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Often times when trying to figure out what gift to give we can spend days racking our brains to find the “Perfect” gift.

But what is a “Perfect” gift?  Is it an expensive trinket? An exotic trip?  I think sometimes the “Perfect” gift can be perfectly simple.  Here’s what I mean.

Last month I celebrated my birthday.  Being as I have done this for the last 49 years in a row I didn’t think much of it.  That is until I started receiving birthday wishes from friend and family on Facebook.

Now I thought it was nice after 2 or 3 of them had been posted.  After 15 or so I started to think that it was pretty cool that people, my friends, would take the time to wish me well.  As I reached 75 birthday wishes I was feeling quite emotional.  How awesome was it that all these friends and family were taking time out of their day the wish ME a happy birthday!

I know, it was only on Facebook.  I mean how long could it possibly take to type “Happy Birthday”?  How much effort is really involved in that?  You see, that doesn’t matter. No one bought me an expensive gift.  They didn’t take me on a trip or out to a fancy dinner.

Instead they took a minute out of their lives to wish me a happy birthday.  That minute may not have meant much to them but the fact is they gave that minute to me and that means the world.  The feelings of love, appreciation and friendship touch me today, a month after the event has passed.

Sometimes it’s the simplest of gifts that mean the most and last the longest.

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About The Author:

	Mike Liddicoat is a Husband, Father, Speaker and the Sales & Marketing Director of AttaBoy! Solutions. His goal is to help businesses maintain relationships, ensure future business and acquire new referrals through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
Contact Mike

More and more companies of all sizes have a lot of focus on branding themselves.  Now I don’t mean with a hot branding iron.  I mean that they have created something that makes them stand out from their competitors.

Be it a specific type of product, a logo, specific colors denoting their business or a reputation of how they treat their customers.  Any one or all of those things can signify branding.

What is it for your business?  Does your logo never change and is it incorporated into everything you use for advertising and promotions, kind of like McDonald’s Golden Arches?

Do you have a specific and unique color scheme for your company that lets people know at a glance that it’s you, like Century 21′s yellow and black?

Perhaps you have a reputation of always taking the time to remember, thank and appreciate your customers for giving you their hard earned money and right now we do know that it is HARD EARNED.

Whatever your branding is be sure to keep it up until it becomes a part of who your company is.  You want people to know that when they see that color, when they hear that jingle or when they hear your name that they think of you right away and that it is in a positive light.
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About The Author:

	Mike Liddicoat is a Husband, Father, Speaker and the Sales & Marketing Director of AttaBoy! Solutions. His goal is to help businesses maintain relationships, ensure future business and acquire new referrals through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
Contact Mike

As we exit one year and enter another it is important that we look back at how our business has grown and evolved over these past 12 months.

If your business has grown and expanded as planned that is fantastic, I congratulate you.  If you failed to see the growth you had anticipated, don’t give up, simply reset those goals.  Take a hard look at what worked and what didn’t and make those course corrections.

It doesn’t matter if you are resetting goals or reaching for new ones, one thing that never changes is the fact that your customers want to be acknowledged and appreciated.  So what ever plan you are implementing be sure to incorporate a plan of appreciation.

Throughout the year take time and make plans to send thank you gifts to your customers.  A small gift, personal letter or email can make all the difference between a casual shopper and a loyal engaged customer.

Take the time to recognize your customers and show them appreciation for their business and they will be loyal and will be the best form of advertising you could ever ask for.

Make it a great year!
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About The Author:

	Mike Liddicoat is a Husband, Father, Speaker and the Sales & Marketing Director of AttaBoy! Solutions. His goal is to help businesses maintain relationships, ensure future business and acquire new referrals through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
Contact Mike

Often times we feel like we are begging our customers to do business with us.  And with companies who perform the same or similar  service as you  do being just a Google search away it’s easy to see why we feel we have to beg.

Well put your begging cup away because there are other options.  When you are desperately trying to keep your customers coming back you look exactly that way, desperate, and your customers can see that.

Instead of begging them just appreciate them.  Thank them when they enter and exit your business or, if your don’t have a physical location, whenever you speak to or meet with them.    Gather as much of their personal information as possible, name, address, email, phone number, birthday, etc.

When you have that information you can send them thank you emails or notes.  You can send special offers to them for their birthdays or anniversaries.  You can even send them  “Just thinking about you” emails and notes.

