Keeping In Touch
...We must keep in touch...
...How often have you said to a friend or work colleague that
you must keep in touch and really meant it, but fail to do so.
Time seems to fly by and before you realise it months and
then years have gone by and you have lost touch. Other
things get in the way, your work, relationships and family
matters and whilst you wonder what has happened to them,
you never seem to have the time to send an email or pick up
the phone. The same may be true of them and they never
contact you as they have lost your details or have moved on
to new job opportunities.
Then one day you look them up on Friends Reunited or
Linked In and realise that they have been leading a parallel
life to you or are employed by a company that you would like
to work for. If only you had kept in touch… or contacted
them sooner…
New Clients V Loyal clients
The same is true for your clients and customers; many of the
large brands are focused on finding new clients for their
services and have little regard for existing clients. They offer
great new deals for new customers, whilst those that have
been loyal over many years often receive poor service and
find themselves forgotten about.
Whilst this is a generalisation, in many organisations most
sales and marketing teams are so busy chasing new
business, they often forget that there is a rich seam of
revenue in existing clients. If they only took the time to keep
in contact with them and keep abreast of what is happening
within their organisations they could find a new revenue
stream overnight.
Keeping in Contact
There are a range of reasons to keep in contact with existing
and lapsed clients.
You may have new or additional services or products
that would be of interest to them. Many companies find
that their clients have gone to a competitor because they
“didn’t realise you could make Super Widgets as well as
Basic Sprockets”. Keep your clients updated with news and
information on a regular basis.
Your clients can be a great source of referrals. If you have
done a great job for a client, ask if any of their clients or
colleagues could be referred to you. It works and it ensures
that you retain a link with a client even if the project has
finished.
Keeping in Contact ...
Loyalty brings rewards. By keeping in touch, providing
useful help and information such as guides or articles you
keep your brand in their mind. This ensures that they don’t
forget about you and a regular email or newsletter is an easy
way of keeping contact.
Make that call. Ensure that you call lapsed clients to find out
how they are getting on or to let them know that you have a
new product or service they may be interested in. Just
because they haven’t contacted you is no reason not to give
them a call once a quarter.
Follow the leader. Make sure that if your contact leaves the
company you supply with products or services, you know
where their new job role is. Thank them for their business to
date and let them know that you will be in touch for a chat
when they have had chance to settle in.
Word of Mouth. By providing a great service and keeping in
touch with existing and lapsed clients you re-enforce the fact
that you are a great organisation to work with. Word of
mouth is one of the most under used marketing tools and if
you are being talked about in a positive way, prospective
clients will get to hear about it.
Great news. If you see articles relating to your clients
industry or about them send them a copy of the editorial or a
link to the websites. Let them know that you have thought
about them and their news is important to you.
Building Your Network
Just like friends you have lost contact with, keeping track
of clients is highly important when you are running a
successful business. The company that you supplied with
100 Widgets, two years ago may have grown into a large
company ordering 1000 Widgets from your closest
competitor.
The following diagram illustrates, just how many individuals
one of your clients knows and this will grow along with the
growth to their company. In addition each of these
individuals will have their own network and so it continues.
Six Degrees of Separation
The type of relationships outlined on the previous page have
been proven via several experiments over the years. The
well known, Six Degrees of Separation theory states that
anyone on the earth can be connected to any other person
on the planet through a chain of acquaintances that has no
more than five intermediaries.
In 1967 American social psychologist Stanley Milgram
devised a way to test the theory, which he called "the smallworld
problem". He randomly selected people from various
places in the United States and sent postcards to one of
two targets: one in Massachusetts and one in the American
Mid West, senders knew the recipient's name, occupation,
and general location. They were instructed to send the card
to a person they knew on a first-name basis who they
thought was most likely, out of all their friends, to know the
target personally. That person would do the same, and so
on, until it was delivered to the target himself/herself.
Although the participants expected the chain to include at
least a hundred intermediaries, 80% of the successfully
delivered packages were delivered after four or fewer steps.
Almost all the chains were less than six steps.
Finally...
So the next time you hesitate to get in contact with lapsed
clients, just take a few minutes to think who they might know
and who their friends might know.
Your clients are the lifeblood of your company, without them
you wouldn’t survive. So don’t let them drift away, keep them
close to you and make sure that you stay in touch, even if it
is just by sending a Christmas card or a newsletter twice a
year. Build your existing clients into your marketing plans,
and make sure that you devote time to keeping them loyal
and thinking about you in a positive way even if you aren’t
working with them any more. Make the effort; you may be
surprised at the rewards it can bring you.
Take a look at more of our marketing articles
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