I follow up with prospects for one full year without lifting my finger. And the best part is, they continue to respond. In fact, they respond regularly to me as if I was giving them personal attention. I even get apologies from prospects-for them not being in touch with me sooner!

How would you like to have dozens of prospects, who don’t buy right now, clamoring to do business with you for the next 12 months? It’s really simple. Just use the magic of the email autoresponder.

Have you heard of it? If not, you’ve certainly been on the receiving end. Ever sign up on a website and get a confirmation message immediately? Guess what-there wasn’t a person waiting anxiously for your sign up. That was a machine.

That’s a simple singly step autoresponder. They have limited uses. But a multi-step is a magical tool. I’ve been using them for several years to eliminate the hassle of personal follow-up with so-so prospects. And I’ve found that these “long tail” prospects convert.

Most salespeople don’t use an autoresponder. For three reasons I’ve seen:

1) Lazy – Let’s face it, salespeople are inherently lazy. Well, maybe not lazy like no work lazy. They just want to play more than work most times.

2) Stupid – They hope their company will send them leads. Or the company will create an autoresponder for them. They certainly don’t want to pay for it themselves. They believe that every follow-up should be personally handled. Sheesh.

3) Ignorant – This is the most forgivable. Being ignorant isn’t a bad thing…unless given the opportunity to be informed. Setting up profit-generating autoresponder is easier than you think. I’ll explain below.

If you’re in the first two, I can’t help you. You’ll always be broke and frustrated. If you’re number three, pay attention and I will set you free!

Setting up your money machine
Here’s the “philosophy” part first. The main reason you setup an autoresponder is to automate your follow-up and follow-thru. You only have so much time in the day. And your manual labor should be spent on the most productive prospects and clients.

An autoresponder is not a license to stop all personal interactions.

 Rather, it’s a supplement. Used in parallel with your manual follow-up. If done right, it will be a lead nurturing tool that will prime your prospect to buy. They will call you when they’re ready rather than you having to constantly chase down every lead.

It allows you to be very selective of who you personally spend time with. Usually, sales people feel guilty “ignoring” some leads. ”They don’t seem ready to buy so I’ll push them off.” That means they’re gone. You’ll never get to them. An autoresponder allows you to push them off without ignoring them.

Are you convinced yet? EVERY salesperson should setup their own autoresponder. Even if your company already does it, you need your own. Here’s how to make it work.

Get a simple, cheap system
If your system is expensive or difficult to use, you’ll stop using it.

Five things you need:

1) Multi-step autoresponder – You need to have unlimited message capability, set by day of send.

2) Unlimited lists – I’ll explain later how to use these lists.

3) Segmentation – This allows you to take a smaller chunk of contacts aside based on a specific details, such as city or state.

4) WYSIWYG editor – What You See Is What You Get. This editor looks like Microsoft Word and allows you to create email messages with bold, different fonts, and images. It’s very important the system allows you to create messages easily.

5) Tracking – Gotta know who’s opening the messages. If your open and response rates suck, you need to change the message or the subject line.

Once you’ve got a good system, it’s time to set it up. This is the easy part! All you need is a sequence map, message content and a list.

First, layout the message sequence map. I recommend starting with a few messages a couple days apart. Then as time passes, spread the messages out by a week or two. When a lead first comes into your system they need a lot of information. Deliver these answers immediately and then use the long-term messages to continue building the relationship and trust.

Next, yes, you have to write content. But chances are you already have. Without even thinking about it. The messages you send are really simple. They are simply sending important information to help the prospect make a buying decision.

Go into your Sent Messages folder. What have you already sent your prospects. Plagiarize yourself. Don’t reinvent. Messages don’t need to be formal. In fact, the more personal they are the better. I regularly get responds to my autoresponder saying things like, “Hey Rob, thanks for the message. Working on the weekend, eh?” Seriously.

If you want an example of a great sequence that you can totally steal, sign up for my list. You’ll get a highly personalized follow-up sequence with fantastic tips and information.

Finally, create multiple lists. Each list (which has an autoresponder) is for a different phase of the selling process. Hopefully, you already have created your Milestone Maps (see my website for details and help). Typically, an autoresponder is a branch from one of the Milestones.

For example, the prospect requests pricing. So, I send pricing and add them to the new list and autoresponder. They get a series of messages that pertains specifically to reviewing and understand prices.

Multiple lists allow you to cater the message to the specific request. The more closely you match your language to the prospect request, the more readership and response.

SPECIAL NOTE: For those that have a parent company who already has a fancy marketing system-this method is not intended to replace or overthrow that system. This is for YOU to make personal connection with your prospects outside whatever the company is doing. You don’t need fancy graphics or headers. Just make the messages simple, solution rich, and just like the emails you are already sending!