By simply showing your customers that you appreciate them through acknowledgment both verbally and physically, with gifts and notes you will create not only customers that come back to you but customers that send their friends and relatives to you.

After all everybody likes to get an attaboy sometimes.

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About The Author:

	Mike Liddicoat is a Husband, Father, Speaker and the Sales & Marketing Director of AttaBoy! Solutions. His goal is to help businesses maintain relationships, ensure future business and acquire new referrals through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
Contact Mike

Many business owners and managers think that the only reason that their business exists is to offer a product or service to their customers at a fair and competitive price.  And while that is in  fact true, your job is also to create customers to buy those products.

But getting customers in the door to spend money is just half of the battle.  The real goal is to get your customers to be happy enough with you that not only do they come back, but that they create more customers for you.  You need to create customers who create customers.

So how do you get customers to come back and bring friends and family?

First, stay in touch with your customers.  Newsletters, personal emails or cards, questionnaires or a simple phone call.  Personal emails or cards, I feel, are the best.  Having customers fill out questionnaires either in your store or on email is fantastic.  What better way to find out what your customers want than to ask them?  Personal phone calls can be a challenge with todays lists of  phone call opt-outs, however there are professional companies that can make those call for you.

The second way is using gifts.  Everyone like to receive a gift and sending personal gifts to your customers makes you stand out from your competition.  I don’t recommend sending out discounts to your store, instead offer a complimentary gift with no strings attached or a physical gift sent to their home.

Third, simply ask for referrals.  Let your customers know that you appreciate referrals and if they are happy with your service you would like them to tell their friends and family.

Another great way to get feedback from and stay in touch with your customers is social media, ie; Facebook, Twitter, etc.  Having a fan page, posting special promotions or customer surveys can be done easily and inexpensively through social media.  If your not using it you are missing the boat.

There are many ways to keep your finger on the pulse of what your customers want and expect and in doing so you will keep them happy and in turn they will tell everyone about you.

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About The Author:

	Mike Liddicoat is a Husband, Father, Speaker and the Sales & Marketing Director of AttaBoy! Solutions. His goal is to help businesses maintain relationships, ensure future business and acquire new referrals through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
Contact Mike

In order to keep new customers coming in and, more importantly, keeping the customers that you already have coming back, there are some simple  steps you can follow:

1.Always give maximum product quality.

Getting to know what your customers expect and being able to constantly change to meet those needs will keep your customers coming back.  Your customers are satisfied when what they receive in both service and product quality  surpass their expectations.

This is basic stuff.  Many companies try all kinds of gimmicks to keep customers yet they ignore this simple “rule”.  When your customers pay for something, they expect, and deserve, great service and quality products.  That’s what you expect when you shop isn’t it?

2. Under Promise and Over Deliver.

It used to be that it was easy to keep a customer.  Either you were the only store of it’s kind in town or the only one that carried that particular product.  Today with all the competition, both neighboring stores and online customers can be quick to go from one store to another with no regard to loyalty. Today you have to work hard at keeping your customers and that means staying one step ahead of your competition.

Things you can do include offering more value for less cost handle your customers questions and complaints quickly and fairly, get your customers engaged with your company by asking them what they want in a company and how you can better serve them.

3.Communication with your Customers is Key.

Keeping open communication with your customers gives them a feeling of belonging.  They feel more like it is their company.  They will be more loyal and refer more family and friends because they know that you care about them.

Loyal customers means more initial sales and more repeat business.  It also means that they will talk about your company more and that creates more business without the extra expense of advertising. Word of mouth is the most powerful form of advertising and a customer who feels a part of your business will tell his friends.

“Executives are finding that the
winning differentiators is no longer
product or price, but the level of
customer engagement relative to
the competition.”
– Rama Ramaswami, Senior Editor,
Economist Intelligence Unit

Keep your customer involved with your business and make them feel like family and you will have a customer for life.
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About The Author:

	Mike Liddicoat is a Husband, Father, Speaker and the Sales & Marketing Director of AttaBoy! Solutions. His goal is to help businesses maintain relationships, ensure future business and acquire new referrals through appreciation marketing. Throughout this blog you can sign up for updates, news, special offers, discounts and more. So take a look around, leave a comment or two and enjoy.
Contact Mike