Here are some OTHER things our drip-marketing system can do…

By Brett Lloyd Abbott, Pool Builder Marketing LLC

For nearly 15 years now, I’ve articulated and enunciated the incredible power of an automated follow-up (a.k.a. “drip marketing”) system. When it comes to selling new pools, it’s what I call the third leg of the proverbial three-legged marketing milk stool:

1. A killer website.
2. A low-risk offer.
3. An automated follow-up system.

Anyone trying to sell new pools without an automated drip marketing system will be at a serious disadvantage to the other builders who have put an automated follow-up system in place.

But that’s not what I’m here to talk about today.

I’d like to mention some of the OTHER things you could do with your automated follow-up system, in addition to selling more pools.

A “Welcome Letter” to all new pool clients.

For many of our clients, we’ve created (or helped revise) a “Welcome to the Construction Process” document that is automatically emailed to the new client as soon as the project is sold. With a nice introductory email, and the contact info of a few key people, it helps set the stage for a positive relationship throughout what is obviously the ugliest part of the entire process.

A weekly “How Are We Doing?” email.

Have you noticed that the more hand-holding and coddling you do with clients in construction, the happier they are? And conversely, if you ignore them for more than a week (whether on purpose or on accident), they start getting really angry and frustrated, and sometimes never recover. So we set up a super-simple one-click survey that – every Friday – asks the construction client “How Are We Doing?” If something is bothering them, they have a quick and easy way to let you know about it, so that you can take appropriate action, or at least reach out to them and offer them an update.

This is a great way to sniff out and snuff out small issues before they become big ones. If getting 5-star reviews from your clients is important to you, then you’ll definitely want to consider this.

Set up drip-marketing for Hot Tubs.

If “drip-marketing” works for new pools, why not use it for Hot Tubs also? There are certainly plenty of helpful topics to discuss and articles to share, such as Stress-Relief, Pain-Relief, Better Sleep, Arthritis relief, re-connecting with family, etc. It’s quite simple to set up a new campaign for hot tubs, using the exact same system you’re using for new pools.

Let the Service Team Use It.

This is a super-easy way to reach out to your service clients AND your service prospects, and offer special promotions, or a monthly newsletter, or just helpful advice. (Free intelligent advice is one of the most effective ways for a service company to win new clients, and retain the old ones.)

Use it to Promote Retail Sales.

Running a promotion this weekend? Send out an email blast to everyone on your retail list. (I especially like the trick of “early access for preferred clients,” where you encourage everyone on your list to come in a day early for sale prices that aren’t available to the general public until the following day.)

Use it to Promote New Pool Sales.

Sometimes it makes sense to send a special email blast to all the new pool prospects who haven’t yet made a decision. Offer them a special incentive, or maybe just warn them that prices are going up next year. It’s not at all unusual for this “shake the trees” approach to produce a few new sales.

Use it to solicit 5-star reviews.

It’s super-easy to set up an automated email to go out immediately after construction (or six months after, or whenever you want), thanking them for trusting you, and asking them how they felt about the whole process.

Use it to send out a Company Newsletter.

I can’t say whether a company newsletter is hugely powerful, but if you are into that, and you have more than 10 people working for your company, then an automated follow-up system is a super-easy way to do it.

Bottom line – an automated follow-up system (like Constant Contact, or our Infusionsoft system) can do a lot more than just automated follow-up.

If you have not yet set up your own automated follow-up system, perhaps these ideas will inspire you to finally make that happen.

Share on Facebook