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Please consider this free-reprint article written by:
Paul Mccord
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Article Title: Effective Client Communication
Author: Paul Mccord
Word Count: 801
Article URL: http://www.isnare.com/?aid=102853&ca=Marketing
Format: 64cpl
Author's Email Address: pmccord[at]mccordandassociates.com
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================== ARTICLE START ==================
Whether you know it or not, your database of current and past
clients is your best source of new clients. �Prospecting� for a
new client is time consuming and expensive. If you can find a
way to increase your sales without the time commitment and
expense of cold calling, mass direct mail, advertising or
purchasing leads, would you be willing to implement it? Of
course, you would.
Taking the time and effort to keep in contact with past clients
will grow your business through new direct sales to the client
and generating referrals to qualified prospects.
Often salespeople complain that keeping in touch with past
clients takes too much time, effort, and money. Considering the
return on investment, this really is not true�at least for most
salespeople. The key is finding a way to communicate that is
time efficient, relatively inexpensive, and effective.
Studies indicate that in order to keep your name at the top of
your customer�s mind, you need to �touch� your customer a
minimum of 14 times per year�more if at all possible.
What is a �touch?� A touch is any communication from you to
your client�email, telephone call, snail mail, postcard,
holiday card, in-person meeting, or any other method of getting
in front of your customer. If you are communicating with the
client, you are touching them.
What is the most effective way to touch your past clients?
Studies have shown that there is not a �best� way to touch the
client, but rather, the most effective client communication
programs enlist a number of communication formats.
Sending 14 emails, a year is better than nothing, but it is not
the best way. Neither would be sending 14 snail mail pieces. Or,
making 14 phone calls. Nor, sending 14 postcards during the
course of the year. However, constructing a campaign using a
combination of these methods could be a very effective program.
For instance, setting a marketing calendar to send 4 postcards
per year, 6 emails, 2 snail mail letters, one phone call, and
one holiday card during the course of the year allows you to
touch your client approximately once every 3 � weeks during the
course of the year.
But, what do you send? What do you say 14 times during the
course of the year? The content of your communication is just
as important as the fact that you sent something. When you
communicate with a past client, the fact that you have
something in front of a previous customer is not necessarily a
good thing, in and of itself.
Many traditional marketers will disagree. Much traditional
thinking says that any time you get your name in front a client
it is a good thing. However, is a 3-second trip to the trash for
your expensive postcard or letter best the use of your money?
Whether or not your communication campaign is effective will
depend on what you are communicating. If you send junk, just to
send something, your customer will quickly learn to ignore you
and your communications and everything you send will take that
3-secnd trip to the trash. On the other hand, if your
communications offer something of interest and value, you will
train your client to pay attention to you.
Which would you rather have: a client that ignores you, or one
that pays attention to you?
I assume you would rather have a client that pays attention to
you. To train your clients to pay attention, and, therefore, to
keep you at the top of their mind, you must figure out how to
send them communications that give them value. Can you offer a
special for them or someone they refer to you? Can you provide
them an annual or semi-annual update on their purchase? Can you
send or email them articles of interest that relate to their
purchase or an interest of theirs? What you send does not have
to be large or costly�it just needs to be of interest to the
client.
A program such as this requires thought and considerable
customization of content, but the payoff can be enormous. Think
about what you are sending and what it will�or will
not�communicate about you and your business. If you want your
clients to think of you and not ignore you, then take the time
and the effort to make sure you are sending value. If you are
not sure it has value, it probably does not. Marketing to your
client database should be at the top of your �to do� list and
your campaign should be constructed with the thought and care
as if you were marketing to the most important people in the
world, because for you, they are.
About The Author: Author and trainer, Paul McCord is a leading
authority on prospecting, referral selling, and personal
marketing. His book, Creating a Million Dollar a Year Sales
Income (John Wiley & Sons) teaches the strategies the million
dollars a year sales superstars use.
http://www.powerreferralselling.com
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