One of the reasons some people have been able to grow their business over the last several years is that they embraced technology and tools. The availability of useful web tools and the internet created the capability of automating certain business processes.
Technology has changed Sales forever.
One example of this is when considering an old rule of sales – keep in touch with customers and leads in a consistent and timely manner – which has been dramatically streamlined by using an email automation tool and service like AWeber. A successful implementation of AWeber is like adding a full-time customer service and marketing person to your team.
From capturing names and email addresses of prospective customers to providing professional quality newsletter templates, AWeber makes the smallest of companies look like the largest with automation that can be customized to reflect the uniqueness of your business and your customers.
What is AWeber?
AWeber is a software program that automates the process of collecting customer lead information and communicating with those leads to support increased sales. Access to this software is made possible through a subscription that you can purchase on a monthly, quarterly or yearly basis. Prices start at $19 per month and increase based on the size of your list, with a 30 day $1.00 trial to help you get started without the cost.
The Benefits of AWeber
Think about the work that is involved in your current process if you are doing it manually. You manually enter the names and email addresses of prospects obtained from various sources including your website, trade shows, business meeting and referrals.
Once they are manually entered into whatever program or platform you are using, you then want to send relevant information and content to them as appropriate, based on what their interest is. How often is this maintained in individual lists and spreadsheets by each individual sales person? From my experience, this almost guarantees that timely follow-up and quality communication will not happen consistently.
You’d then have to figure out the timing for contacting each person for a follow-up as that would depend on when they signed up and what information they were interested in.
If you only have 2 people signing up a month that might be manageable but hopefully you want to create a thriving, profitable business and that usually requires a lot more than 2 prospects a month. Ideally you want to be getting several prospects a day! Can you imagine how impossible it would be to manage that volume manually?
Enter AWeber.
This is why the automated email marketing service provided by AWeber is so invaluable. With AWeber your prospects will be automatically added to a secure, centralized database that you do not have to maintain. You also don’t have to manually respond to every new subscriber to your list. Everything is automated. Aweber also takes care of the “unsubscribe” requests from those on your list automatically. This protects your reputation as a responsible business.
Introducing the Autoresponder.
You are now ready to create “Campaigns” or a series of email messages that match the interests of the people on your list. This feature is referred to as an Autoresponder. Each campaign should be tailored to match when and where they expressed interest in your products or services. This is a terrific opportunity to get your entire team’s input. Executive, marketing, sales and customer service representation will prove helpful to get the best content to your prospects and customers.
Once you set up your campaign you can then monitor the results provided to you via AWeber’s measurement reports which can tell you everything from what percentage of your list opened your email to which subscribers clicked on the links you provided within your email message. With this kind of knowledge you can edit and adjust your email marketing strategy to better fit the interests and motivations of the people who’ve subscribed to your list.
AWeber and similar services like Get Response, Constant Contact or Mailchimp can make a significant improvement in your sales results.
Recommended Actions:
- Identify a team of people with a vested interest in improving prospect capture and communication.
- Start your free trial of Aweber.
- Create your first prospect list and the initial series of Thank you, Welcome and follow-up messages.
