You’ve done the work to put together an email list. You write a great newsletter and you send it out to them. Most of them don’t open it. Those that do, don’t respond to it. The time and effort you put into collecting leads bears no fruit, and you don’t know why. Here is what you are doing wrong:
You Take Me for Granted
One of the biggest ways you can lose your leads is to take them for granted. Park them in your database for days, weeks, or months with no love shown to them, and they aren’t going to be there for you when you want them. Send out regular notes to let them know that you appreciate the fact that they’ve opened this door of communication to you and kept it open for you.
You Never Talk To Me
This is an offshoot of the previous problem. When you don’t talk to them, you’re secretly telling them you don’t appreciate them. When was the last time you reached out to them? When was the last time you talked to them? One recent prospect took over a dozen times of reaching out to her, offering help, and giving her feedback before she was ready to buy. Keeping the communication going is an important part of building the relationships necessary for trust to exist between the two of you.
You Only Call Me When You Want Something from Me
If every email you send out is about a sale, or about making money, and it doesn’t do anything to help them or encourage them or support them in what they need, don’t expect them to keep opening your emails. You’re turning them off because you’re sending the signal loud and clear that you don’t really care about them. You care about their money. Nobody wants to feel used. Make sure you keep those connections going even when you aren’t offering something.
You Never Listen To Me
When is the last time you sent an email asking your email list for feedback on what matters to them? What do they want from you? What do they need from you? How can you help them get more and do more out of their work than they’ve been able to do before? Reach out from time to time and ask for feedback. Encourage a response by promising them a bonus if they do respond – maybe give a free coaching call or maybe you’ll offer them a worksheet, something simple and small but powerful that can help them get what they want out of the relationship.
You Don’t Get Me
Everything you write needs to be crafted and drafted with the needs of your ideal prospects in mind. What are their needs? What are their feelings? Connect with them. Show that you understand them by how you write and what topics you choose. If you know that 3/4 of your audience is into hockey, sprinkle your writing with hockey references. If you know they are more likely to be into books than athletics, use writing references. Whatever it is that grabs their attention and excites them, use that in your writing and when you speak to them.
You Are Never There For Me
How good are you at talking to your prospects after the sale is made and the check clears the bank? How much follow-up and follow-through do you do to be sure they got what they paid to receive? How much do you show that you care by the ongoing support you’re providing them?
It’s Time to Make a Change
If you’re guilty of taking your email sign ups for granted, of failing to communicate with them or seek their input on what they want, if you don’t know them well enough to know what will appeal to them, or if you’ve only been talking to them when you want something from them, it’s time to make a change. Email them once a week. Check in on them. See how they are doing. Get feedback from them. Show you care. Your business depends on it, and so does theirs.
I’ve Been Guilty
I have a confession to make. This list? These are the things I’ve realized that I was doing wrong in my business. Failing to follow up. Taking leads for granted. Not taking the time to find out their needs or to understand what it is they wanted to see more of. That’s why I’m posting this. It’s your chance to talk to me.
Building a Better Business
I want you to have the business of your dreams, one where you can make money doing the things you love doing and making a difference in your communities, countries, and the world because of it. That’s been my goal from day one, but my lack of confidence in myself led me to make these mistakes with you. I took your emails for granted because I doubted that you really wanted to hear from me. I didn’t reach out to you because I couldn’t believe you really needed my help. I didn’t ask for your feedback because I was too afraid of what I’d hear. I didn’t ask about you because I didn’t think you’d want to share that with me. And as a result, I abandoned you. I gave up on you by giving up on me.
Our Commitment To You
Here at Creative Technology Services, my husband and I are making big changes in how we do things. We want you to be part of that difference. We’re sharing with you everything we’ve learned so you don’t have to make the mistakes we did. We want you to get more out of your time here, so when you hand over that email address, you know that the person who gets it is going to care about you, about your business, and about you getting what you want out of the interactions between us.
We Want to Hear From You
We’ve installed Facebook comments on our website to make responding and replying even easier than it was before, because we want to know what you think. We want to hear from you. Your opinion matters. What you think, what questions you have, all of those things influence us and encourage us to continue sharing. So, please, let us know. Whether you liked it, loved it, or hated it, we still want to know.