The $119 million reason to never give up a cold lead

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What does it take to achieve real success? Thomas Edison’s life offers a clear answer: perseverance. He still holds the record for most patents by a single inventor. He conducted more than 10,000 experiments while creating the light bulb and tested more than 17,000 plants in his search for natural rubber.

His secret was simple: he never gave up. As he famously said, “I haven’t failed. I just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

So, how far are you willing to go to achieve your goals?

In marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in hacks, quick fixes, or a magical shortcut to growth. While there Are ways to accelerate progress, the hard truth is that long-term success relies on determination and perseverance.

It took me 27 years to build a $119 million company, and the foundation was the same principle Edison lived by: I kept going.

You can’t predict whether a lead will close in three days or 3,000 days, but you can can check your consistency. There should never come a point where you stop marketing to your audience. Here are three best practices for effective follow-up.

Related: The 3 Biggest Lessons I Learned After 25 Years in Business and $100 Million in Revenue

1. Never Stop Following Up (Unless They Officially Unsubscribe)

Have you ever looked at a text message from a friend or an email from a colleague and thought, “I’ll respond to this later,” only to completely forget about it?

The same thing happens with your prospects. They may be interested, but they are also busy; maybe they get distracted, or maybe they aren’t ready to buy yet. In either case, don’t give up! Consistent follow-up is key to getting their attention back to you.

Even if you feel like you’re being annoying, keep sending your emails, texts, direct mailers, and other follow-ups unless they tell you to stop.

I have contacts in my arsenal as old as my company, PostcardMania. Those are 27 year old leads!

But guess what: a lot of them are closing. And I don’t mean closing up shop; they buy what we sell.

We recently did some research on this and found that in one week we emailed 148,894 leads who first inquired three years ago – and in that same week, 86 responded, and 12 of them converted.

We also looked further back at five-year-old leads and found that after 126,148 emails, 61 responded and seven converted.

That’s a total of 19 new customers and 147 restarted sales calls from very old leads.

The truth is, there’s no good reason to delete contacts once they’ve contacted you. Those who are truly uninterested will naturally unsubscribe.

Don’t risk missing out on more sales just because you don’t have confidence in converting an old lead.

Related: Run a follow-up campaign in 4 steps

2. Be more creative with your follow-up and diversify your delivery

It’s essential to follow up with your leads across different marketing channels (not just email or SMS) because everyone has their own favorite marketing channel.

Personally, I like the tangibility of direct mail. I like opening my mailbox and seeing a physical letter or postcard waiting for me. It’s a welcome change from sifting through hundreds of emails every day. And research shows I’m certainly not alone in this!

But maybe you don’t mind clicking through emails or responding to a text message. That’s exactly why it’s important to reach through different channels. The more times your leads see your business in front of them, the more likely they are to remember you when the time comes.

And just because someone doesn’t buy from you right away doesn’t mean they never will. They may be waiting for the right time – when they need your service, when their budget opens up or even after they’ve tried a competitor and had a disappointing experience.

People choose companies they already know and trust. Consistent follow-up not only builds strong awareness, but also credibility.

3. Simplify your follow-up by implementing automations

Scheduling automated emails or social posts is just part of doing business these days. But automated follow-up cards or letters: does that actually exist?

It does. And honestly, it’s one of the smartest developments in direct mail that I’ve seen in my 27-plus years of doing this.

With direct mail automation, you can activate mailers based on real actions your prospects take. Someone surfs your site, browses a product page and then disappears without calling or filling out your form? They can receive a postcard automatically: no staff intervention, no manual list formatting, nothing. The same goes for a lead who got a quote and then went silent for two weeks. Instead of crossing your fingers, the system will send you a friendly nudge in the mail.

You can even adjust the timing based on how ‘old’ the lead is. Older leads can receive a friendly monthly reminder; newer leads can be contacted weekly. Once you set the rules, everything runs in the background while you focus on what you do best.

And here’s something I always remind business owners: You may not think you like direct mail, but the data shows that most marketers do. About 88% of them say they see conversion rates from direct mail at least 5% higher then their next closest marketing channel.

Related: How to Boost Your Business with Direct Mail Automation and Retargeting – A Detailed Beginner’s Guide

The good news is that setting up direct mail automation isn’t the ordeal people imagine. Most CRMs today can easily interface with a direct mail automation platform. All those dormant leads in your database – people who raised their hands once and then drifted away – can be reawakened without any manual effort.

I’ve had countless customers over the years say to me, “Joy, I’ve been receiving your postcards for forever. Now I’m finally ready.” That’s the magic of standing in front of people. Automation makes it simple.

If you put this into practice, you’ll be amazed at how much more sales you can get from the leads you already have, without confusing yourself.