After the Sale

       Is your sincere thank you the end of the sale? NO. How you treat your customer after the sale is crucial to the success of your business.People do business with people who they know and trust.Encouraging them to be repeat customers is much easier, and less expensive, than cultivating new customers.

       Absolutely essential is a Thank You Note, within three days.  This applies to both business and personal transactions. If you only do business on the internet you might get away with email; hopefully not an auto responder that is cold and generic.  Someone in your Organization should be in charge of making sure this is done properly.

       Smaller Organization s can easily add this activity to their work flow. They also have more of an opportunity for personalization.  The people who actually interacted with the client should be sending out the thank you notes, or gifts where appropriate; that's all part of relationship building.

       The really smart salesperson will take the time to hand write (horrors!) and personalize their ThankYou notes.  Include a comment that indicates that you were really paying attention. Send it by snail mail; your message will stand out because hand written mail is so rare today in our electronic age.

       Then, depending on the lifespan of your product, you should contact your customer again.  I don't however recommend a Christmas/Holiday card; your message will get lost in the pile.  Try any other holiday or regular event, like daylight savings time or the change of the seasons. And, of course, don't miss their birthday or any articles you see written about them.  That gives you at least two contacts per year, three if you send holiday cards.

       Seasoned, successful salesmen/women also pick up the phone occasionally.  "Just thinking of you", "this reminded me of you", or congratulations on your new position/baby/whatever. 

These professionals have worked with these same customers or clients for several years and sometimes even multiple generations.        

       Think of the security of knowing that half your income is already made for the year because of this business that you have cultivated, tended, and watched grow.  You can now spend your time planting the seeds of new customers to grow your business.

Marketing in Tough Times

Are you sitting in your store or office wondering where all the customers/clients went? In normal times we typically lose about 10% of our customers in any given year to competition, their changing needs, or other mysterious reasons; but these are not "normal" times. Our lack of customers is just a snapshot of the greater economy. When the economy is struggling you can also expect to be struggling. That is "normal."
During tough times it is imperative that you reach out more, do more to attract business. This also may mean spending money that is scarce. However, DO NOT consider anything that you have to spend on advertising or marketing as an expense. It may affect your cash flow, but it is not an expense, it is an investment in your future success. Without ongoing marketing efforts you can be sure that the 10% client loss will increase substantially.
When available cash for marketing or advertising becomes a challenge it is time to get creative. There are a number of avenues you can take to get your name out there that are free. They make an investment of time, but you have that if your traffic is down.

Take a look at social media, using your computer to reach out, newsletters to keep in touch, surveys to be sure you are offering what your customers want, blogging or article marketing, networking or press releases.
If you need some ideas that match your goals contact me. We never charge for the first hour of consultation and that may be all you need to get headed in the right direction.

Advertising vs. Public Relations

This question has been bandied around for as many years as there has been commerce. Public Relations (PR) and advertising are cousins. They serve the same master (Aunt Profit) but with different approaches.

Once men started creating surpluses that they could trade for needed goods that they didn’t have the earliest tradesmen “advertised” to their neighbors what they were going to have available at the next market. Once they established trusting relationships they was more reliance on public relations to drive the commerce machine. People will always do business with those they know and trust.

Jumping ahead, I have always found that advertising is great for getting instant results. It is where you put your coupons to attract new shoppers (and some savvy ones) to introduce to your products. The accounting is built into the campaign, because it is easy to quantify the results, and is very reliable. Advertising gives you "instant" results.

PR on the other hand is more of a long term investment. It can entail "free" advertising if you use press releases judiciously. It has a lot to do with who you know and who knows you. The newer arena of social networking is a terrific platform for PR efforts. A PR campaign is where you foster friendships and relationships. These connections may not become clients or customers for quite a while, but they are likely to be very faithful when they do.

It appears to me that customers come from an advertising base and clients come from a PR base. Both aspects are important for the success of your business; each has its strengths and weaknesses. Your business development strategies should include a mix of both methods depending on your predetermined goals. Relationships have a significant impact on your bottom line.

For more in depth information contact me: or at least leave a comment here. I'll be looking forward to hearing from you.