A Better List Building Strategy

Last month I was talking to a small business owner friend who was courting a potential client. After a meeting and good follow up practices, they ended up hiring someone else. Bummer, but it happens. What happened next though was a bit surprising…

A few weeks later my friend received the newsletter of this client that didn’t come to pass. As my brother would say, Baller Move.

This easily goes in the terrible newsletter etiquette category. My guess is that this potential client just exports their contacts and adds them to their newsletter each time without regard for the relationship. And that’s not how you should be building your newsletter list.

When it comes to newsletter list building, here’s my recommendations:

• Automatically Include

  • Clients (past & present)
  • Prospects
  • Referral Partners
  • Friends & Family can also fall into this list for some people 

• Ask First

  • Your Database
  • Networking connections
  • That stack of business cards in a box in your closet

If you are working with a prospective client and have multiple conversations with them, they’ll most likely be in your CRM (because you have one right?) and I think they should be added to your newsletter list as well, because they’ve engaged with you and have had some interest in your services. It’s a sort of implied consent. Now, if it’s a cold lead that you want to make a client and they haven’t responded/engaged with you, then don’t do this.

Building and growing a newsletter list is one of the biggest challenges businesses have. Take a minute to consider your newsletter  list building practices and let’s make sure you’re not “accidentally” doing something illegal.