We've just been given the go-ahead to build a website for a new client. The original contact was made in November 2012 - I found the email in the 'referrals' folder. While I was there, I looked through some other referrals that haven't (yet) developed into new clients.
These are examples of genuine un-converted referrals from happy clients who have recommended The BPc:
July - a website client recommended us to a local village pub. We contacted them once and followed up once. Nothing heard at all from them.
June - we had a meeting with a local accountancy firm following a recommendation from a social media client. They are currently very busy and advised that it may be quite some time before they have time to re-vamp their website for a properly optimised site. We keep in touch every few weeks.
April - initial discussion (on-going) with local hairdresser who has no website, following a recommendation from another of our clients. We keep in touch every couple of months.
Between September and November last year, we had three referrals that have never gone further, there are many others prior to those. We are pleased that our clients continue to recommend us and, in fact, some clients have sent a number of people our way. We've never paid to promote our services since the company was formed, over 20 years ago.
We write blogs quite a lot, though ;-)
The question is - how often should they be followed up? We reckon that unless we are encouraged to keep in touch, twice is about right. Feel free to comment...
