Article Title:		Follow Up Or Die!
	Author:		David Butler
	Website:		www.notenetwork.com
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This article is an excerpt from The Best Selling Book "Growing Your Food Chain". 

You must market your note business. Doing business without marketing is like winking at someone in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does! 

Why do some succeed, and so many fail, in small business enterprises? It all boils down to one thing - the ability and determination to consistently follow up with prospects, and to maintain repeated follow up contact. 

No where is this more true than in the discounted note industry.  Most people do not understand the role that marketing, and thus the strategic importance of following up on prospects, plays in the note industry. Pretty basic stuff, but even the most experienced professionals forget to follow the basics at some time or another! 

The importance of following up is amply illustrated by research from the National Sales Executive Association, a trade organization for professional salesmen.. Their remarkable statistics demonstrate that most sales are made from the 5th through the 12th contact!  Here is the data they have compiled regarding sales per contacts ratios: 

         2% of sales are made on the 1st contact
         3% of sales are made on the 2nd  contact 
         5% of sales are made on the 3rd contact  
         10% of sales are made on the 4th contact 
         80% of sales are made on the 5th-12th contact!!! 

Do you know that 95% of your competition will drop a prospect after the third try? Can you see where putting out 25% more effort than your competition (by making the 4th contact) will improve your sales by 100%! Does it make sense for you to double that effort (another 8 contacts for a total of 12 contacts), to multiply your sales by another 400%!!! 

How many times a day do you see or hear about Taco Bell or Carls Jr.? Coca-Cola or Pepsi? "Yo quiero Taco Bell" , "Things Go Better with Coke!", or "if it doesn't drip all over the place-" . I'll bet you here or see at least one of these ads at least once a day, unless you live in a cave! 

Why does Coke pay millions per month in advertising costs? One reason: They want you to think of Coke as often as humanly possible! They know you already know whether or not you like Coke. They know you already know where to buy it. They know you already know the cost or nearly so. Still, you hear Coke ads, you see them on billboards, you see them in magazines, on TV, on radio, and on and on. Why? To keep Coke on your mind as often as possible, so you will be more likely to crave it and ultimately buy it! 

Are you beginning to see that repeated exposure is important? You need to market your services to your prospects the same way. It's war out there, and everyone is vying for a part of your prospects' mind. You don't have to play dirty to win, but you MUST play the game HARD- consistently, persistently, and with the utmost determination to succeed.

That means getting your message in front of the prospect repeatedly over the course of time, from your initial introduction to him until he tells you to stop sending information. This may seem drastic, but who will be sending your prospect information if you are not? Guaranteed it will be someone else who will be there when the time is right for the prospect and you will have lost a sale because you failed to continually stay in the prospect's mind. 

"I don't have the time- or the money - or the system to do that!" you say. 

"YOU DO NOW - AND YOU MUST" I say! 

This series of articles has shown you that developing professional referral sources will allow you to "Grow Your Own Food Chain" for a reliable stream of note deals, with the minimum amount of time and expense. By cutting down on the prospect database you need to market to, and focusing on higher response, repeat business generators, you save time and money. 

Remember too, that repetition and consistency are the keys to your long term success. By working a cohesive database, you can maintain more frequent, and higher quality, lines of communication.  All you need now is a system for implementing your marketing effort on a consistent basis. 

Back Yard Blues 

No matter where you live, you can develop more than enough referral business in your own backyard. In a heavily populated area, your backyard may not need to be any bigger than the county you live in. In more rural areas, you may need to work one or two surrounding counties as well. 

Generally speaking, people tend to respond better to local business persons. Take advantage of that intrinsic benefit, and grow from there. Beginning in your own hometown, concentrate on contacting all of your primary (Bulls Eye) leads. At the same time, you can get some of the relatively short lists (such as bankruptcy trustees and probate referees) up and running. Then spread out through the rest of your designated marketing territory. 

Here's the thing - if you are undecided as to whether someone is a primary contact, don't spend much time worrying about it. The important thing is to start making contact with as many of your targets as you can, as soon as possible! 

Finding Your Targets 

Believe it or not, finding your target leads is not too difficult. The easiest place to start is right in your own phone book's yellow pages. Look for targets listed under "Potential Note Referral Sources"! JUST KIDDING!!! It's not that easy. 

But really, it's not much more difficult than that. Attorneys are usually listed by category so you can focus on the family law, estate planning, etc. types first. If you are in a more rural area, attorneys tend to be general practitioners, so you may want to hit them all.  Paralegals are usually listed separately, as are CPA's. You might also look under "Tax Preparers". 

For bankruptcy trustees and probate referees, your quickest route is to contact your county courthouse to get their lists. 

Be sure to get the phone numbers on all your leads for future reference. By the way, most phone books these days include a zip code map for the service area the phone book covers. Not perfect, because they don't include detailed street maps to match up with the addresses you pull, but good enough to get the job done. I've not yet had a mailer come back due to a wrong digit or two at the end of the string (be sure to get the first three digits right though!). 

Once you've use up your local phone book, run down to the local library. Most libraries carry all the phone books used in your county. Just photocopy the sections you need, take them back to your office, use a little prestidigitalis, and "Voila" - you have a lead list! 

If your library doesn't have a phone book you need, call the phone company and order one. Better yet, if you have a computer, searching the web will usually provide you with the information you are looking for. 

And don't neglect the personal contact method. As I mentioned in an earlier article regarding Realtor marketing, you can use the phone book to start with, but it is worth your while to check with your local Board of Realtors and local title companies to learn who the most useful contacts might be. Again, you don't want to waste time marketing to 250 Realtors when only 50 of them are ever going to do you any good! 

All right now- by this time next month, you should have your list up and running, except for winnowing out the Realtors. But let's not wait for them. We can pick them up as we go along. I'll catch up with you then, and we'll start throwing out the chum!

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