My kids don’t know what life was like before automated toll booths. They don’t know how long the lines used to be.
But with automated toll collection (they are called EZ-Pass in the northeast), we no longer have to wait. We can whiz through every toll booth without having to stop.
The toll is collected automatically with nary a thought on my part. I don’t have to remember to carry any money. And frankly, the less I have to remember, the better.
Much like automated toll collection, sales managers can make their followups with prospects more automated.
Studies show that most sales people only connect with a prospect once. And yet, over 80% of all sales happen after than 5th contact.
Following up is the key to making the sale
So what we need is an automated system that allows us to follow up with our prospects. And here is where Boomerang comes in. This software allows gives us the ability to automate email messages into the future. In effect, it allows you to schedule messages to be sent on a specific date, a week, or even a year out.
So can we, as hotel sales managers use that?
Imagine you are talking to a association meeting planner who tells you that they’ll decide on which hotel to select on a certain date. Rather than try to remember or take notes that we may not read, we can simply write a follow up email at the end of our conversation and schedule it to be sent the day after their meeting. No need to remember at all.
But that is really not the most powerful part of this software
Where this really come in handy is in the follow up. And that is where Boomerang can help. As soon as our conversation with a prospect ends (and the memory of what we spoke about is fresh), we can create five to six emails that will serve as touchpoints over the ensuing six- nine months.
Let’s take an example. Let’s say we want to try and move an association meeting that happens at a competitor hotel. And for the sake of this example, lets say their meeting is next month at the competitor hotel.
After having the conversation with the association meeting planner, there are 5-6 emails we can set up right away that will help us stay top of mind.
Here is just a quick sampling of follow up emails you can create right away:
Email 1:
Thank you for taking the time to talk to me yesterday. blah blah blah
Email 2:
Sent a week before their event at a competitor hotel
“Just wanted to reach out and see if you’ll need any additional rooms. As you know, we are less than one mile away and I can provide free shuttle service to anyone who wants to make a last minute reservation in case your room block is already full at blah blah hotel.
I hope your meeting goes as planned as I know you put in a lot of time in the planning. Good luck and if I can be of any assistance, please feel free to reach out to me”.
Email 3 :
Sent two days after the meeting at the competitor’s hotel
“Hi, just wanted to reach out and see how the meeting went. I am sure you’ll need some time to recover from the planning. The whole process can be quite draining. I’ll reach out to you in a couple of months to see if we can host some of the smaller meetings we spoke about.
Email 4:
Sent a month and a half later
“Hi, I wanted to reach out to see if we can set up a time to talk about potentially having a site tour of our property for your XYZ event. Wondering if there is a time this week that we can meet. If not this week, would next week be a possibility? Lunch is on me…. Let me know”.
Do you see how all these emails set up an opening for a possible meeting. The planner will think that you are responsible enough to follow up, and that you are hungry for their business. And knowing that, they will be more encouraged to at least give you a shot at their business.
And with Boomerang, setting up the emails is simple
Just take really good notes when you call and circle the things that you can follow up about. Then once the call is over, immediately write the emails and schedule them to go out at the appropriate intervals.
Once these are set up, you won’t have to worry about following up on a conversation. Let technology do the legwork of remembering.
Just avoid this mistake
If the prospect tells you that they are not interested at some point after you have set up the emails, and they don’t want to be bothered then make sure to go back and remove them from your boomerang list. Otherwise, you’ll look a tad bit dysfunctional, and that is not the look we are going for.
Boomerang is offered as an add-on for both Gmail and outlook users. Click here for more details.
In summary, following up is one of things where most sales people falter. Boomerang can help automate the follow ups by sending scheduled emails at precisely the right time so our prospects feel that we are keeping in touch. And all this happens in the background, relieving us of having to remember to followup with a prospect.
Or bring change for the toll booth.
What should you do next?
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