Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Easy Ways to Stay Top of Mind with Prospects

By Anita Hampl

How do you practically stay in touch (and stay top of mind) with your most important clients? You know the need to maintain and develop good relationships with them, but time is precious. A good frequency marketing campaign can save time and help grow profits.

Quality relationships, whether social or business, take time to carefully build and develop. A frequency marketing campaign in a business setting is designed to nurture your relationship as you are elevated in the clients perspective.

While most marketing professionals think first of a full-scale email or direct mail program, handwritten notes or even greeting cards can suffice as a simple way to keep your name in front of your best customers and prospects. The expense and time required is so minimal that many savvy sales professionals even use them to supplement more formal marketing programs, such as bulk mail postcards and e-mail newsletters.

Unlike broad reach campaigns, content for a handwritten note should be more personal than a conventional direct mail piece. Just consider all of the possible reasons you might reach out to a customer or prospect.

Most people know the importance of thank-you notes for gifts. But we can express appreciation for intangibles:

* Making a valuable introduction over drinks

* Introducing me to your Realtor

* Emceeing the basketball awards dinner

* Recommending your auto mechanic

Look beyond the obvious (babies, promotions, weddings). Celebrate and congratulate:

* Finishing your first half-marathon

* Opening your new branch office

* Giving a killer speech at the trade association dinner

Don't underestimate the value of sending birthday cards to clients. A recent Hallmark survey found that 69 percent of respondents had received a birthday card from a company, and of those people, 47 percent said the card made them more likely to do business with that company! Birthdays can be an especially appropriate reason to send a card if the delivery of your services is somehow tied in with the age of your customer (like life or health insurance).

May I be subtle? Customers - at least those who you want to cultivate relationships with - are sophisticated. Any attempt at disguising a sales pitch as a love note will be recognized, with negative results.

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