Bring Your Customers Network Into Yours.
pIn this gadget driven world some of traditional ways of bringing in new business are still alive and well. However some are slowly becoming extinct. Cold calling people is getting more and more difficult and socially unacceptable, but getting warm leads and referrals from your new and existing cutomers is possibly the best of all. When you have a personal recommendation behind you that phone call is easier to make./p
pThen of course you need to be following up these leads in some way. You need to ensure that as and when they do decide to buy what you offer you are fresh in their mind. Maybe a quick follow up complement slip with your photo followed next week by a cut out from the newspaper of something relevant to their business. This is the stuff of relationship building not selling. You have trust because of the referral and you also are quietly staying on the radar as the helpful guy./p
pWhat some companies forget is that this relationship building and nurturing is something you should also be doing with your existing customers. Expensive I hear you say. Not if you segment your customer base and identify the right ones. Those customers that spend again and again. Once youve identified the right customers be sure to test that your relationship building works. Do control testing, entertain one group and ignore the other and see what happens. For those that are worth the effort then building a relationship with them will ensure they are more likely to stay with you and not wander. Sending notes in the post is a good approach – not selling but helping, and hopefully youll be reminding they why they starting doing business with you in the first place./p
pNothing is better than getting face to face so do the stuff in the post process and then get them to see you. How? Simple. Put an event on. Remember only invite those gold customers in the live test group./p
pWhilst a little bit cliche corporate golf days still work really well. Even if they are not gold players they often would be keen to give it ago. Give them a href=http://www.spectrumgolf.co.uk target=_blankcustom golf gifts/a such as a href=http://www.spectrumgolf.co.uk/shop/umbrellas.html target=_blankcustom golf umbrellas/a with your logo or a logo that marks the event itself and this helps build the relationship. It can be smart to hire a specialist a href=http://www.spectrumgolf.co.uk target=_blankcorporate golf event/a company to help you plan this./p
pThis is all solid old school customer relationship marketing, although few people ever do it. But does the online world help us boost its effects further. The success of social websites such as Linkedin.com is based on the ability of people to do online networking and to create new relationships based on who you know. The social site granddaddy of them all is Facebook. No longer just for youngsters to swap pictures and videos it is a place to do business. Dont think of a facebook page in the way you think of your own personal facebook page. Treat it as a business to business or business to consumer communication channel. Once they are there you can slowly begin to increase the amount (up to a point) of and nature of communicating you do with them. For example when you are setting up your golf day use the facebook event planner to keep people posted./p
pWhat is good about this is your customer may learn to do what you do. Then they may promote their business in a similar fashion. Their customers will become part of their network and be exposed to your messages as well./p
pThe cardinal rule is no selling in Social Media just helping. Dont worry give enough help and the visitors to your business will grow./p
