Creating a process for following up with leads is key for growing your business, says Sylvia Garibaldi, a business building coach for financial advisors with SG and Associates in Toronto. A process, she says, will help you to develop relationships with leads — who could become clients and even referral sources.

Here are five tips to set up a well-organized follow-up process:

1. Use a CRM program
Make it a habit to write detailed notes about prospects in a client relationship management system.

Keeping your notes in an organized system will ensure that you don’t lose track of them, Garibaldi says. As well, those notes will help you remember details about each prospect, making it easier to converse with them and develop a relationship.

2. Become a “content machine”
Make your follow-up process active by regularly creating and sending content to your leads.

Advisors should be “content machines” as part of their follow-up process, says Duncan MacPherson, co-founder and co-CEO of Pareto Systems in Kelowna, B.C. To stay top of mind with leads, send case studies, white papers and articles of interest to prove your value as an advisor.

3. Keep in touch
Stay top of mind by reaching out to leads regularly.

Connect with leads, through a newsletter or with an article, for example, once every week or every two weeks, MacPherson says. After four weeks, pick up the phone and talk to those prospects about the material you have sent.

If, after three or four contacts, you’ve had no response from a lead, says Garibaldi, leave him or her alone for a few months. You can try to reach out to the prospect again during the next quarter.

4. Stick to the script
Prepare in advance for your follow-up conversation with leads.

Instead of winging it, says Garibaldi, have a script on hand for your conversation. Start out by knowing the objective of your phone call, such as arranging a meeting. Make sure you know what you want to say, whether you speak with the lead directly, leave a voicemail or decide to send an email.

For example, in a voicemail you might say: “Hello, Ms. Smith. This is John Jones of XYZ Financial. I’m calling again to see if you would be available to chat. I’m available Monday at 2 p.m. I’ll call you at that time, or please call me to reschedule if there’s a time that would be more suitable.”

5. Experiment a little
Don’t be afraid to make mistakes to find the follow-up process that works best for you, Garibaldi says.

It will take you a while to figure out how best to follow up with leads — what materials to send, for example, and what to say when you call.

Once you find something that works, she says, stick with it and make it a regular part of your process.

This is the second in a two-part series on following up with leads.