You know the marketing rule: It takes seven times to
communicate with someone before they might buy
from you. Boy, what a hassle, especially as a small
business! It’s not like we don’t have other things to
do. You’ve got to figure out what to send, what to
say, and then take the time and money to make it
happen. We want to be somewhat creative in our
approach too. Here are five ideas to improve the
communication with your clients.
Communicate often (but not too often).
People do like to hear from you, but not every
week, unless you’re sending a newsletter they’ve
subscribed to. The “when” is a fine line; too much
and you become an annoyance. Too little and they
forget about you. Do for your clients (and potential
clients) what you’d like to happen for you. And don’t
forget special occasions like birthdays or
anniversaries. My health insurance agent sends a
postcard for every birthday and it feels good to be
remembered.
Communicate creatively. Mix up the format.
People like to get more than just your weekly or
monthly electronic newsletter. People still like to
receive cards in the mail. If it has a personal note in
it they are more apt to keep it a while. Rotate
between greeting cards, postcards, and electronic
cards (if they use email). Have funny or motivational
messages that make a point and will be remembered.
A printer client of mine sends a monthly postcard
with a calendar on it. The front always has humorous
sayings that are just too good to throw away.
Communicate efficiently. Sending a note
shouldn’t have to take lots of time or cost an arm
and a leg. Try an online service like
SendOutCards*
who will print and mail your personalized greeting
card (with over 2000 to choose from) for less than
the cost of a store bought card. You can even
upload your address book and send the same card to
a group of clients. I’m using this service to send out
cards at Thanksgiving to my clients to thank them
for their business. It will take me less than 5 minutes
to send a card to 100+ people that even includes a
message in my own handwriting. I estimate I’ll save
about 8 hours of labor and $366 on the cards. I have
lots of other things to do with my extra time and
money! If you still want to personally mail a card,
buy a box of generic or blank cards to have on hand.
Enter “special words” in your word processing
program that get your point across so you can use
them over again without searching for words in a
thesaurus each time you sit down to write. If you
receive a card or note that has a particularly good
phrase, save it in your communication file for your
own use later.
Communicate with impact. Quickly send a
card and note before the opportunity passes. If you
observed a client handling a staff person well, send
them a “you did good today” note. When you see a
client having a stressful today, send them a card
that says “hang in there”. Who do you think they will
remember when they place an order for your
product? With an online greeting card service, you’ll
always have the right card. I send my clients a card
at Thanksgiving because there’s no better time to
say “thanks for your business”. (Plus I have one less
task to do at the end of the year and my card
doesn’t get lost with the dozens of other vendor
cards.)
Communicate just to connect. People like to
receive random personal notes or cards. They also
like articles or ideas targeted to a need they are
having. It makes them feel special because you went
out of your way. You don’t always have to have a
marketing purpose to communicate, do it “just
because”. Your recipient can tell the difference!
*SendOutCards is an online greeting card service
where you choose a card, write a special message,
enter the person’s address and press Send.
SendOutCards then prints your card, puts on a real
stamp and mails it through the U.S. postal service, all
for as low as $0.99 (that’s right, 99 cents a card),
including postage. No more cards to store, stamps to
lick or trips to the mail box. Send a card from the
comfort of your desk. For more information, go to
www.CenterForProductivity.com/sendoutcards.html.
Last year I ordered personalized cards and addressed
and mailed them myself. This year, I’ll be using
SendOutCards. Still want to touch the paper and
send your own holiday cards? Call us. We have
access to a fabulous source for your printed needs.
