Or… close to it.

For years on end, Kenny and Sue received all sorts of mailers from companies promising them a solution to their debt issues. For years they ignored them. Not because they didn’t want to get out of debt but they felt they could handle it themselves and they could. Fast forward a year later, the economy goes south. Things are getting more and more expensive, eating into their extra income used to pay their large debt and then Sue loses her job.

With their income reduced to half what it was, this hits the family hard. They realize now they can’t do it alone anymore. They need another solution. This time, when those mailers come in, they are paying attention. They do their research and decide to call the number on one of the mailers. In two weeks, an agreement is signed, a company earns a sale, Kenny and Sue are happy.

Some people will say that the company was at the right place at the right time to earn that sale. But how would they know when is the right time to mail? The answer is, they don’t. While I do believe (a little) in the idea of right place and time, I put more value and faith in persistence. I’ve always said, just because someone doesn’t buy from or hire you today does not mean you’ll never get that sale ever. It could be – more likely than not – the buyer is not ready for your solution.

Today, I read a rocking post along the same lines, although Mr. Silver talks about something related – consistency. I think they are inter-related. To me, all this comes back to good old fashioned follow up.

That’s why autoresponders are so awesome. They do the follow-up without us having to physically do it again and again for every customer. But what about offline customers? Can this persistent and consistent follow-up be automated there too?

Well I know for sure I can do that right now via my Send Out Cards account. If your market is younger and more text-happy, or a group who prefers phone calls, there’s also PhoneFollowup. These services lets you schedule your messages to be sent out ahead and frees up your time. You can even practice some of that consistency and persistence on your own blog. Don’t just post that link to your service/affiliate product once. Write about it from different angles. Bring the point up again, expand on older points and thoughts. Use your blog’s scheduling technology to help you. These can help you be at the right place at the right time for some customers – without wearing yourself out.

Having said that, I’ll put it into action right now. WordPress 3.0 has recently been released. Or maybe you have aMember and have not upgraded in a while and aren’t comfortable doing so. We can help. Contact us to discuss your needs and we’ll work on a quote.