The best secret to keeping your customers thrilled: In a digital world, handwritten notes are worth the extra effort
It was one of those days.
I had lots of work, feeling like there wasn’t enough time to do it all, loads of visitors expected at any minute, and my dog had just decided to throw up on the carpet.
In the midst of it all, I dashed outside to check my mailbox. It was stuffed full of fliers, bills…everything pretty ho-hum. And then I saw it.
A package, with handwriting. I knew it contained something FUN!
I opened it up and immediately started laughing. It was a cute little notepad with a cartoon woman with the caption: “Put your big girl panties on and deal with it” and a handwritten note:
“Kim,
I thought of you when I saw this notepad.
The content in your newsletter is fabulous!
Thanks!
Frankie”
Honestly – I laughed so hard I had tears. It was EXACTLY the kind of mail I needed to lighten the load that day.
That’s the best secret to keeping your customers thrilled. If you want to stir the pot, create strong relationships, make an impact and show that you’re not just someone chasing the money, send Fun Mail to your customers.
I bet you feel the same way about receiving a nice little handwritten card, envelope or package in the mail. You feel special. That someone is thinking about you.
We remember those people who make us feel special. So do your customers.
What can you send in the mail?
Four Rules:
- It has to be all about the customer
- Don’t include a bunch of sales material
- Don’t send anything junky (unless you know they’d love it!)
- It must be sent via mail or courier
What can you send? Easy.
- Thank you cards (more on that below!)
- Birthday/Congratulations/Any type of card will do!
- An article, website info, cartoon, joke – anything tasteful and relevant
- Gift card
- Recipe(s)
- Bubble bath
- Bookmarks
- Chocolate
- Books
- Magazine subscriptions
- Basically anything!
Before you start licking stamps, there’s a difference between thank you cards and Fun Mail.
1) Thank you cards can be sent anytime, to anyone. Why should you send a thank you card? When someone has:
- Bought from you
- Said no to you – (thank them for the time and opportunity)
- Met you for coffee and given some advice
- Sent you a referral
- Helped you in ANY WAY!
2) Fun Mail is meant for the big love.
You should focus your fun mail efforts on customers, potential customers and connections that fall into your top 20 per cent. Otherwise, you’d spend your entire life at the post office – and really – we need you for more than that!
Before the end of the week – send some Fun Mail to five of your favorite clients as well as five thank you cards to people who have helped you recently.
You’ll also discover this is one sales activity you might just fall in love with.
About Kim Duke
Kim Duke is CEO and Founder of The Sales Divas, www.salesdivas.com, she’s an international sales expert who provides savvy, sassy sales training for women entrepreneurs (with a twist!)
Her extensive sales background was based in the media – 15 years working with 2 of Canada’s largest national television networks in sales and management.
She is a national award winning salesperson – and was the second youngest sales manager in Canada for CBC Television (Canada’s oldest network).
Now Kim is a successful entrepreneur – providing training for companies internationally. (she’s even done work for the NBA/WNBA in New York and Office Depot!)
Kim’s first love is working with women entrepreneurs and women in sales - she loves helping women succeed! And she doesn’t want you to break a nail dialing for dollars!!
She’s an author, and speaker who’s had numerous interviews for national television, radio and print across North America. Kim also writes hundreds of articles for newsletters and websites internationally.
She’s bold, she’s sassy and she says it like it is –sign up at www.salesdivas.com to receive her FREE 30-page report: The 5 Biggest Sales Mistakes Women Make.
Cool idea Kim! So effective. When we owned a retail store I sent hand written thank you notes to our reps that helped us out with some free goodies for an event we were having. Best strategy, because whenever I called about something after that point, they were more than glad to help me. In fact I heard from a friend in one of the organisations that my thank you note had pride of place on the reps noticeboard and she told everyone about it. A little bit of kindness went a long way! So not only can it work with your customers it can work with suppliers as a well.
Recently I also sent a thank you note (and cafe voucher) to a client who had made a referral. When I saw him next he asked me if that was correct? He was so shocked to receive not only the thank you note but the voucher also. I can tell you that he still raves about that small gesture, no-one had ever given him “something for nothing” as he put it!
Cool idea Kim! So effective. When we owned a retail store I sent hand written thank you notes to our reps that helped us out with some free goodies for an event we were having. Best strategy, because whenever I called about something after that point, they were more than glad to help me. In fact I heard from a friend in one of the organisations that my thank you note had pride of place on the reps noticeboard and she told everyone about it. A little bit of kindness went a long way! So not only can it work with your customers it can work with suppliers as a well.
Recently I also sent a thank you note (and cafe voucher) to a client who had made a referral. When I saw him next he asked me if that was correct? He was so shocked to receive not only the thank you note but the voucher also. I can tell you that he still raves about that small gesture, no-one had ever given him “something for nothing” as he put it!