Archive for June, 2010
The importance of follow up
Monday, June 21st, 2010 | Stay in touch | 1 Comment
I drove past a place with a funny verandah this morning and remembered instantly a conversation I’d had with a lady several months before, during the summer. I’d sent an email via a website enquiring about the local tennis club. They’d rung me a couple of weeks later to let me know about their social nights and where they meet. The lady had described this place with the funny verandah as being at the corner of the street I’d need to go down to find the tennis courts.
Life being busy and all that I haven’t taken things any further but it did occur to me today (and other times) that this tennis club has my phone number, my email address and my postal address but they’ve done nothing to follow me up. All I needed was a bit of prompting and encouragement and I would have been there. The intention was there – but my mind had moved onto other things and forgotten.
I wonder how many potential clients you’ve lost because you haven’t followed up. If you didn’t want to email them or perhaps felt awkward about phoning them, then the obvious choice is to send them a postcard or greeting card. I have the perfect option for you! Why not contact me today to find out how I can help?
Even BNI promotes Send Out Cards!
Tuesday, June 8th, 2010 | Send Out Cards, Show You Care | 1 Comment
This morning I was at my local BNI chapter meeting and the educational message was shown to me before the meeting started. The E.D. was excited that the very company I represented got a mention in this morning’s message.
Very simple direct message taken from one of Ivan Misner’s books about the importance of connecting with people and sending them thank you cards, or cards acknowledging people in some way.
It’s true that basic manners seem to have disappeared largely today – even in the business world, and the simple act of sending a thank you card to someone because you appreciated how they looked after you means a great deal to people – often more than a phone call or an email. Cards tend to get kept for months on shelves in the office or perhaps in the home.
So, if you would like to acknowledge those you do business with, why not contact me to get you started!
Customer Relationship Marketing
Monday, June 7th, 2010 | Database management | Comments Off
Customer Relationship Marketing is regarded as a form of marketing designed to develop relationships with your database.
Wikipedia says: Customer relationship management is a broadly recognized, widely-implemented strategy for managing and nurturing a company’s interactions with clients and sales prospects. It involves using technology to organize, automate, and synchronize business processes. Read more…
So, you have your database but do you have a strategy for building relationships with those on your database? It’s not only learning about what they might like, but it’s also about letting them know you are thinking of them.
Several networking books I’ve read over the years have spoken of the value in sending cards to people on your database to let them know you appreciate them, to thank them for something, to give them some information about something they showed interest in (and that doesn’t mean it has to be about your business) and so on.
Send Out Cards is the perfect partner program to operate with your database. It allows you to send ad-hoc cards or to set up a campaign and reminder systems to maintain regular contact with those on your database. And if you feel you don’t have the time to manage it, then engaging the services of a Virtual Assistant to manage the program for you is the perfect answer. A trio of great things for your business: CRM+Send Out Cards+Virtual Assistant.
What’s it worth to retain a customer?
Tuesday, June 1st, 2010 | Stay in touch | 1 Comment
What you do you reckon it’s worth? How often have you had to hunt for the contact details of a service provider you’d met some time ago but hadn’t needed to use up till now?
I read the story of a man who needed a security alarm system after having had multiple break-ins. He’d met several security system people over the years but not one of them had kept in touch with him. So he looked through the Yellow Pages to find a service provider and he’s still with that company 4 years later.
What would it have cost any of the other security system people to get this man’s business? A couple of dollars every 6 months just to stay in touch. That’s all it costs.
