How long do you wait to follow up with a potential client after you have sent a price quote? How many times will you attempt to follow up before moving on?
Thanks!
Thanks!
How long do you wait before a follow up email/phone call?
- Thread starter shanefrom302
- Start date
I do almost all of my follow-ups via email. I keep all prospects in a database and generate a follow-up email each week until they tell me to get lost, book or the date passes. While some here will say that they call X times, then mark them off, that is a big mistake. My stubborn, never-give-up, method regularly gets me bookings with people who forgot they haven't booked their DJ or got cancelled on by another DJ that won the bid initially.
Now there are sometimes (weekends or evenings) that I'll get a gig lead on my phone and immediately call them. It kinda freaks them out when you're that fast and I've landed a number of gigs by doing just that.
Now there are sometimes (weekends or evenings) that I'll get a gig lead on my phone and immediately call them. It kinda freaks them out when you're that fast and I've landed a number of gigs by doing just that.
Rick's advice is solid...I started doing similar in November and it is very effective.
Also immediately after I send a quote or receive a notification that an automated quote was submitted I send a text letting the contact know the quote was submitted and ask if they have questions.
This is working well for me yielding 2 bookings just this week.
Also immediately after I send a quote or receive a notification that an automated quote was submitted I send a text letting the contact know the quote was submitted and ask if they have questions.
This is working well for me yielding 2 bookings just this week.
WOW.....just WOW!!!
It is proven that on average, a bride will be contacted 4 times before making their choice on a vendor. By giving them the ultimatum of "book me now or else", you are telling them that you don't care about THEIR business.
Just these past few weeks, we have booked weddings when the initial contact was back in November, and the only reason booked them is because we stayed in constant contact with the prospect all the way through.
Run your business the way you want dude, but to me, this is a HORRIBLE business practice.
THANK GOD there are DJs like tunes in my area..........God bless you, sir.
That said, he he he, I just had the ultra-rare, rude response from one of my automated follow-ups.
I've probably had 2 or 3 out of thousands of leads that I've processed that were like this. Check my reply (and let's see what he says):
And before you jump on me about the $250, don't. Watch and enjoy the show........(evil laugh)
BTW, 10 minutes after this hateful email came in I got another who booked. It's sales, boys & girls. Sales.
(EDIT)
Just went back to look through my emails. I did exchange a couple of emails with this guy. He'd already written me a fairly rude email, stating how he got "scammed" by some other Photobooth company who kept his money and asked me if I would do it for $300 (all the budget he has left since someone ELSE "scammed" him-like that's my problem). I'm only hoping he gets all excited and tries to jump on this "offer". he he he
That said, he he he, I just had the ultra-rare, rude response from one of my automated follow-ups.
I've probably had 2 or 3 out of thousands of leads that I've processed that were like this. Check my reply (and let's see what he says):
And before you jump on me about the $250, don't. Watch and enjoy the show........(evil laugh)
BTW, 10 minutes after this hateful email came in I got another who booked. It's sales, boys & girls. Sales.
(EDIT)
Just went back to look through my emails. I did exchange a couple of emails with this guy. He'd already written me a fairly rude email, stating how he got "scammed" by some other Photobooth company who kept his money and asked me if I would do it for $300 (all the budget he has left since someone ELSE "scammed" him-like that's my problem). I'm only hoping he gets all excited and tries to jump on this "offer". he he he
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Every contact is followed up with email. Every quote is followed up with email. I like having a record of what each party had to say during the process.
If after the third customized email sent to prospective client, I no longer worry about them. I'm a small operation and not as technical as others. If after asking for information to provide an accurate quote and I don't get a reply from them to my questions, it then falls to the bottom of the pile.
If phone call comes in and I'm not available, I call immediately when I become available. It pays to respond as quickly as possible; coments have always been possitive. I may not have gotten the gig. In fact, on occasion the prospect has called me back when the "other" DJ started dragging his heals. Plus, THEY remember you were prompt, tactful and willing to help.
If after the third customized email sent to prospective client, I no longer worry about them. I'm a small operation and not as technical as others. If after asking for information to provide an accurate quote and I don't get a reply from them to my questions, it then falls to the bottom of the pile.
If phone call comes in and I'm not available, I call immediately when I become available. It pays to respond as quickly as possible; coments have always been possitive. I may not have gotten the gig. In fact, on occasion the prospect has called me back when the "other" DJ started dragging his heals. Plus, THEY remember you were prompt, tactful and willing to help.
Thanks for all the help and advice!! I started out sending personalized emails and then switched over to using the automated email feature dj intelligence has once a price quote has been submitted. I will admit I got lazy and pretty much let the system run itself but I have smacked myself silly for being lazy and ready to get back to the customer service side of things. Thanks again! I am going to follow up once a week via email until they tell me enough is enough.
Just as a FYI. Sending out automated emails every week to a large group of people will end up getting you places on spam lists. Must likely a lot of those emails are not even getting to the people you are sending to.
Sending one email at a time and making each email different makes it less likely that your email will be marked as spam. If you are using your companies domain to send the emails you do run the risk of being put on a master Blacklist which would essentially mark all emails you sent as spam to all companies who use those lists.
Sending one email at a time and making each email different makes it less likely that your email will be marked as spam. If you are using your companies domain to send the emails you do run the risk of being put on a master Blacklist which would essentially mark all emails you sent as spam to all companies who use those lists.
I don't send out mass emails to random groups at once. DJ Intelligence replies to website visitors automatically after they fill out a price quote form. the only people who get the automated email are they people who are interested in my service, no spam here.
Not an issue for me I have more inquiries than open dates, I don't discount and I won't waste my time chasing someone to hire me, I have 25 years in this business and all bookings are by referral, if you're calling me you know what I charge and you should just be asking if I am available, it's extremely rare for some ones first question to be "how much do you charge" if it is it's doubtful they will be my customer. 99% of my phone calls start with, " I really hope you are available on such and such a date"
Thanks for the info but I'm quite certain that you're wrong. These aren't spam emails, they are inquiries that are being answered. Additionally, I have an opt-out in each message. Also, the volume is nowhere near what it would require to trigger a blacklisting. I've been doing this for several years with no problems. Something you also may not know is I ran a much larger list for musicians where I'd send out several thousand per week. As long as you follow the rules there will be no blacklisting.
Emails that tend to get get their domains blacklisted are those that tend to have spoofed headers (faked) or some other trigger such as links to other blacklisted sites.
so every single person that calls you knows exactly what your service consists of, exactly what the price is and is ready to sign the contract if you are available before they even make the phone?
Is that seriously what you are saying?
Actually Rick, it is all based on the number of people who receive your email that mark it as spam compared to the number of emails you send out. You will not even know if you are blacklisted. If you are sending out 10 emails a week, and 9 of those people are hitting "spam" or "report as spam" button in their email....you are going to get labeled as spam eventually.
Yes I am, I don't have the time or patience to deal with price shoppers, my rates are in the $1500 range, I don't offer any silly extras or ad ons, I do my job very very well, and have no trouble filling my calendar, I don't sub jobs out, I book what I want at a price I am comfortable with, I have been around long enough that my referrals don't question my skills, my 2013 calendar is full as is most of 2014. I will only work 3 weekends a month the rest are set aside for my family.
This is going to be good! A Saturday afternoon Matinee. Now where is my Popcorn and Beer, Hell I think Rum is better. 