Follow-up And Follow Through - The Real Internet Marketing Secret
Posted 25th January 2011 at 09:42 AM by Willie Crawford
Follow-up And Follow Through - The Real Internet Marketing Secret
Copyright 2011 by Willie Crawford
On January 6th - 14th, 2011, I was on the annual Marketers
Cruise, traveling to exotic ports such as Aruba and Grand Turk
with a group of approximately 420 internet marketers and
friends.
Recently, I tuned in to a follow-up networking webinar for
people who were on that cruise. Every single night that we
were at sea, we met around midnight near the ship's pizza
parlor for what we called our "Pizza And Profits." At these
meetings we networked and openly discussed things that were
working in our businesses.
Those midnight sessions were easily worth 10 times the price
of the cruise to me. Those sessions often lasted for hours,
with the unlimited free pizza, and great ideas naturally
flowing!
Now that we are off the ship, we have decided to continue
these - adding even more value to the cruise. They are only
open to attendees of past cruises and those already booked
on the January 14th - 22nd, 2012 Marketers Cruise.
At the most recent Pizza And Profits call, we were asked
our biggest take-aways AND what we were doing since the
cruise. I, to an extent, dominated the discussion at one
point as I shared the fact that I was making sure that I was
THE ONE to actually follow-up with people that I met on the
cruise. I also shared the how and why.
While not terribly expensive, I still need to justify taking
8 days away from my business, in the crucial first month of
the year, to go out cruising the Caribbean. I did that by making
sure that I got some business actually accomplished DURING the
cruise. The contacts and deep friendships that I formed on
the cruise WERE "doing" real business for me.
I actually got to know dozens of people that I will be doing
lots of business with for a long time. I can confidently say
that... because I take my business VERY seriously, and I've
learned that it's worthwhile to actually get to know a little
about potential business partners before you get too involved
with them.
To do otherwise is foolish, and will come back to bite you
at some point.
I've already shared with you my having spent a lot of time
getting to know Rob Canyon and his wife Camini. That's
because I knew that he was someone that I could learn a lot
from, and I instantly senses that they were very genuine.
At the Pizza And Profits, I shared that what I am doing now
is actually following up with the people I met on the cruise
that I committed to following-up with.
I pointed out that 95% of the people that you meet on cruises,
at conferences, or even at local networking meetings will never
follow-up with you.
They will collect your contact information, and have every
intention of following up with you, BUT they will never get
around to it!
By being the one to actually follow up, you set yourself apart
as an action-taker, and give yourself a distinct advantage
over other in the marketplace who either don't follow up...
or they wait too long to follow up.
You see, I follow-up immediately!
I follow-up systematically, automatically, and largely
effortlessly!
I even make the follow-up fun.
Here's how I do all that, and how I teach those that I mentor
to do it.
While at a networking event (like a cruise), I take lots of
digital photos with the people that I meet and want to get to
know better. I'm no different than most other people there.
What I do NEXT is what sets me apart! I go back to my hotel
room, or ship's cabin, download those pictures to my trusty
laptop, and send follow-up GREETING CARDS to people in those
photos.
To do that, I use a system called Send Out Cards, which is
also a company that I am a distributor for, so I even get
PAID for networking. You see, Send Out Cards, or SOC as we
like to call it, teaches us that the way to sell others on
using the system is simply to use the system ourselves...
and that works!
When I send people those greeting cards, they often ask how I
did that and I show them my resale site that both explains how
they can use it to send cards (building relationships) AND
explains how they can earn commissions by showing it to others.
You owe it to yourself to check out the system that I use at:
http://TheCardThingy.com
That url is a marketing lesson in itself that I'll get into
in another article. You WILL notice that it's easy to remember
though :-)
SOC lets you compose and send a card right over the internet.
It has a built-in feature called "Picture Plus" that is akin
to PhotoShop. It lets you do about anything imaginable with
images and text, so you can create collages, add captions,
etc. You can add your photos both inside and outside the
cards.
The system allows you to schedule WHEN a card will be printed
and mailed to your recipients. That's how I get ahead of the
game. While I was on the ship, I actually scheduled some
cards to be delivered weeks, even months, in advance. So, I
wrote the cards while they were fresh on my mind, and I
remembered what I wanted to follow-up with the person on. At
the same time, I pre-scheduled a few birthday cards, etc.
The system even has a built-in feature akin to an autoresponder,
that lets you send the SAME sequence of cards to more that one
person... inserting placeholders in the text where you want
each card personalized. I use that more when I'm working on
a client's product launch, and I want to send a series of cards
to a list of prospective JV partners. I can follow-up
automatically with dozens (even hundreds) of potential partners,
with each card going out as scheduled, and being very
personalized.
