Stay In Touch

Out of sight. Out of mind. After you’ve worked so hard to get ideal clients and prospects, it could all be for not if you don’t stay in touch with them.

Illustration: Several years ago we did a really great project with Pierpont Communications for Shell Oil Company. We were helping them with their United Way Campaign. We dreamed up this very clever idea to help the different departments track their progress. Now, we knew what we wanted to do but at that time we didn’t know anyone who could build the booth for us. So, we asked around and we were referred to this wonderful little company. They did an outstanding job — came through in a pinch and their work was excellent. Then, several months after that project we had the opportunity to do another similar project but... we could not remember the name of the company who did the original project with us. We didn’t even have their business card because the original project was all done via telephone and E-mail and we never heard from them again. So even though they did a great job and we would have been happy to work with them again, we couldn’t remember who they were.

Your clients and prospects are busy. Their lives do not revolve around you — no matter how much blood sweat and tears you think you’ve given. Marketing is the ongoing process of helping your clients and your ideal prospects understand and appreciate what you do and why you do it better than anyone else. The key here — “ongoing.”

So many times we focus on getting new clients with no plan for keeping them. Everyone has heard the alarming statistics on how much more expensive it is to get a client than to keep one but for some reason, it just seems more natural to focus on getting them vs. keeping them.

There are about a zillion ways to stay in touch with someone. Some are more effective and expensive than others so it depends on where you are at with your resources.

The more specific you can get the better. If you have a business where your client’s needs are recurring, then you will want to track their buying behavior so you can deliver your marketing message just as they will be needed your services again. The profitable real estate professionals are champions at this — they know when your office lease is up and will marketing to you throughout the years then step up their marketing efforts a year or so before the lease is due. Many residential real estate professionals do this as well with their “ideal” neighborhoods. You may have been in your new house less than a week but you’ll start seeing mailers from your neighborhood realtor showing you what houses in the neighborhood have sold and for what price.

And, if you don’t have a business with recurring needs, can you create some? Can you perform some ongoing function for them — maintenance, new supplies, seasonal needs? Even if your company cannot specifically offer these ancillary services, you can probably find some company who can, then partner with them.

Tracking information about your clients and prospects is critical. You’d ideally love to know who they are (specific contact information) and what’s important to them (personally and professionally). What they’ve purchased from you. What upcoming needs they may have. How long it’s been since you last “touched” them (in person, telephone, mail, E-mail, etc.). From index cards to spreadsheets to online CRM (customer relationship management) programs like ACT!, GoldMine, Salesforce.com, there are several way to keep this information organized.

Here are a few stay in touch ideas to help get your creative juices going:

• Newsletters (direct mail or E-mail) — very effective as long as the content is about things interesting to your client, not you and your company. Also very time consuming and challenging to pull off unless you have a firm commitment (time, budget, personnel) to the project.
• Information they want/need — can you develop a compelling presentation that your clients and top prospects will NEED to see — “The 11 Most Dangerous Trends Facing The Advertising Industry....And Which Ones Will Keep You Up At Night.” These presentations can be in person or could be a booklet they request. It’s always best to get in front of them in person. Maybe you can make this an ongoing series.
• Postcards with mini case studies on how you’ve helped clients achieve goals.
• Letters — you can use clever letter campaigns to get appointments with your ideal prospects. Create a theme — “the time is right.” Then create a series of letters (six to 12) around this theme and why it will benefit your prospect to visit with you.
• Events — you can create an event then invite your clients and top prospects. Or you can be part of an event (tradeshow speaker) and invite them.
• Become the industry expert and get on the radio and in the trade magazines — then invite your clients and prospects to listen or send out reprints of published articles.
• PR / Advertising — even though this is a very broad approach to staying in touch with your clients if you are in the “right” places, this will boost your credibility and your clients and prospects will see/hear about you.
• In person visits — meals, coffee, office visits, golf outings, seminars, etc.
• Telephone visits — if you can get to them face to face, call them just to see how things are going.
• Holiday cards, birthday cards, gifts, special promotion.
• Introductions to potential clients or suppliers for your existing clients and ideal prospects.

You and your team can do some fun brainstorming and come up with several ideas that fit within the budget and the resources you have. The key is:

• Do something
• Be as consistent as possible
• Make it as professional as possible
• Make someone responsible for it internally — this cannot be a “when you have time will you” kind of project.

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