Gather Interested Prospects with Free Reports

Why should someone consider doing business with you? Surely not just because you're there and you want their business.

No, you have to do something to earn it - even to earn consideration. Free reports are a good beginning. When prospects request your reports, you then have permission to contact them regularly, reinforcing their trust in you as an expert who can help.

So, to begin, prepare a well-written report that gives solid, useful information to your prospects. Make sure the report shows that you are the expert in your field.

If you're a Realtor you can talk about Home Staging, or about the best procedure for viewing homes for sale. If you're a dentist you can talk about new procedures. If you're an auto mechanic you can give car maintenance tips.

Whatever your field of expertise, let your report reflect your knowledge. And if you don't write well, hire someone to take your information and turn it into a good report, because a poorly written piece is worse than none at all.

Next, set up an autoresponder to deliver the report and gather the names. This is probably the easiest part of the whole process. I use Get Response, but there are others as well.

Now offer the report. You can do it with the autoresponder sign-up box on your website, but also in your print ads or through flyers you give out in your place of business. You can even offer it on your business cards. And definitely - offer it in the signature line of ALL your emails. The only time you shouldn't include that signature is if you forward an off-color joke or something really controversial. (Politics and religion come to mind.)

Once you begin getting names, go on to the next step, which is an e-mail drip campaign. Find something interesting or informative to say about your line of work or even your community, at regular intervals. It could be once a week, or every two weeks. It should definitely be at least once a month.

It doesn't have to be long, merely interesting. You can even do something as simple as offering "The quote of the week." The purpose is to remind those prospects that you're there, ready and willing to help when they need you, and to reinforce their belief that you're the expert.

If you offer specials or coupons, let them know that because they're part of your email family, they get first notice. In other words, use the email campaign to make those prospects feel special.

The great thing about autoresponders is you can write several of your follow-up letters (or have them written) and then schedule them to go out at intervals. So it doesn't have to be something you do at the last minute every Monday afternoon. Writing at the last minute is always a poor idea!

The list you'll build using this method will be far more valuable than any other list you could use - because these are people who are interested in what you have to offer. Think about that - would someone get a report about car maintenance if they didn't have a car? Or would they ask for a report on home staging if they weren't thinking of listing? Maybe a few really odd characters would, but for the most part, no.

OK now - go give away some information!