I am a very "high-touch" networker, but what better way to
reach out to someone that you meet on a cruise than with a
greeting card that has a photo of the two of you together
(or a group photo) on the cover and/or inside.
People throw away business cards or stick them in the back
of desk drawers - they don't usually throw away photos of
themselves having fun. They stick those in places where
they will notice them from time to time... such as times
when they might need a pick-me-up.
My system is very powerful, and it makes sure that you are
going to follow up by making it easy.
It's also fairly inexpensive when you consider the potential
value of even just one good joint venture. It's also a great
way just to stay in touch with your new friends.
I did say that it can even be fun. That's where that
"Picture Plus" feature comes in. As I said, you can do almost
anything imaginable with those cards. So, I sometimes get
very creative with the captions, and cutting and pasting
things into the cards.
My wife has the same habit. She spent many HOURS having fun
designing Christmas cards which often had pictures of her
friends, or our grandchildren. She did this using MY
account, so it didn't cost her anything. I didn't mind because
a custom 3-panel (tri-fold) greeting card, with an unlimited
number of pictures inside and out, cost me less that $1.40
each... to send via first class postage anywhere in the U.S.
They cost me 91 cents (plus actual postage) to send anywhere
in the world. I have a wholesale account.
So there you have my big "secret weapon" for running circles
around my competitors, and for helping my clients put together
six and seven-figure product launches.
As they say, "the money is in the follow-up."
Most people don't follow up because it's too hard and they
simply don't have the discipline. I just showed you that it
doesn't have to be hard or require a lot of discipline. It DOES
require developing one new habit... of being the one to always
follow-up immediately.
Make it a habit, a part of your "system" and you'll magically
find yourself more successful.
You too will be able to easily enjoy "The Internet Lifestyle"
because you will secretly know that you can actually be
working while it looks to everyone like you're just goofing off.
Actually, you will be having fun too. If you don't have fun
while you're working, then you're in the wrong line of work!
------------
Willie Crawford has been operating an online business since
1996. Now, semi-retired, he now spends much of his time
teaching aspiring online marketers proven tactics for building
their own businesses. Discover Willie's best affiliate marketing
insider techniques in his 52-lesson, step-by-step how-to
instructions at: http://InsiderAffiliateTraining.com/lessons/
-------------
Copyright 2011 by Willie Crawford
On January 6th - 14th, 2011, I was on the annual Marketers
Cruise, traveling to exotic ports such as Aruba and Grand Turk
with a group of approximately 420 internet marketers and
friends.
Recently, I tuned in to a follow-up networking webinar for
people who were on that cruise. Every single night that we
were at sea, we met around midnight near the ship's pizza
parlor for what we called our "Pizza And Profits." At these
meetings we networked and openly discussed things that were
working in our businesses.
Those midnight sessions were easily worth 10 times the price
of the cruise to me. Those sessions often lasted for hours,
with the unlimited free pizza, and great ideas naturally
flowing!
Now that we are off the ship, we have decided to continue
these - adding even more value to the cruise. They are only
open to attendees of past cruises and those already booked
on the January 14th - 22nd, 2012 Marketers Cruise.
At the most recent Pizza And Profits call, we were asked
our biggest take-aways AND what we were doing since the
cruise. I, to an extent, dominated the discussion at one
point as I shared the fact that I was making sure that I was
THE ONE to actually follow-up with people that I met on the
cruise. I also shared the how and why.
While not terribly expensive, I still need to justify taking
8 days away from my business, in the crucial first month of
the year, to go out cruising the Caribbean. I did that by making
sure that I got some business actually accomplished DURING the
cruise. The contacts and deep friendships that I formed on
the cruise WERE "doing" real business for me.
I actually got to know dozens of people that I will be doing
lots of business with for a long time. I can confidently say
that... because I take my business VERY seriously, and I've
learned that it's worthwhile to actually get to know a little
about potential business partners before you get too involved
with them.
To do otherwise is foolish, and will come back to bite you
at some point.
I've already shared with you my having spent a lot of time
getting to know Rob Canyon and his wife Camini. That's
because I knew that he was someone that I could learn a lot
from, and I instantly senses that they were very genuine.
At the Pizza And Profits, I shared that what I am doing now
is actually following up with the people I met on the cruise
that I committed to following-up with.
I pointed out that 95% of the people that you meet on cruises,
at conferences, or even at local networking meetings will never
follow-up with you.
They will collect your contact information, and have every
intention of following up with you, BUT they will never get
around to it!
