In times like these, it's good to return to the basics. There is an apocryphal story told about football coach Lou Holtz; when he needed to get his team refocused, he would pull them together practice, hold up a football, and say, “this, gentlemen, is a football.”

So please don't disregard what I'm about to recommend simply because it's “basic information”. For some, it will be new information. For others, it will be something they've heard but never done. And for some, it will indeed be something they're already doing… but even for those I submit it may be possible to do it in a better way.

Here's the lesson: there is a fortune in the follow-up.

Let's say you're one of the enlightened few who has a website that collects e-mail leads. Good job.

Let's say you're even more enlightened and you have an automated follow-up system, that sends those leads three, five, maybe even seven follow-up messages. Even better job.

But why stop with seven messages? Why stop with 10?

Here's my recommendation: block out 3 to 4 hours one day, and write up at least 52 follow-up messages. Logos into your autoresponder follow-up sequence, after your initial weeks worth of follow-up (if you indeed already have a weeks worth). Make sure every e-mail in your follow-up sequence has a call to action, even if it's simply redirecting prospects back to your blog, or giving them your phone number (obviously this depends on what business you are in).

My point is simple: once someone raises their hand and volunteers to be marketed to, why on earth would you ever stop marketing until they ask you to stop?