Selling to Friendly Customers
By Paul Montelongo
If your office is like most that I see around the holidays, there are greeting cards taped to the walls, doors, window sills and practically every square inch of space available.
It's pretty easy to remember your clients and vendors during the holidays. But I have a question for you to ponder during the holiday off-season.
What will you do to sell to friendly customers?
By friendly customers I mean those clients and customers that already know you, have bought from you and trust you.
You see, it is so much easier to sell your products or services to existing clients than it is to spend the time, energy, money and creativity to develop a new customer. In fact, most surveys indicate that it takes anywhere from 10 to 20 times more cash to develop just one new client than it does to sell to an existing client.
And when you sell to an existing client, you are selling to a 'friendly client'. Think about it. You have already invested the time, energy and plenty of customer service to get this person to be your fan. So you might as well continue the relationship.
This requires that you keep a constant presence in front of your customers. If you have a plan that puts your company in front of your customers at least once a quarter then you are well ahead of most of the business population. If you really want to solidify your position in front of your customers, stay in touch with them at least once every 30 days.
Here are ten easy strategies that you can employ to stay at the forefront of your customer's mind regularly.
1. Send a quarterly newsletter. Seems like a simple enough suggestion, but the impact is tremendous. Your newsletter can be the front and back of one sheet. It can be black and white, two-color or full color. It should include a project of the quarter or client of the quarter. It should include all of your contact information and it must include a special offer of some type.
2. Send photocopies of newspaper articles. Copy any article that you have written or that has been written about your company. When you are published or the local newspaper has written an article about your company, that is a huge endorsement of your professionalism and commitment to the community. So you may as well get all of the publicity out of it that you can.
3. Send an email newsletter. This one strategy alone is the simplest and most cost effective way I know to maintain a presence in front of your clients. Link your company Website to the newsletter so they can visit your site and you get additional exposure. This means that you will have to collect email addresses from your clients and ask them for permission to send a newsletter. Again, if they are your fans, they will grant you permission and look forward to reading your letter.
4. Pick up the phone and call. It may not be possible to call every client you have. However, you do have 10 or 15 extremely loyal clients and they deserve to hear your voice once every thirty days. The call should be friendly and you want to be curious about them. Your call is about them. They will ask you about your business when the time is right.
5. Create a 'phone tree'. Divide up your customer list and assign a group of customers to different employees in your business. The work load of call existing customers gets lightened when the list is divided up.
6. Send a thank you card. Just say thanks for the business and thanks for the relationship. A simple expression of gratitude will go a long way. Though they may be your loyal clients, they need to continue to see the humanity in you. People do business with people they like and trust. When you show the caring and gentle side of yourself, your clients will continue to place their trust in you.
7. Offer a discount. When contacting existing customers, offer a discount for additional services that you offer. Encourage your customer to take advantage of your discount by placing a time allowance on the discount. Even if your customer has you do a small amount of work, you remain in front of them and this often leads to larger projects.
8. Send an evaluation form with a discount offer. Though your customer may have already given you an evaluation form, ask for additional "special feedback". This advanced strategy requires that you ask your customer to give you more specialized information about their experience with you. When doing this, offer an incentive in the form of cash or discounts on additional services you perform for your customer.
9. Stop in and say Hello. This suggestion sounds so elementary that you may tend to overlook it. As you travel around town in your daily routine, make time to stop at a customer's home or business and just say hello. You will be surprised how many referrals you will get when you do this, not to mention additional business from your customer.
10. Send a 'Web-Card'. Have a post card printed of your Website home page. Send this card to your customer database (you do have a master database, right?). Encourage your customer to visit your Website by making a special offer on your services or products.
Most of these strategies can be employed for little or no actual cash out of pocket. With each of these strategies, or any strategy that you implement, consistency is the key. I would also recommend that you have several strategies that you can rotate. It will keep it interesting for you and for your clients.
It is always easier to sell to friendly customers. Till next time, take great care.
Paul Montelongo is the author of 101 Power Strategies; Tools to Promote Yourself as the Contractor of Choice. Paul is a nationally recognized speaker and consultant to the construction industry. Register for a free E-mail newsletter to receive tips, strategies and concepts to help you grow your business and increase your profits. Paul has owned and operated his own multi-million dollar construction company for over 23 years.
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