Why won't they follow up

The day before Thanksgiving I rec'd notice that my 93 year old mother had had a minor stroke. She is doing fine and not needs to be out of her home. We will be moving her into an assisted living facility in the next week or two. There were no lasting physical effects.

In planning to deal with her house in Nashville I had a question on how much her house is worth. I used one of the web sites purporting to help me. In order to get the free service, I was asked to complete a pretty robust input form which included my contact info and of course, information on her house.

A few days later I rec'd an email from a local Nashville real estate agent (who I am sure paid for the lead) The information rec'd was pretty useful given that he had not been in the house. It provided me with a range of values for homes like hers in her neighborhood. For now, the information was helpful. A range was all that was needed.

It has been about a month. No more contact from the agent even though he has my contact information.

Here is the point! If you are going to buy leads from any source, no matter what industry you are in, have a full and robust system/process for staying in touch. If you don't have such a system/process you might as well send me the money, no more use than you are getting out of this lead generation system that you have invested in. I will use it more profitably.

Create a system in your contact manager to remind you to send cards, letters, emails and/or call. These systems I call campaigns. Your contact manager must have the capability to create and handle marketing campaigns easily. If it does not, get a new contact manager.

Call me if you would like a free 1/2 hour coaching session on how to select one or read my other blog posts on working with databases.

One study I recently read reported that the time between initial contact and purchase was extending mightily. Sometimes as long a 18 months. The leads you get will not come to fruition for quite some time. And it is your responsibility to stay in touch with them, not their responsibility to remember you. Top of mind awareness is king.

Stay in touch after the prospect touches you. I will may you in a grand style.

To your continued success,

Reg Gupton