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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.
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Whether you are looking to create a bigger list of prospects or generate an increase in your company sales, contests are a great catalyst to accomplishing your goals.

Contests come in many forms and can be done both online and off. The possibilities are endless. Below are just a few ideas to get you started:

Drawings – entrance requires a form to be filled out that just includes a name and email address. You can always ask for more later, but asking for alot of personal information up front will reduce your entries.

Q & A – ask a simple question that must be answered in order for an entry to qualify. Again, do not ask for more than a name and email address (and of course the answer to the question). When using Q & A online, changing the question daily will encourage people to come back. They return daily to have another entry in the contest, but they will also return for the question!

Trivia – this type of question requires more thought. You may ask something related to your business. This may reduce the number of entries you receive compared to a simple drawing and because the answer is specific to your business, it may discourage some. You can, however, choose to be more general in your question.

Scavenger Hunt – hide graphics or a specific word on different pages within your website. Provide clues from one item to the next. Don’t make them too hard or people will give up. If you provide good clues people will be able to keep moving all around your site to find them all. You can make things even more interesting by placing a letter on each graphic and requiring that the contestant unscramble the letters to form a word.

Running a contest can be a great traffic booster, a way to grow your subscriber base and can also increase sales. Once you have decided which type of contest your are going to run and have put all the details together, be sure to get the the word out to your customers and prospects and through social media. And don’t forget to publicize the winner once the contest is over. You will surely be happy with the results you receive.
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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

Nothing in life is free. Or at least that’s what I tell my kids… I often use this phrase to teach them to look deeper into something versus taking it at face value (or based on what the T.V. commercial says).

Earlier this evening, I had the privilege of participating on an ad-hoc advisory board. I had this opportunity a while back and really enjoyed it, therefore I was looking forward to this one. The true value I saw in both was that they were both designed as a focus group. Both included a mix of trusted business associates, clients, staff and friends where the business owner respected and valued their opinions. While I, and everyone else that participated, would have probably done so for “free” -both host companies made sure we were compensated.

Now most people reading this will hear compensation and think money. However, compensation does not necessarily mean monetary value. And often compensation can mean so much more when it’s not cash. In both instances food was provided. They were both informal and gave the participants a chance to meet and network with each other. One provided gifts for each participant that attended and one utilized raffle tickets and awarded several prizes. Both made sure to acknowledge their appreciation for the help and input offered. I can only speak for myself, but I believe that all the participants felt honored to be included as a part of these elite groups.

Obviously, there were benefits to everyone involved. The business owners received invaluable input and advice for their business and the participants received food, prizes and/or gifts and the esteem compliment of being invited follow by a sincere expression of gratitude and appreciation. Truly a win-win situation for all.

Want more information, read “Creating an Advisory Board” by Susan Ward on About.com
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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

Consumer opinion is vital for any company. Whether you are launching a new service or product line, it’s important to know how your clients and prospective customers will react. However, it can be difficult to get people to spend time taking a survey. When you need the feedback and timing is of the essence, sometimes using an incentive is just the thing you need to add extra mileage to a survey campaign.

There are several way to put this type of program in place. The determining factor for which you choose should be determined by your business and how it operates. Obviously, the best would have an end result of the customer walking in to your location to claim their reward. This gives you an opportunity to “WoW” them and offer that personal interaction that is so important to have between the customer and your staff. Personal interaction plays a big part in helping to build a quality relationship. Another great way is to provide a ‘code’ that could be redeemed on your website once the survey information has been submitted. This is a great way to drive traffic and give your customer another chance to browse your offerings.

The number of ideas that could be outlined here are only limited by your creativity. Likewise, the types of rewards offered for completing the survey are unlimited. They need to be quality, yet should not be too expensive. Remember, a very successful survey with a lot of responses could get very costly very fast. However, the information you will gain is invaluable!
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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

Most companies have one or more formal reward programs in place for recognizing employee performance. Although most programs typically recognize only a small number of employees, for those employees the experience is significant and motivating… and the public acknowledgment can help to shape the future aspirations of other employees as well.

One way to build anticipation and momentum in obtaining certain desired behaviors is to create an employee reward program through a contest of some sort. The desired behavior is typically described along with other requirements, and the rewards are made explicit. Keys to a successful employee contest include:

• Promoting the program and its purpose.
• Setting realistic, achievable and measurable goals.
• Limiting the contest to a short period.
• Keeping contest rules uncomplicated.
• Ensuring that prizes are desirable to employees.
• Linking rewards directly to performance.
• Giving rewards and recognition promptly.

Prizes to crown an employee reward program should meet most of the following criteria:

• Have lasting value.
• Reflect the effort and quality of the recipient’s performance.
• Inspire pride of ownership.
• Be useful.
• Suit the personal taste of the recipient.
• Reflect the best image of the company.

While the details referenced here are primarily focused on employee reward programs, variations can also work well with independent contractor, vendors, and even customers and clients.  Motivation is a powerful tool and when used properly can help you get the results you desire.

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

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