By being the one to actually follow up, you set yourself apart
as an action-taker, and give yourself a distinct advantage
over other in the marketplace who either don't follow up...
or they wait too long to follow up.
You see, I follow-up immediately!
I follow-up systematically, automatically, and largely
effortlessly!
I even make the follow-up fun.
Here's how I do all that, and how I teach those that I mentor
to do it.
While at a networking event (like a cruise), I take lots of
digital photos with the people that I meet and want to get to
know better. I'm no different than most other people there.
What I do NEXT is what sets me apart! I go back to my hotel
room, or ship's cabin, download those pictures to my trusty
laptop, and send follow-up GREETING CARDS to people in those
photos.
To do that, I use a system called Send Out Cards, which is
also a company that I am a distributor for, so I even get
PAID for networking. You see, Send Out Cards, or SOC as we
like to call it, teaches us that the way to sell others on
using the system is simply to use the system ourselves...
and that works!
When I send people those greeting cards, they often ask how I
did that and I show them my resale site that both explains how
they can use it to send cards (building relationships) AND
explains how they can earn commissions by showing it to others.
You owe it to yourself to check out the system that I use at:
http://TheCardThingy.com
That url is a marketing lesson in itself that I'll get into
in another article. You WILL notice that it's easy to remember
though :-)
SOC lets you compose and send a card right over the internet.
It has a built-in feature called "Picture Plus" that is akin
to PhotoShop. It lets you do about anything imaginable with
images and text, so you can create collages, add captions,
etc. You can add your photos both inside and outside the
cards.
The system allows you to schedule WHEN a card will be printed
and mailed to your recipients. That's how I get ahead of the
game. While I was on the ship, I actually scheduled some
cards to be delivered weeks, even months, in advance. So, I
wrote the cards while they were fresh on my mind, and I
remembered what I wanted to follow-up with the person on. At
the same time, I pre-scheduled a few birthday cards, etc.
The system even has a built-in feature akin to an autoresponder,
that lets you send the SAME sequence of cards to more that one
person... inserting placeholders in the text where you want
each card personalized. I use that more when I'm working on
a client's product launch, and I want to send a series of cards
to a list of prospective JV partners. I can follow-up
automatically with dozens (even hundreds) of potential partners,
with each card going out as scheduled, and being very
personalized.
I am a very "high-touch" networker, but what better way to
reach out to someone that you meet on a cruise than with a
greeting card that has a photo of the two of you together
(or a group photo) on the cover and/or inside.
People throw away business cards or stick them in the back
of desk drawers - they don't usually throw away photos of
themselves having fun. They stick those in places where
they will notice them from time to time... such as times
when they might need a pick-me-up.
My system is very powerful, and it makes sure that you are
going to follow up by making it easy.
It's also fairly inexpensive when you consider the potential
value of even just one good joint venture. It's also a great
way just to stay in touch with your new friends.
I did say that it can even be fun. That's where that
"Picture Plus" feature comes in. As I said, you can do almost
anything imaginable with those cards. So, I sometimes get
very creative with the captions, and cutting and pasting
things into the cards.
My wife has the same habit. She spent many HOURS having fun
designing Christmas cards which often had pictures of her
friends, or our grandchildren. She did this using MY
account, so it didn't cost her anything. I didn't mind because
a custom 3-panel (tri-fold) greeting card, with an unlimited
number of pictures inside and out, cost me less that $1.40
each... to send via first class postage anywhere in the U.S.
They cost me 91 cents (plus actual postage) to send anywhere
in the world. I have a wholesale account.
So there you have my big "secret weapon" for running circles
around my competitors, and for helping my clients put together
six and seven-figure product launches.
As they say, "the money is in the follow-up."
Most people don't follow up because it's too hard and they
simply don't have the discipline. I just showed you that it
doesn't have to be hard or require a lot of discipline. It DOES
require developing one new habit... of being the one to always
follow-up immediately.
Make it a habit, a part of your "system" and you'll magically
find yourself more successful.
You too will be able to easily enjoy "The Internet Lifestyle"
because you will secretly know that you can actually be
working while it looks to everyone like you're just goofing off.
Actually, you will be having fun too. If you don't have fun
while you're working, then you're in the wrong line of work!
------------
Willie Crawford has been operating an online business since
1996. Now, semi-retired, he now spends much of his time
teaching aspiring online marketers proven tactics for building
their own businesses. Discover Willie's best affiliate marketing
insider techniques in his 52-lesson, step-by-step how-to
instructions at: http://InsiderAffiliateTraining.com/lessons/
-------------
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