Below is a suggested timeline of the steps your team needs to take each month run the monthly drip campaign in G5.

1. Install the Drip Campaign.
2. Activate the Drip Campaign. Follow these instructions, and when you reach the “Optimize the Workflow for a Specific Campaign” section, you will follow the instructions for the Monthly Drip Campaign.

Once activated, follow the timeline below.

Send Day refers to the day you will mail the letters out. So, "Send Day-14" is fourteen days before the day you send the letter out.

These dates are based on estimates and averages, however, adjust as needed for your practice.

Select a Letter for this Month's Drip

Who: Advisor

The first step in a monthly drip is always selecting the letter(s) you want to send. Even if you are using a Message Plan, you may still need to make some decisions about the choice of letter(s).

For example, if your message plan directs you to send out a holiday letter for that month, you will need to select which letter you will send.

Make sure you have also selected an appropriate letter for clients, prospects, connections, and any other lists that will be receiving a letter.

Proof the Letter

Who: Advisor and CRM Specialist

Many Letters on the client portal require user input. Some have highlighted text that indicates what kind of information the user should fill in. Some have red text that are optional paragraphs the user can include if appropriate for their practice or circumstances, which should be changed to black if it is used or deleted if not.

In addition, you should proof the message to make sure it has no errors. You can even re-write parts to use your voice, saying what you want to say the way you would word it, if desired.

Verify Supply Levels

Who: Office Manager or CRM Specialist

Make sure:

• You have enough paper or preprinted stationery to cover the printing, with some extra to fix any mistakes made during the process.
• Your ink levels are high enough to finish the job, with some margin for errors.
• Enough envelopes to send all the letters you print, with some extra as a margin for error.
• Enough Large Commemorative Stamps to cover the postage for all letters you will send.

Upload Letter

Who: CRM Specialist

If you are sending different letters to different people, only upload the first one you will send at this time. You will upload the remaining letters one at a time, after the prior one is used to print to its designated list of recipients.

You will upload the letter that you got back from compliance to the Document Manager, in the Drip Campaign folder. Attach it to the Month that it will be sent out.

Verify Participants

Who: CRM Specialist

Make sure everyone you want to receive the drip letter is in the campaign, in the step for the previous month. Do the following steps in this order:

1. If they are not in the campaign but should be, add them to it.
2. If they are in the planning step, move them to the intro step.
3. If they are in the intro step, move them to the step for the previous month.

Everyone from each list you are dripping on should be in the campaign together.

Remove anyone who should no longer be receiving drip letters from the campaign.

Print the Letters

Who: CRM Specialist

To print the letter, move the participants you want to receive that letter to the step for the current month. The campaign will automatically start a batch process to merge the letter to all participants. Wait for that batch process to finish, then download the letter, open, and check the word doc to make sure no merging errors occurred, and if it is all correct, print it.

If you are printing multiple letters, change the letter attached to the document for this month to the next letter, then move the participants who should get the new letter to the step for the current month. Repeat this process for each drip letter you are sending out.

All letters in the BGM Letters Library are designed to use #10 windowed envelopes. If you use those, then you don’t need to do anything to prepare your envelopes. However, if you use other types of envelopes, you will need to use your preferred method of addressing them, be that hand-written, printed, or labels.

Prepare the envelopes. Put the letters into envelopes. Then put stamps on and seal them. Do that process in this order to reduce the problems that may result. If you make a mistake addressing an envelope, there won’t be a wasted stamp on it if stamping it is the last step.

Send the Letters

Who: CRM Specialist

Gather up all the letters, take them to the post office box and send them out.

Repeat

Who: The whole team

As soon as one month is done it is time to get started again at the beginning of this process.