Your Email Sales Machine

Do you want to convert more of your sales leads automatically?  What if you could hire an extra set of hands that warms up cold leads and even closes a sale before you pick up the phone? What if you could create an automated sales machine? It sounds like a dream right!

Now, no marketing tool is a magic bullet, but an effective email campaign might be the closest thing to it and it is one of the least expensive tools in the small business marketing arsenal.

Email Autoresponders are One of the Most Effective Marketing Tools

All the research shows that the top 3 most effective marketing pieces for a small business are a good website, at least 1 regular targeted print advertisement (postcards, newspaper, magazines, etc.), and an effective email strategy.  Without these 3 in place, the effectiveness of other techniques is considerably less.

Today I want to talk about creating an effective email autoresponder series.  Email autoresponder can be used to retarget existing customers or to cross-sell products. In this article we’ll focus on autoresponders that warm up new leads. There are many online tools out there right now like Mail Chimp, Constant Contact, and aWeber that offer a user-friendly way to program email autoresponders yourself.

What is an Email Autoresponder?

An email autoresponder is a pre-programmed series of emails that are sent to a segmented part of your email contact list.  These emails are typically triggered by a specific event such as:

  • Signing up for regular email update of news a form on your website
  • Abandoning a shopping cart (if you have an eCommerce site)
  • By adding a contact manually to a list after getting a business card at a networking event
  • Signing up for a free download like an ebook from a landing page or internet advertisement

I was recently doing some market research for a client who installs flooring and I came across an opportunity to download a “Look Book” from his competitor.  As a marketer, I wanted to see what my client’s competitor had created, so I signed up.  I entered my email address and in my inbox came this beautifully designed eBook that featured applications for various types of flooring.

This technique is what marketers often call a lead magnet.  There is an appealing offer for something you want and there is an exchange made online.  I’ll give you my personal information if you give me access to a free or discounted download, a product, or a service.

Once you have this lead, you can begin to use your autoresponder to nurture that lead

Email Autoresponders Nurture new leads

Naturally, I’m skeptical about companies I meet online, so it could take me some time to get to know you.  Email autoresponders begin to take an icy, unfamiliar client, and it turns them into someone who sees you as familiar and trustworthy.

Your pre-programmed email puts your name in their inbox on a regular basis.  As you are able to draw them in with interesting subject lines and great content, you build up your business as the expert in your area.

In other words, autoresponder builds relationships with new leads from the moment they join your list.  Then an autoresponder creates an automatic onboarding process to assist your sales team.

Email Autoresponders Turn Leads into Customers

Ultimately your goal is to make an impression so you can convert cold leads into paying customers.  A well-programmed email series will help a new lead get to know your business.

Then as you continue to share your quality work, they will begin to like your business.

Finally, as you consistently prove that you are the leading expert, customers begin to trust your business.

If a customer who already knows, likes, and trusts you, a sales phone call is preprogrammed for success from the start.