Speaking to more of your leads is the easiest way to make more sales without paying more for ads.

25% to 50% of leads don't turn into customers because they don't speak to a sales person. The lead filled in an enquiry form but nobody could get them on the phone.

Speaking to more of your leads is the easiest way to increase sales without having to spend more on ads.

The first contact email sequence is the easiest way to increase the number of leads you speak to. It takes an hour to set up and runs mostly on autopilot after that. It's one of the first things I do with my clients after we've got their ads producing leads.

Here's what a client said about a week after we started. (Please excuse her excessive use of emojis, she's young.)

(If you can't see the picture, it's a screenshot of a WhatsApp conversation where my client says "Peter! The follow up is working" followed by lots of exclamation marks and six smiley faces.)

The first contact email sequence

The first contact email sequence is a series of pre-written emails that start when the lead arrives and get sent as intervals after that.

The sequence stops when a sales person speaks with the lead or after the last message has been sent.

I like to send messages with fewer days between messages at the start of the sequence and longer interval later. That's because the lead is most interested at the time they enquired. Their interest (and our chance of making contact) wanes with time.

Here's my go to cadence:-

• Message 1: Instant.
• Message 2: 1 day after enquiry.
• Message 3: 2 days after enquiry.
• Message 4: 7 days after enquiry.
• Message 5: 14 days after enquiry.
• Message 6: 28 days after enquiry.

You could go wild and write a longer series but if you haven't made contact after 28 days the lead is as good as lost.

What to say.

I like to include the following in every message:-

• Why we're sending them the message.
• That we're going to try to call them.
• Extra ways they can contact the business.
• An unsubscribe link.

I've recently started using ChatGPT to get past staring at a blank screen wondering what to say. Here's the prompt I modify for each client to get a rough first draft. You're welcome to borrow it.

Please write 6 follow-up email messages. The messages are to be sent over the course of a month to people who contact our business through a form on our website. Our business is an immigration law firm. Please include the following in the email messages. 1. The reason for the email. 2. A way to unsubscribe. 3. Tell them that someone from the office will try call them. 4. Tell them they can contact us during office hours 08:00 - 17:00 on weekdays and 08:00 - 13:00 on Saturday on our main number 555-555-555. Tell them they can contact us by email to this address.

Here’s a link to the raw ChatGPT output from the prompt above. It definitely needs some polish but it’s not a bad starting point.

How to send.

Any modern CRM system should allow you to automate a series of emails. If your's doesn't you might be able to rig something up using Zapier and an email service like Kit.

You also need a way to stop the sequence after you've spoken to the lead because it doesn't make sense to send them an email about not being able to contact them after you have contacted them.

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