| |
| |
|
Marketing Information |
|
|
|
Customer Retention with a Personal Touch
Personal contact with customers is a crucial element in the success of any new business - and it's one of the most common casualties of growth. As a company grows, the president tends to fade away into his or her office. That can lead to loss of leverage right at the point when a company is starting to take off and needs it most. The danger is that the company can become just another faceless entity that the customer deals with every day. This danger increases in this era of reliance on computers to handle communications with customers. Think about instituting a policy of sending a personal thank-you note to each customer. It's not that difficult to do if you stick with it. Just sit down one evening per week and work through your list of customer contacts from the previous week. Savvy companies will track customer contacts in their contact-management databases, but you can get away with keeping a simple Excel spreadsheet of all thank-you cards sent. Trust me, your customers will not forget it! To really kick the personal touch into gear, spend one day per month doing nothing but making "courtesy" calls to your existing customers. Don't have any plans to do real business - just call to say hello. Your clients will be pleased and astounded that you took the time just to check in. To ready your mind to play the role of friend rather than business associate, make the calls from home that day. Really any little thing that you can do to make your customers feel that you remember them and care about them is priceless. I have a particular customer that mentioned to me one day that she was a tremendous Ray Charles fan. Months later when Ray passed away, I sent her a little note of condolence. I don't think she will ever forget that gesture. She later told me that I was the only one who mentioned anything to her that day. She had been feeling like nobody knew or cared until she received my note. What opportunities to make personal contact with clients are you missing each day? Sure, it's easy to use convenient excuses like "I just don't have the time," or "I'll get to it next week." Just remember how much more difficult and time-consuming it is to find a new client rather than to keep a current one. In the end, taking time to keep in contact with your customers will pay a lifetime of dividends both personally and professionally. Tony Valle is owner of Promethius Consulting, LLC, a unique web-design and marketing firm. To learn more visit http://www.promethius.com
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
Commercial Collections By Telephone The telephone enables a credit manager to make many contacts in the shortest period of time. A call permits you to present your case to the debtor for immediate response. Todays Definition of Marketing. Has It Changed? With the continued proliferation of the Internet, the meaning of the word "marketing" also seems to proliferate. Cyberspace has opened up a whole arena of new marketing technologies, techniques, and twists. Global Market in the Cyber world-Go and Get It ! With the Internet opening up the doorway to the global market, everybody is up and running to reap the maximum benefit of this widely used medium. Not only has Internet gained importance as an important medium of communication but also has given a platform to thousands of people to nurture their entrepreneurship and realize their dreams of self-employment. The 10 Cornerstone Principles of Marketing There are four parts to a marketing system and they rest on ten cornerstones. Marketing results are only as powerful as your marketing systems. Tradeshow Booth Cures - Living Color Feng Shui is the Ancient Chinese practice of configuring home or work environments to promote health, happiness, and prosperity. By utilizing elements such as light and color, Feng Shui Masters used their skill to promote the flow of "chi", or vital energy , to protect and enhance the prosperity of the Imperial Dynasties. Has the Internet Killed Off the Direct Mail Baron? Over the past 30 years, direct mail has been responsible for generating vast amounts of money for businesses and individuals alike, but is it still an effective means of marketing?The short answer, in the short term, is yes. But the Internet has without doubt diluted the power of pen on paper and will continue to do so, until only a few die-hard individuals and the glossy brochure brigade, are left to pick the bones of an industry once plump and ripe for plucking and plundering. Who are Those People Youre Selling To? If you're in the IT business, that's an important question.Most marketers are keen to profile their prospects. Three Ways to Put Fresh Spins on Old Marketing Concepts Are you struggling to find a new twist for old advertising or marketing campaigns? If you're a small business owner or a copywriter/coach/other creative professional, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Having to come up with new ideas for a long-term client (or even your own business) can be overwhelming. AIDA From A Different View - I Call It the 5 Ws My childhood was my foundation for how I write and how I think. I caught on at an early age that writing is an art and it has a very distinct way of reaching out to people depending on how you apply it. Put Your Marketing To The So What? Test Want to get Better at your Marketing today?For many service business owners, marketing can be a real mystery. We don't really know exactly how it works. Marketing Strategy - Whats Your System? Where Do Most of Your Clients Come From?Is it from your marketing and sales system?When I meet people for the first time and they understand that I'm a marketing consultant, I'm frequently asked, "Where do most of your clients come from?" Many times I believe the question is asked innocently enough. But, quite often I feel like the person asking wants to know if I have a magic answer that might work for them. Coupons that Work Turn a coupon into a business card (or vice versa).Coupons are seen everywhere; you clip them from the newspaper to save on groceries, you get them in the mail to save on brand name items, you even get packages in the form of booklets delivered to your door. Web Site Marketing: 10 Little Known Upsell Strategies That Will Magnify Your Profits What is Upselling?It means pre-selling any additional features of your products and services even before your customers make a purchase.For example, let's say you're selling a computer with a 15" monitor for $600. How To Make More Money The biggest crime in small businesses today goes unnoticed by most outsiders. It is not reported in the media. At the Speed of Light How many times has someone you've called said, "Why don't you send me some information on your company"?Ask yourself, before you send anything: How will this be dealt with once it arrives at that person's desk. Aren't they already suffering from information overload? On the one hand, people say they they need more information in order to make the decision just to meet with you, let alone to agree to buy or hire. Six Ways to Boost Response on Your Surveys and Gain More Useful Information So.. Raise Your Income! How often do you sit around and wonder how to make more money and get more people to buy more from your company? It's one of the most basic problems every company faces.The answer is astonishingly simple. What Is Multi-Level And How Should It Be Worked Multi-level marketing is really a partnership. You go into business with someone that has the same interests and goals you have. Packaging Trends You Cannot Overlook (part #1): 1) People are buying in smaller quantities. Our busy lifestyle keeps many people from eating at home on a daily basis. How to Size an Emerging Market In developing their business plans, companies of all sizes face the challenge of determining the size of their markets. To begin, companies must present the size of their "relevant market" in their plans.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
