Day 1. How to Keep in Constant Customer Communication

If you are constantly in contact with your clients then you will be on top of their mind when your services are required. We are bombarded by advertisements, information, and updates. When I am on Facebook, I see commercials. I read the paper, ads. I drive, billboards. Radio, Youtube, Magazines, Taxis, etc. Top companies like Coke, Pepsi, and McDonald’s spend billions of dollars to be in front of your face so when you are out and about and are hungry you will be programmed to go to a Mc D’s drive through. Chances are you do not have the deep pockets that Coke has. So how can you be just as effective as Coke, but at $1 Billionth the cost? Let’s explore some of my favorite and most effective ways to keep in contact with your clients. These techniques, as basic as they are, have helped me pull in contracts from $3Million to $25Million. Read on..

As I mentioned before we are so bombarded with advertising messages that I personally tune most of them out (I try at least). But, there are always a few that have caught my attention and have some how managed to stand out from the crowd like a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. I have found the best of the best and very effectively use them in my sales and marketing business. Here are some of my favorites:

1. Newsletters. We all get a bunch of junk through email. We get email from local businesses all the way to Russia. But I like to read local newsletters AS LONG AS THEY ARE INTERESTING. I want to know what is going on locally and how your business is helping our community. I want to know about fun events and how your product and service can fix any problem I have (present & future). I don’t want a boring newsletter trying to sell me stuff, I want something that interests me enough that I won’t immediately put you in my Spam filter. Keep them fun, involving, local, client oriented, and give me the latest and greatest about you and how you being so great can make me great.
2. Social Media. I will keep this part short because I will cover it later. But social media like my top 4; Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, and Yelp, are fun ways to create a mini-community between your business and your clients. It is what I like to call an interactive newsletter / website. It lets me see that you are human and not some machine. I like to see goofy picture and also find out about you as a person. In sales we buy into the person 1st and then the product / service. If your Social media pages are out dated it tells me that you don’t have time to deal with it and chances are you are trying to balance that with all the other ideas you want to implement, but don’t have the time to do. Like anything else, if you are not keeping up with your Facebook community, then the Facebook community is not going to keep up with you or your business 🙁
3. Meet Your Clients Outside the Office. Set up fun customer appreciation events (picnics, dinner, potlucks, happy hours, etc). I love these! You get to meet your clients, their better (or worst) half, family, friends, kids, and pets. I believe when you break bread with clients you are truly becoming friends. Go catch a game together, invite your clients to your kid’s soccer game and go to theirs. Have what I like to call “a cup of coffee/tea and some stimulating conversation.” A little time out of the office can go a LONG way! Plus, you get their input on what you could do better. If you are not reviewing your Yelp, then you don’t care what your client’s are saying about your business.
4. Send Hand Written Cards. I cannot tell you how many times I have spoken to a client that I have worked with for a decade still have a Thank you card that I sent them five years ago. I am a huge card sender. BUT, IT HAS TO BE HAND WRITTEN. None of this electronic label and printed signature. That means little to nothing to me. That means your computer knew how to thank me. Stop and think, when was the last time you received a “Hand-written” anything? In a time where the Internet is taking over the world, it is rare to see a hand written anything. I remember when I was young; it was so exciting to get a hand written letter. You would see the hand written address, tear it open, unfold the letter, and smile. Bring that smile back to your clients and their hearts will thank you.
5. Last, and certainly not least, CALL THEM! I believe we are becoming a society of convenience where human touch is dwindling. I am a touchy feely guy so more people get hugs from me than emails. Call you clients. See how they are doing. Let them know you were thinking about them, yes it is okay to let your customers know that their well-being was on your mind. When my home phone rings, 5 out of 10 times it is a telemarketer. Me being in sales, I still answer it and hope to hear a good pitch (but most of the time I am disappointed). Let your clients know that you were gardening and it reminded them about the time you discussed that new fertilizer. They might say, “You’re full of shhhttttuuuufffffff.” Humor helps to deepen any relationship. If you are a doctor and you just treated your client, I hope you are calling them PERSONALLY the next day to check up on them. If not, then you are losing points because in my business I make sure doctors do. I am sure some doctors do, but most don’t.

There are many more techniques that I can share with you if you are interested. Just email me and sharing is caring. I can send you a newsletter, add you to my Facebook page, talk about it over some coffee, and follow up with a call to make sure the information was useful 🙂

Keeping in constant customer communication can be an easy routine or like an up and down diet/exercise regimen. The Five tips about can revolutionize your business. The interesting part is that none of that information is new. Steven Covey said, “To know something and not use it is not to know it at all.” Keep in communication with your clients and they will thank you with their business. Do the right thing for the client. Take care of them and they will take care of you. Stay tuned tomorrow as we look into some more about Customer Service. I will share with you the example of how one waitress took an upscale resort from classy to trash because of her poor customer service.