What is your follow up plan?
When you meet someone on the net, when you connect, do you already know what to do next? Do you pester them (drip) until they regret having clicked yes?
Do you blurt out offers randomly, or do you know what’s going to happen in advance?
Do you make a ham fisted hope that they buy, and then go on to the next person and say “this social media shit doesn’t work?”
Do you have a plan in advance that honors your clients? Do you know what you’re going to say before you say it? I’m asking, here. Getting on social media, plugging in, that’s a part. But if you just try to do whatever comes to mind whenever, you’re not gonna get big, you’re not gonna get good and you’re not gonna get paid. You’re wasting your damn time doing this and would be better off building your business the old ways. That’s right, I said it. Don’t bother unless you’re gonna think a move or two ahead.
Broadly speaking, you are gonna find people divided into 4 groups:
1. Citizens: The most common. This is ‘everyone.’ You should, when they add you, have a plan for following up that does this: tags where you found ‘em, responds in that channel. Your goal is to provide information, be cordial, and be seen as an expert resource so their friends can hook you up. You might have connected via mutual acquaintance. You want to REMIND THEM of your existence while honoring who they are. This is a group you deliberately connect with periodically (systematically) through a todo/follow up list.
2. Prospects: This is a group of people that might buy your stuff, someone that you found, say in a forum for discussing your widgets. These folks are engaged. They are probably buying, and we hope, we really hope, it’s from you. They need follow up, information, they need tlc, and they need responsiveness. Follow up by: educating on what you do (process stories), and being available. 5-10% of the people you meet, unless you’re a purebred hunter.
3. Advocates: Sometimes you click with someone, you see their web presence, and you love it. Sometimes you find someone that you wanna help, and that they will help you. You’d be proud and happy to carry their banner because that’s who you are. A separate category, for me at least.
4. Old Jags. People you flat out don’t want to connect with for whatever reason. They have the stink of failure. You wanna know who they are and ’shroud’ them so you don’t get sucked into flame wars drama and other stuff. This should, for sane people, be one percent of the market or less. You track, and avoid.
How to do it:
I use aweber and infusionsoft. I have a private page made with webforms that I can quickly put people I meet into one of a few buckets. It spits out a list of actions for me to do next. Each class gets something different. My default is to assume “citizen” educate, don’t push, help, don’t reach. Prospects I want to make sure we determine if my blogs & consulting is a good fit or not (remember, either way is fine).
A ‘citizen’ gets the following treatment:
1. Quarterly pings–I wanna make sure I touch people once a quarter.
2. Intro phone calls. (Ask anyone that recently followed me on twitter. I call, I connect & I help.)
3. Checklist: I wanna learn about people, who a good referral would be for them. SO I ask. And if I get people that need stuff that I know I have, I put ‘em together. No rake, no charge, just some pay it forward action.
An “advocate” gets the following:
1. Phone call. I want them to know I’m on their side right away. I want them to know that I’m impressed and that I’ll really help them any way I can.
2. Follow up/Link. I preemptively link to them in a blog I help consult on or control. Without their asking.
3. Scheduled reminders: I try and call monthly.
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This is the way to get more out of social media. You have a plan in place for anything that could happen before you start. Yours will be different from mine. Different isn’t better. Social media is about…relationships, not numbers. Honor the people and you don’t need to run that autospamming crap that is disrupting ‘the conversation.’
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When you’re dealing with citizens, what actions cross the line and become “pushing” or “reaching”?