Reaching Out to Prospects: One Contact is Not Enough

Your business – or at least a part of your business – revolves around helping people who desperately need your services – people who really aren’t sure where to turn or what to do.

They’re behind on their payments or soon will be. Their mortgage loans may be about to re-set to a higher interest rate with a payment they know they can’t meet. They may be “upside down” in their loans. They may be unemployed due to the massive layoffs of the past year. Whatever the reason, they’re in distress.

They see ads on TV, on billboards, on the radio, and in newspapers, all shouting at them, saying they can help. But they’ve heard all about how other people have been harmed by responding to the wrong ads. They don’t know who to trust.

So how can you break through that barrier of mistrust and let them know that your help is genuine?

By using marketing materials that inform, educate, and don’t shout. By offering help instead of asking for business. And, by being consistent with your messages.

New marketing studies show that:

• 2% of responses come from the first contact with a prospect.
• 3% of responses come from the second contact with a prospect.
• 5% of responses come from the third contact with a prospect.
• 10% of responses come from the fourth contact with a prospect.
• 80% of responses come from the fifth to twelfth contact with a prospect.

This contact can be by postal mail, e-mail, or phone, but in order to build trust, each time you contact these people your message should add to and reinforce the previous message.

The easiest way to accomplish this is to compile your messages ahead of time and set up a system for contacting your prospects. It can be via an on-line mailing system or by printing your entire set of letters at once, putting them in envelopes, and scheduling when they’ll be mailed.

Your letters, of course, must reflect the manner in which you can assist these troubled homeowners. If you’re a real estate agent, you can offer your assistance with selling; if you’re an investor you can offer to buy; if you’re a credit counselor you can offer negotiation services; and if you’re a mortgage lender you can offer a refinance or a loan modification.

We believe the first letter should assist the homeowner in seeing the choices available to him or her, because people in this position sometimes feel that they have no choices.

Then, it should position your solution as the best choice.

Subsequent letters should expand on the points you’ve made in the first letter and offer helpful information.

For instance, a real estate agent can talk about pricing and presentation. An investor might talk about the possibility of the homeowner being allowed to rent the house for a period of time. A credit counselor might offer tips on ways to trim the budget or bring in a few extra dollars. A mortgage lender might discuss the different ways to approach loan modification or refinance – or even talk about ways to raise your credit scores.

And of course, each letter offers a call to action – an offer to help solve the homeowner’s problem.

Want to see samples of the kind of prospecting letters that build trust?

Read the “Solutions” letters:

For real estate agents
For mortgage lenders
For investors

For a free report on creating your own drip marketing campaign, visit www.copybymarte.com.