!#71# Drip Email Marketing System Converts Long-Term Leads to Sales

!±8± Drip Email Marketing System Converts Long-Term Leads to Sales

One of your most valuable assets is people who
won't buy from you--today. They are the majority of
your prospects. But if your business is typical, and I
hope it isn't, the majority of your sales leads slip
away and never give you their business. Drip
marketing is the way to win them.

In two separate studies, trade magazine publishers
Cahners and Penton discovered that around half of
the people who inquire about an advertisement they
see in a trade magazine place an order within 24
months.

So what should you do with these buyers who aren't
ready to buy? What can you do today to get their
business tomorrow? Well, here are two things you
shouldn't do.

1. Don't pass all sales leads to sales.

Salespeople want qualified leads, and a qualified lead,
in their view, is someone who is ready to buy real
soon, not 12 months from now. Most salespeople lack
the resources and patience to follow up with every
sales lead. They concentrate instead on immediate
opportunities.

2. Don't wait until the lead is ready.

A lead who isn't ready to buy for a number of months
needs to hear from you between now and then.
Otherwise they will forget you. Or a competitor will
come along during the interval and grab your lead's
attention, and purchase order.

The most effective way to convert long-term leads
into sales is drip marketing. Drip marketing is the
process of sending repeated, relevant messages to
your prospects until they are ready to buy. Drip
marketing is like drip irrigation, where farmers and
gardeners apply small amounts of water to plants
over long periods of time.

Drip marketing is usually automated, and relies
heavily on email marketing letters and newsletters
sent to opt-in subscribers.

Drip marketing is effective because it helps you stay
in touch with the people who are not ready for a
sales call today. Drip marketing keeps your brand in
the top of their mind. Drip marketing ensures that
you follow up with every single sales lead, and only
hand over to your salespeople the leads who are
primed and ready to discuss a purchase.

You tend to forget people who don't stay in touch.
But you tend to remember people who phone you,
email you or write to you over time. That's the
beauty of drip marketing. It helps you show a
sustained interest in your prospects until they're
ready to buy.