In your search for building an engaged sales team, it is in your best interest to recruit employees who will have the best chance of being engaged.

The Average Hiring Process In America Takes Approximately 23* Days.

When a company needs to hire a new salesperson, I have listed below the process many companies follow: 

• The job is posted online.
• Resumes are gathered.
• Candidates are selected.
• Zoom and phone interviews are completed.
• The final group (of candidates) is interviewed, and job skills are assessed.
• A second face-to-face interview gets done.
• The final candidate is presented an offer. 

Depending on the size of your company, and the position requirements, a second and/or third interview is done before a final candidate is chosen.  

*According to Glassdoor Economic Research

How Can A Hiring Manager Determine A Candidate’s Engagement Level?

Before a salesperson is hired, the sales manager will spend a few hours talking with a candidate.  To help you avoid hiring a disengaged salesperson, here are some suggestions to review:

• Ask About Their Interests Outside Of Work – Does your candidate have outside interests in their life?  All experts agree that one’s passion in outside interests will carry over into their professional career.
• Ask Why Questions – Ask “why” questions instead of “how” and “what.” Remember, it is more important to know why they did something versus how something was done.
• Make Sure Other Staff Members Interview Your Final Candidates – Always include members of staff, or other managers, to be part of the interview process.
• Observe Someone’s Body Language During The Interview Process – Ask yourself this: Does the candidate get excited when they describe a problem they solved? Do they project confidence? Do you hear the excitement in their voice? If the candidate does not give you confidence in their critical thinking skills, you may not want them on your team.
• Use Assessment Tools/Resources – I recommend using third-party behavioral analysis assessment tools to help determine if someone will fit into your culture.  That being said, this process is a good idea to help you determine if this person will be a good match for your business.

Executive Summary: Make sure you use effective strategies and tactics to hire someone who will have a greater chance of being an engaged salesperson. As I advise all of our clients, your businesses cannot afford to hire the wrong salesperson – especially when the average turnover is 50% to 60% in their first year of employment.

e-Mail Newsletters:
5 Best Practices For Your Business
By Glenn Fallavollita, President - Drip Marketing, Inc.

• Word count for this issue: 487
• Approximate time to read: 1.9 minutes (@ 250 words per minute)

Are you thinking of creating a company newsletter or do you already have one? No matter what your situation is, you should put a little bit of a strategy behind your newsletters. This is especially important since people spend 20% of their day looking at their inbox. 

#1: Define Your Newsletter’s Goal or Purpose?

Remember, if you cannot determine a newsletter’s objective, you will never know what is working. Here are some goals/objectives of a company's newsletter (which changes everytime you send a campaign): 

* To educate someone on a particular subject?

* To showcase a client?

* To promote a new product/service?

* To announce a new salesperson or system upgrade?

* To stay top-of-mind with your prospects?

#2: Make Sure Your Content Needs To Resonate With Your Target Audience.

Sure, you can blast a generic one-size-fits-all newsletter but if your main purpose of sending one out is to say “BUY FROM ME!,” your open- and click-through rates will be below average at best.

Conversely, you are much better off saying, “Read this valuable information as it can help solve a business problem for you.” Sending relevant content will be your key to success.

#3: Always Grow And Update Your Databases.

One of the best things you can do is grow/update your marketing databases. If not, your open rates will flatten out over time. 

#4: Use Proper Formatting.

Nothing could be more boring than a white background and a wall of black text (I see it all the time). If you want to attract a reader, break up the copy with sub-headlines, bullet points, and brief paragraphs. Additionally, people read top to bottom and left to right. To help the flow of a newsletter, it’s in your best interest to add pictures, videos, and colors to engage a reader.

#5: Add A Low-Risk Offer To Help Someone Learn More.

To help a prospective buyer take the next step in the buying process, go back to my first point and remember what your goal(s) or objectives are for a newsletter. Are your goals to:

* Direct a reader to a specific page on your site? If it is, highlight a hyperlink to that page.

* Want to promote a special whitepaper or company overview? If it is, highlight a hyperlink to download that guide (or a landing page on your website).

* Want to get a client or a referral source to refer you or your business? If it is, add a one-click button that directs someone to a “refer us to a friend” page on your website.

Executive Summary: In your e-newsletters, as with all other e-mail marketing campaigns, keep your message on track. If you are yelling “BUY, BUY, BUY” or “LOOK AT THIS OFFER” you will disengage readers faster than you will engage them.