Follow Up Is Critical To Your Success In Business
The Importance of Web Pages and Autoresponders

Follow up is critical to any business. It doesn't matter whether it is a storefront or an on-line business.

If you are still in the research mode of finding a business system, you definitely want to look for the follow up. Is it just phone calls, how many? Is there email follow up?

Part of my success is in the follow up. I have a 3-fold system in place all designed to follow up with my prospect and to assist me in truly weeding out the folks who just are not serious about investing in starting a business, or purchasing a retail product or service I offer.

The first method of follow up is Email. I have various web pages established as capture pages. These web pages are considered cookie cutter pages, because it is offered by the parent company with little or no editing from me. I am not a web designer and to start an on-line business I needed this outsourced. I use several web pages I use to target specific audiences those looking to start a home business, those who are looking at products for retail purchase, a site designed specifically for Business to Business sales, to name a few.

Now what happens when a person visits one of those pages. They are encouraged to complete an e-form and register for a informational e-mail list. This puts them into an auto-responder system that automatically sends emails to the prospective client providing them information and reference websites. The emails are specifically designed for the prospect. For instance, a prospect looking to start a home business will receive some business related resources and information about my company and how I have created a specific business. A business to business inquiry will generate entirely different emails pertaining more towards hoe to run a successful promotion utilizing our travel products.

When looking at a business, you want a web page and some of the things to consider is whether or not one will be provided to you. I have looked at business models where the website capture pages can be an initial investment of $15 to $15,000 with monthly maintenance as low as $9.95 up to $500 a month.

When you shop for a home business, make sure you clarify the monthly costs and any initial set up fees for websites.

Is your auto-responder included in the monthly maintenance costs and provided by the company? If not, I recommend finding out from your contact what they are using. There are a lot of good low cost companies out there and if your company doesn't have something in place, A-Weber starts at nominal monthly fee. Other options can be a one time investment running off your PC and truly manage your prospecting efforts by automatically calling your prospect list and pre-screening them.

If your contact is a professional, they will have some system of following up with prospects and managing their client list.

Even a traditional storefront, needs some type of opt in mailing list and a way of communicating with customers. A simple e-newsletter is ideal and with an auto-responder system you can easily pre-write all of your e-newsletters and schedule emails to go on a monthly or semi-monthly basis.

Connect with other people in the industry and ask what they are using. If you are looking at investing in a home business, ask what they have used in the past, what they are using now, and get a good idea of what resources you will need to have to get your business started correctly.

Learn more about this author, Jennifer Bilodeau.
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