Literally, a customer email list may be your lifeline.
Previously, I’ve talked a good bit about the importance and power of proper documentation for a professional sales person. Not only does written documentation of a client’s needs and information(personal and contact) lend you credibility and enhanced solution identification, but it also becomes a piece of one of the most important parts of your business- Your customer email list.
Think about this for a second:
How many customers have come through your doors(or you’ve gone through theirs) without you at least getting their name and email before leaving?
What’s baffling is that millions of retail businesses and sales persons allow their clients to ‘go off in the sunset’ without EVER being able to contact that person again. Frankly folks, this is a dag-gum tragedy and disaster, and it must stop if businesses,especially in the 21st century, want to be successful.
As many of us have so often heard lately, the new ‘Phrase of the Day’ in marketing and sales is: LEAD CAPTURE
Now I know most of you understand what lead capture is(getting a customer’s information), but the question is: Are you doing it???
Let me give you an example of just how critical lead capture and developing an email list is for my swimming pool company. Whenever anyone clicks on our site from Adwords, they land on a ‘Free Fiberglass Pool Educational DVD’ (I link the page here so you can see what I’m talking about) page. In order for this person to order the DVD, they have to fill out a form, and must include their name, address, and email. This year, we had about 400 customers fill out this form on the website, many of which were in the earliest stages of contemplating a swimming pool. In fact, of these 400 DVDs sent, we set less than 75 sales appointments. Do I see the other 325 DVDs sent as a waste? Of course not, especially when you consider that just yesterday I sent an email out to every one of the 400 clients that did not buy a pool from us this year. In this email, I spoke of current savings, the importance of action before price increases next spring, and also directed them back to our website. So what were the results? Well, within 4 hours after having sent the email out, I had set up 4 sales appointments. Website traffic that day, especially returning customer traffic, was phenomenal. In fact, I’m sure over the next week we’ll set a few more appointments and experience a nice Internet traffic boost all due to this one email.
Now I know some of you may be thinking that 4 sales appointments is not a big deal. But for a swimming pool builder in Virginia/Md to have 4 sales appointments lined up for the month of December is certainly nothing to sneeze at.
So what's the gold standard in Sales?....Lead Capture
In fact, our company had 2 sales appointments ALL of last December. Because cash-flow is difficult for any seasonal business as ours during December, not to mention this less than stellar economy we all find ourselves in, such an email list can no doubt save the life of a business and bridge that difficult gap between dead sales activity and, as we call it in the swimming pool industry, ‘the Spring Rush’.
So if you’re not doing everything within your ability to gather at least the name and email of every customer you come in contact with(this includes your website), then you are sorely missing out on future sales and money in your pocket. Remember, the worst a customer can do is not give you the information. Big Whoop. If they don’t give you their info, they’re probably weren’t that serious anyway. Lead gathering and information must be treated like gold within every company, and trust me when I say no business is the exception. And remember, when your business needs it the most, your customer email list will be right there, ready to get you through your toughest moments.
Comments about customer email lists and lead capture? Questions? Don’t hesitate to leave your thoughts below.
