One of the tools that makes light work of online recruiting is your auto-responder system. In the process of “weeding out” prospects, an online marketing funnel will include an auto-response series of emails to determine the level of interest and pre-qualify potential recruits. The logic behind an auto-responder is that by automating the pre-qualification process, your prospects will move through the funnel without much effort on your part, until (and if) they decide to reach out to you for additional information (or to sign with your company).

The process looks like this:

• Potential recruit visits your site.
• Potential recruit decides to opt-in to your list.
• Potential recruit receives a series of automated emails that continue the recruiting conversation without your direct input.
• Potential recruit decides at some point to either ask for more information, sign up for your opportunity, or unsubscribe from your list.

It’s a powerful tool that, when used properly, can reduce your time and energy spent on “tire kickers” and help you recruit and retain viable consultants for your team. It also allows you to handle a potentially larger field of prospects as well, because you’re drawing from a national, if not global contact base.

Assuming you’ve got your website and capture page up and running, what kind of information should you include in an email campaign targeted to recruiting prospects? Here are a few ideas, taken from my own course, Direct Sales 103: Leadership Development:

The first email should deliver the opt-in incentive (giveaway, special report, etc.), and explain how future emails will be delivered. I encourage a daily email for the first seven days, then weekly for the first month. If a prospect is still undecided at that time, they usually unsubscribe, or just want you to “keep them updated”, in which case a monthly contact is appropriate.

The remaining emails in the first week should “narrow the scope” of the information from the general (the industry and companies) to the specific (testimonials about your team, your leadership, and YOU).  After the first few emails you want to include a direct link to a web page where your prospect can either join right away or schedule a recruiting appointment with you (depending on how your company operates), but not on the first email. The idea is to “warm up” the prospect by sharing helpful information that establishes you as a leader and expert in the eyes of your prospect. If they’re chomping at the bit to get started, they’ll email you back and ask for more information – at which time, you’ll be able to gauge their level of interest effectively.

In short, developing an online email campaign to attract new recruits is a simple, but effective strategy to reach more prospects, sort more prospects, and add more prospects to your team with less time investment on the front end. But don’t be fooled: automated systems are great to a point. Once those prospects join your team or ask for more information, you owe it to them (and yourself) to be an active participant in the engagement process.

© 2010 Lisa Robbin Young.

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Lisa Robbin Young offers direct sales coaching and training to direct sales professionals looking to grow their business like a real business instead of an expensive hobby. Sign up for her free weekly ezine at https://www.homepartysolution.com.