Little gestures mean a lot when it comes to building a strong referral base for your business. Many small businesses neglect the little things, as they take time.
Small gestures, often overlooked by businesses, make a big impact on how you are viewed by your customers. Customer retention, a large issue with many businesses, can be improved dramatically by sticking to a few old-fashioned business ideas.
Customers are your best source of word-of-mouth marketing, and should be treated like gold!
Make sure you note birthdays, and send them an E-card. Dale Carnegie always told his customers that he was interested in astrology in order to get them to divulge their birthdates so that he could follow up with them later. Keeping a file on each customer that includes personal information ( there are fields for this in an ACT database) will ensure you will never miss a birthday.
Christmas cards telling your customers from the past year how much you have appreciated their business go a long way towards keeping your name in front of them, and making sure your contact information is accessible should a friend or neighbor ask them for the name of a good person in your field.
If your client has had a baby, send them a gift basket or card.
Common courtesies when meeting with customers are also very important. Remember what your mother taught you, and say please and thank you!
Always remember that a customers name is the sweetest sounding word in the English language - use it often and never make a mistake in a name.
If you are in a service business, make sure that your appearance is clean and neat. If you are a service business that enters a person's home, make sure you leave their home clean and neat as well.
Offering special services to them such as discounts for referrals also goes a long way.
Remember - people do business with others that they trust. Building trust is the first step in establishing long term business relationships.
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