The easiest way to strengthen the relationships you have with your customers is to keep in touch with them on a regular basis with a variety of different strategies. Here are five ways to get you started:
1. Email:
Send your customers an opt-in e-newsletter or a snail-mail letter, or both. In terms of frequency you need to strike a balance, not so often that you irritate them and not so infrequently that they forget who you are. Don’t overwhelm them with information and special offers either – keep it simple, 2-3 points is enough including a personal introduction. You should sound as if you are writing to a friend, not a mass mailing list. Most businesses implement this step and stop there thinking their job is done. Actually this is just the beginning.
2. Social Media:
The next step is to use social media to keep in touch with your customers. Become their contact on LinkedIn and follow their status updates, commenting occasionally. Follow them on Twitter and actively engage them in conversation from time to time. You could also remember them on Follow Friday or retweet their content. Become their fan or friend on Facebook. Comment on their posts or share interesting content with your circle of friends. The key elements here are engagement and reciprocity.
3. In Person:
The most fundamental of all forms of communication is also the most powerful – person to person contact, such as picking up the phone to talk to someone. I did this recently with a client I hadn’t heard from in the longest time only to find that he had been in a serious car accident. He was grateful for the call and appreciated having someone to talk to. I made a note on his file to follow up with him again in a month. Reach out to one of your customers today by picking up the phone.
4. Special Occasions:
Remember your customers on their special occasions. You should be logging this information about each client in your customer database anyway, so why not act on it? This could be something as simple as sending out a birthday or anniversary card or e-card once a year. But why stop there? Life is full of milestone events. For example, if you know they’ve just had a baby you could send a stuffed toy and a gift card or if they just got promoted you could offer to take them out to lunch to celebrate. Sometimes it’s a sad milestone event such as the passing of a loved one, but don’t let that stop you – the fact that you took the time to remember will make all the difference.
5. Snail Mail:
Send them a hand written note to say thank you or even just hello. In our electronic age the fact that you made the effort to write something meaningful to them will make you stand out from the crowd. It will look even more professional if you have personalized stationary or note cards with your initials or logo on them. A small investment considering the impact it makes.
Ultimately you need to show your customers that you genuinely care about them as people first. As the famous quote by John Maxwell says, “People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”
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