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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

Your business needs a fish bowl!

One of two thoughts may have just crossed your mind; 1) We have a beautiful aquarium in our lobby, why in the world do we would we want a fish bowl? or 2) My business is online, what do I need with a fish bowl?

Once again, if you are in business your business needs a fish bowl! …and no I am not trying to sell fish bowls.

First off, for those with a retail location -although a fish bowl may hold fish that’s not the type we are suggesting here. You should have a fish bowl available to your visitors that says, *Drop your business card in and win a “deluxe widget”. The obvious reason that you want to be able to collect their information, you want to be able to send them information, you want to be able to educate them about the benefits of your products and services, you want to be able to ask them to come back in.

It’s really not that different if your business is online. A ‘fish bowl’ for an online business is an op-in form. Either way, you want to know more about your visitors. You want to be able to get people who don’t necessarily purchase to give you information about themselves.

Information is valuable and the best way to encourage your visitors to share theirs is to have a drawing for that “deluxe widget”. Note that it’s a “deluxe widget”. Don’t short change yourself here by choosing to give away something that has no value. Your visitors will see right through the hype. Make sure to choose wisely -the wrong choice will not produce the results you are wanting, either in the number of entries or in the value of coming back to your business.

Whether your plan is to give away 1 or 20 or make every one that enters a winner, after the drawing is over take some time and publicize the winner. Put their picture up, send a story to your local media and make the most of the event. Not only will the PR be good for your business, the winner will love the attention and be sure to tell their friends.
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About The Author:

Sally Liddicoat is a Wife, Mother, Speaker and the Founder & CEO of AttaBoy! Solutions. Her goal is to help businesses increase sales, generate ongoing referrals, strengthen relationships and create loyal customers and employees 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 Sally

Imagine… Your name was just called, you are the lucky winner of the raffle, you rush to the front of the room to claim your prize. It’s an envelope and you wonder what’s inside as you excitedly walk back to your seat. You can’t wait to open it to see what you won. Is it a gift certificate to a restaurant, a gift card to a local store??? Guess again – it’s a discount on products or services…

If you’re like most, your mood just went from happy and excited to disappointed. You went from winning a special prize to getting a discount. If you are lucky, it just might be for something you were planning to purchase anyway. However, that’s not usually the case – now, to claim your ‘prize’ you have to spend money you had no intention of spending to get your reward. Or… you do nothing and you won nothing – bummer. What a waste!

Now let’s look at this same scenario from another angle. You are representing your company or the one you work for. You are the person giving the door prize away – you need to market your business, right? Offering a discount or credit towards a purchase will bring in a sale. What’s the problem?

The problem is not in offering a discount or a credit towards a purchase, these are great ways to market your business. The problem lies is using a discount as a gift. Gifts are just that – gifts. They should not require the recipient to have to do anything in order to get their gift, especially not have to spend more money. They should not have strings attached.

Giveaways, raffles and door prizes are a marketing expense and need to be treated as such. When marketing your business the last thing you want is for a potential customer to go from being excited about receiving something from you to sheer disappointment. Obviously this is not good for business.

Invest the time, and the money, into selecting gifts that people will want to receive. Choose something that will have them go from excited about winning to ‘Wow! This is really cool!’ While it’s true that offering a ‘cool’ gift does not guarantee the recipient will ever do business with you, they will talk about what they received. They will tell their friends. They will remember. And that is good for business.
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About The Author:

Sally Liddicoat is a Wife, Mother, Speaker and the Founder & CEO of AttaBoy! Solutions. Her goal is to help businesses increase sales, generate ongoing referrals, strengthen relationships and create loyal customers and employees 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 Sally