Business Tip Vol. 4 - Reach out and touch someone

When is the last time you reached out and touched a customer?

If you're in a business where you may only see your customers once a year or less, what have you done to keep your name in front of them?

When I first started in business, I got a lead from a friend about someone looking for an accountant. When I called the guy up he told me that he wasn't looking for one at that time. However, he would do me a favor and put my name on a post it & note stick it on his desk. After the note dried up, he was going to crumple it up and throw it away. My job was to "make sure I put a fresh post it on his desk" to remind him of who I was.

It was a lesson I've kept close for all these years. Now this man was a prospect, but do we do the same for our existing customers? As a consumer, I get really frustrated when I get so much attention from companies as a prospect then I do as an already paying customer. I was actually astounded once when I received a $20 credit on my bill from a phone company simply because they "appreciated my business". They've had my loyalty since.

So I would offer that mining your existing client base for business could be more profitable for you than spending resources on prospects. So reach out and touch a customer today.

I'll close with a joke.

A banker dies and went to St. Peter's gate. St. Peter asked the banker if he would prefer heaven or hell. The banker thought this was an odd question but St. Peter told the banker he could spend a day in hell to check it out.

Knowing that he could spend a the rest of his life in heaven he thought he would check out hell to see if it was everything he thought it would be.

He goes down there and the devil shows him around and everyone's partying, drinking and having a good old time... nothing like he originally thought.

So banker decides that he's lived the conservative life for too long, he's going to have a great eternity in hell. So he tells St. Peter to send him to hell.

The next day, he's awakened by a whip in the back and told to get to work. He's toiling in the inhumane heat, chained to a bunch of other guys.

The devil walks by and the banker says to him, "Hey what happened to the women, the music, the booze, all the fun..."

The devil looks at him and says "Yesterday you were a prospect. Today you are a customer".