Tax season is behind us here in the US — to my mind, the most depressing part of any year. I look forward to the coming of Spring and all things invigorating and motivational. Our bizarre Ohio weather has taken us through sunshine and warm temperatures, rain showers, thunderstorms and even a bit of snow, all in a little over a week. I look out now at overcast skies and dropping temperatures and yet see bright yellow daffodils and forsythia bushes in bloom and a few tiny green leaves starting to pop on the trees.
It’s time for small business owners to come out of that hibernation funk that goes with Winter and everything that the year’s end brings with it. The floor of the woods in our back yard is starting to green and the deer that roam the neighborhood are finding much better things to munch on after a long, cold winter. Time to get back on track and moving forward again. Back to your plans for growth and success. Back to building and nurturing customer relationships
Growth demands more customers and more sales, but not necessarily in equal amounts. It costs more to attract and convert new customers than it does to reactive existing and past customers. The best place to go for new sales are those people who already have experience dealing with your firm. The customer relationship already exists at some level.
How can you renew customer relationships?
There are, oh, so many ways to bring past customers out of hiding. Here are a few that we’ve used that you can try with your customers. Reach out and touch some of your past customers. It’s time to renew customer relationships that have become stagnant. Be creative. Think more about renewing customer relationships than making a sale immediately.
- Send a handwritten (and addressed) note. Leave out the ‘company commercial’, just say ‘Hi, I was thinking about you.’ Include a useful tip or idea that relates only to them. Go crazy — put something besides a standard postage meter stamp or a ‘business’ stamp on it!
- Pick up the phone and call. Invite them to meet you for coffee or an ice cream cone just to get back in touch. Chat about them, their family, their business. Remember, today’s market runs on relationships.
- Invite them out. Ask them to accompany you to a local art gallery opening or show, museum or other local spot. If weather allows, how about a local art or concert in the park event?
- Offer to give some of your time to a client’s favorite charity or community project. It will make you feel good, the client feel good and help the community.
