PROBLEM
In the short season of the Minnesota construction industry, most bids take place during the busiest time of year. A contractor knew his packed schedule made it hard to follow up successfully with prospects and his closing ratio was a disappointing and costly one out of 30. He was neglecting prospects he needed to nurture.

SOLUTION
Together we developed an automated email follow-up campaign that helped him keep track of his prospects, shorten his sales cycle and close more sales. The contractor launches a 7-day campaign immediately after delivering the proposal at a meeting with the prospect. Right from his truck, he simply pulls out his smartphone and enters prospect information, triggering a “thank you” email two hours later, which includes a link to his testimonial page and a promise to follow up in seven days.Three days later, the prospect receives a second automated email. It’s designed to overcome sales objections while providing an educational resource on how to select the right contractor. On day seven, an automated text or email alert reminds the contractor to follow up with the prospect that day.

RESULTS
Our client improved his closing ratio to 1 out of 8, and it’s still going up. He typically competes against two to three other contractors, and he doesn’t want to rely on low-balling to get the job. By making three post-bid contacts with the prospect in seven days, and providing value–a guide to selecting the right contractor–he distinguishes his company with professionalism, reliability, and knowledge, and gets the business!

PROBLEM
A health insurance broker has a great list of prospects and clients–about 5000–but no strategy to stay in touch with them to maximize sales and referrals.

SOLUTION
By initiating a strategic monthly newsletter campaign, she’s building stronger relationships with her contacts. In a monthly marketing strategy call, we decide on the kind of compelling, relevant, targeted information which her contacts will value. A clear call to action concludes every newsletter. Using metrics specific to her industry, we also calculate the ideal day and time to send for the best results.

RESULTS
After the first newsletter, she had more business than she could handle. She now sets aside 3-4 days for prospect follow-up after each mailing. Her open rate is consistently about 45% (compared to the industry average of 18-21%)–a testament to the value of timely content crafted with the prospect’s needs in mind.

PROBLEM
An IT company was frustrated because their existing marketing strategies weren’t productive; they produced a small stream of often-unqualified prospects despite the large financial investment.

SOLUTION
We introduced a lead generation campaign on their website. A prominent banner invites prospects to download a free white paper titled Top Five Tips for Protecting Your Wifi Network. Once prospects enter name, email address and company information they access an instant download of the report, and begin receiving targeted emails over the course of a six to eight week automated campaign. We increased the IT firm’s website traffic by publicizing the white paper via social media posts and existing email campaigns. The campaign includes a lead scoring tool which assigns a point value to activities relating to the emails, such as opening an email (five points) and clicking on a link (ten points). When a prospect hits the designated 60-point threshold, they’re tagged as “hot” and the system alerts the sales department to follow up.

RESULTS
Early in the campaign, the sales department got an automated alert about a hot prospect. That same prospect had just booked an appointment on their own–an excellent validation that the lead scoring tool is doing its job. Our client now focuses their marketing efforts on highly qualified leads, and on directing traffic to the lead generation offer on their website, instead of chasing unqualified prospects.