If there is one outstanding reason for failure in this business of network marketing, it is the lack of thorough follow-up.

Networkers spend their days doing anything and everything to drive people through some form of presentation mechanism - online, in-home, hotel meeting, teleconference, audio-in-the-mail, or eyeball-to-eyeball in the coffee shop with a pocket flip chart. They do all this, only to drop the ball at the most critical part of the prospecting life cycle: follow-up.

The Low Down on Follow-Up

It seems that the majority of aspiring networkers think they are supposed to wait for the prospect to call and say, "Okay, I'm interested, sign me now!" That, however, rarely happens. The truth is, you need aggressive, organized, systematic follow-up to influence your prospects to take the next step. The fact of the matter is that most people are terrible at follow-up. I am no exception.

I have managed to achieve a rather large measure of success in my network marketing business. It scares me to think of what I could have accomplished if I had begun with focused, disciplined follow-up skills. I clearly recall the chaotic mess my follow-up routine would spawn whenever I was neck-deep in a prospecting campaign. The more prospects I had, the worse the follow-up became - which led to poorer results overall. Oh, had I known then what I know now!

I challenge all networkers, no matter what success summit they have reached, to declare unequivocally that they have squeezed every ounce of juice from the fruits of their labor throughout their career. I defy them to tell me that they chased down every lead, however faint, that showed itself as a distant silhouette on the business horizon - that their commission checks could not have been meatier by a zero or two.

Even if you are the exception, if you are a paragon of follow-up virtue - the people in your organization most likely are not. Ninety-nine percent of us will fail to qualify for the follow-up Olympics.

Here is the good (dare I say, great) news: the wonders of technology have permeated the stubborn membrane of follow-up failure. Technology promises to allow even the most non-technological and inconsistent of us to succeed - in this case, by providing tools that do sophisticated follow-up chores for you.

Plug Them Into a System

Let's say you have created a brief audio sales message packed with powerful testimonials that prospects can access by calling a toll-free number or by visiting your Web site (which should be designed exclusively for prospecting). Many companies offer both toll-free voice mail prospecting systems and prospecting Web sites that are effective for this sort of activity.

At the end of the audio presentation, you have a call to action designed to get prospects to take advantage of some kind of free offer. To take advantage of this offer, they'll need either to fill out a short form on your Web site or to enter a fax number into your toll-free information-on-demand system.

Now it's time for you to follow up. The first mental hurdle is realizing that most follow-up activity can be the same for each prospect you have in your prospecting system. You don't need to significantly customize a routine from one prospect to another. You can tailor a series of letters that will go out automatically via e-mail or fax once the prospect "triggers" the sequence. The more purposeful, engaging letters you send out, the better.

Some experts believe it takes as many as seven communications to get the best results. Some swear by ten or more. Either way, you'll be glad to know it doesn't require human intervention to follow up when you use a simple technology tool.

Keep the Offers Coming

When you're writing these follow-up letters, keep in mind that you're writing to a human being, not a "prospect." Keep everything at a very personal, one-to-one level. Never "pitch to" prospects: they'll simply ask you to remove them from your list after the first letter (if they are that nice about it). Your job is to answer their inquiries and, letter by letter, teach them a little more about the subject.

Keeping their interest is paramount. One of the best ways to do this is with free offers. There are numerous things you can offer that cost you little or nothing.

• You could offer them a subscription to your company's newsletter.
• You could invite them to attend an exclusive private conference call with you and some top leaders.
• You could offer them a product sample.
• You could offer them some one-on-one business coaching.
• You could offer your willingness to teach them every step of the way.
• You could offer to let them listen in on a prospecting call.

Whatever you offer, make it interesting and exciting and spell out the benefits to your prospects. It will help to keep them engaged - and they'll want to see what you come up with next.

Always remember the principal objective with all this follow-up:

To get prospects to call you and tell you they are interested in learning more.

Once the process is designed and set in motion, the whole thing runs like clockwork. Your ability to maintain great follow-up habits is immaterial. You'll be able to spend your own valuable personal time with only the most interested and qualified prospects.

Isn't that awesome?!

More Follow-Up Scenarios

Here's another example strategy: a potential recruit visits your Web site and learns about your opportunity. He is offered a free e-newsletter subscription or some other free offer simply by filling in his name and e-mail address on a Web form. All such prospects immediately receive an e-mail from you, automatically, with your name and their name automatically inserted, welcoming them and thanking them for their time.

They might even receive a phone call the next day from you (or from someone in your upline), offering them more information to help them along with their opportunity search. If your system provides the functionality, they might receive a fax the next day with even more details. All the while, they are getting to know more and more about you and your company via free e-mail communications.

Those prospects who are serious opportunity seekers will be impressed by the automated system you have used with them. By the time they are ready to get started, they are already educated about what steps are involved - because your auto-responder system has already educated them. They're excited because they can purchase their own version of the system that was used with them - which they realize will be a primary method of their business-building strategy in their new opportunity as a member of your downline.

Excited yet? This is only the beginning. Once your follow-up system is running smoothly, you will share your proven systems with your entire downline - and the power of duplication will take over.

Of course, if your follow-up messages are weak, you may not see immediate results. To design a smoothly running follow-up system takes a focused effort. You'll need to measure your results and tweak your campaigns until you see them beginning to pay off, repeatedly and predictably.

Here is the point: technology can help us eliminate our weaknesses. Since inadequate follow-up is a weakness for so many of us, the potential for these new technologies in managing effective follow-up is enormous.

And here's some serious food for thought: when a prospect is narrowing down his choice to just a handful of companies, with all product and pay plan issues being equal or comparable, the one with the most thorough and effective marketing system will have the edge.

That's all I can write on this topic right now - I have to go and see who I followed up with today.