Spread the Message Over & Over Again

Experts say potential customers need to hear about your business up to 12 times before they are ready to do business with you. So keep marketing and use as many venues as possible (especially the free ones) to get your message in front of the right people as often as possible.

Brought to you by:

Dwight Lester, Performance Business Brokers

Here’s an Easy Way to Keep Your Customers Happy

Give them a call! Make it a point each week to call five of your best customers and thank them for their business. It will go a long way to connecting you with your customers. And you’ll likely learn a lot in the process and have a better pulse on their needs and wants.

Follow these steps to let your customers know you recognize and appreciate their business.

1. Be observant: Notice when you have frequent or repeat customers; on the phone, via email, or in person, be aware of the number of times a customer is touching your business and your customer service department. Observe their habits. Do they talk about the same concerns? Do they have products they are loyal to? Let your customers know you recognize their buying habits.
2. Face Issues Directly: When there is a source of conflict or a potential source of conflict, don’t wait for your customers to point it out to you. Be diligent and address the concern head-on. Not only does this save your customer from complaining, it also shows that you really do try to view your company/product/services through the lens of your customer.
3. Apologize: Sometimes a bad situation can be turned around with a simple apology. Regardless if you think the customer is right or wrong, the customer feels they have been wronged. Take a moment to give a sincere apology.
4. Show Appreciation: Everyone wants to feel like they matter, so take a moment to show your customers how much they do matter to your business. Showing appreciate builds brand loyalty and trust. Trust = more sales.

Brought to you by:

Dwight Lester, Performance Business Brokers

The Best Emails Have Only 1 Call to Action.

When sending an email to your customers, choose one product, service or promotion to be the focus of the email. Then create one call-to-action (click, call, come in) and emphasize it. In addition to a compelling subject line, what are some things you should include and how should the email be structured to make your emails more effective at initiating a conversation?

When writing an email as a part of your process for developing leads and guiding prospects through your sales process, keep these points in mind:

• Keep it short. Long emails tend to scare readers. Remember, the purpose of the email is to get your prospect to the next stage in your sales cycle. If you get leads from your marketing team, or your automatic web form alerted you that someone downloaded your white paper, decide what you want the prospect to do before you compose your email. Write it with the purpose in mind.
• Break up large blocks of text. Tight text on a screen looks like a wall of words and is an invitation for your prospect to hit the delete key. Compose your text so that your reader can simply scan it, easily consume it and quickly comprehend it.
• Get their attention at the beginning. We’ve placed plenty of emphasis on composing an enticing email subject line encouraging the recipient to open the email. Now, what do you do once they have the email opened? Get their attention at the start and entice them to read further. Use one of the five methods you use to open your voicemail messages: mysteries, shock, enticing facts, compliments and stories.
• Have one call to action. In some of my early emails attempts, I’ve used multiple product lines with various conditions and multiple calls-to-action attempting to make the decision process easier for my prospect. The resulting action was typically no decision on their part. Use just one call to action and make it easy for your prospect to move forward.

Brought to you by:

Dwight Lester, Performance Business Brokers

Try Again With Email Non-Responders

If you’re lucky, a good-size percentage of the people you send email to open it. What about the rest? You still want to reach out and touch those folks. Why not send a another email out to those who neither clicked, opened, bounced nor unsubscribed and change up the subject line? Maybe you’ll catch them at a better time with a better message.

Brought to you by:

Dwight Lester, Performance Business Brokers

Pay Attention to Your Customers

Notice when you have frequent or repeat customers; on the phone, via email, or in person, be aware of the number of times a customer is touching your business. Observe their habits. Do they talk about the same concerns? Do they have products they are loyal to? Let your customers know you recognize their buying habits.

Brought to you by:
Dwight Lester, Performance Business Brokers

The Best Time to Ask for Referrals Is…

The best time to ask is immediately after you’ve delivered your product or service and your customer received the value they were expecting–and then some. Make a follow-up call, if necessary, to check on their level of satisfaction–and ask!

Brought to you by;
Dwight Lester, Performance Business Brokers

New Year’s Resolution: Get Mobile

If you want customers to find you in 2012, you must be found on the mobile web. Converting your business website to display and operate correctly on smartphones needs to be a top priority in 2012. If you don’t know how to do this, get help.