5 Uncommon Ways to Use Auto-Responders to Grow Your Business

Auto-responders have been around for years.  These productivity wonders consist of software that gives users the ability to send pre-written messages at specific times or after a given action has or has not taken place by the recipient.  The market has quite an array of compelling follow-up services to choose from. What differentiates follow-up services is an exercise in research and testing, but how and for whom they are used can make a significant impact on any business. Read on and you’ll learn some of the uncommon ways (not a complete list), auto-responders or follow-up sequences can be used to grow your business.

5 Uncommon Ways to Use Auto-Responders to Grow Your Business

If You Resell Products Online

One of the top benefits of an auto-responder is to remain top of mind.  If you resell products online and have regular communications with the product provider as a result, consider using an auto-responder to remain top of mind with the provider.  There are many ways to do this depending on your situation.

Real-World Example

The company for a product I resell has a slew of territory account representatives.  The site I have that sells their product processes orders for customers in every territory, as a result I have an opportunity to build relationship with each rep, with each prospect and sale. This is especially useful with a company who partners well with resellers (not competing with the reseller for sales).

In my situation, I’ve added sales reps to a follow-up sequence that shares what I’m hearing from customers an finding effective in selling their product, this is part of an introduction sequence put in place when a new sales rep comes on board.  The idea here is as you build the relationship by adding value, sharing valuable information making it a win-win for both.

JV Partners and Affiliates

Similar to product provider sequences, on the flipside, if you have a product that you sell via JV partners and affiliates, you can build relationships with each new product launch.

Affiliates and JV partners managed well can act as an army of sales reps for your company.  Adding them to a follow-up sequence that shares valuable information will help to build rapport with them, and encourage them to promote.

Information shared via auto-responder with partners and affiliates might include:

• Your split testing results for converting offers
• Affiliate marketing training
• Upcoming product launches
• Contest information – standings
• What customers are saying, using data from customer feedback survey’s.
• Product discounts
• Affiliate marketing incentives
• Upcoming offline events you hope to meet them at (broadcast)

Employee Auto-Responders

Whether hiring employees in the traditional sense, or outsourcing talent for a specific role in your company, auto-responders can be a great way to train and provide regular inspiration.  Some ideas include:

• Build on and reference items from the employee manual.
• Orientation or reminders on specific HR processes.
• Mindset, culture and branding information (every employee is an extension of a company’s brand)
• Product features and customer testimonials to help them get excited about changing the world through your company.
• Internal employee profiles, quotes, stories, and social interaction.
• Communicate marketing plans, great for marketing centric organizations.

This is not to replace process and procedure documentation, rather to help orient and affirm them in their role as well as the mindset of the culture.

Those You Met at An Offline Event

If you do a fair amount of networking – attending offline events, following up with those you meet can be a powerful strategy, especially since most don’t do it.

Example: After attending an event, I go through a process of determining who to follow up with.  Individuals are added to an auto-responder sequence which sends them to an article entitled, 3 Strategies for Profitable Followup After an Event or Seminar.

In the email, they are asked  questions to see what they liked most about the event it cultivates a conversation tone, and they are invited to reply to the message. While not everyone responds, many do. This has proven to be a very effective strategy.

Can You Be Using Auto-Responders More Effectively?

How does this information apply to your situation?  I want to hear from you. Whether you resell a product, have a list of JV partners/affiliates, or even attend a lot of networking events.  How can you apply this information to your business? As you leverage auto-responders in these and other areas it will have positive impact on your business.

Learn more about the system I use with 21 Ways I Use Infusionsoft to Automate Followup.

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Image Credit: sarabbit