This the season – I have been in
various sales & marketing roles during my career, approximately 12
years. Each year, top customers are sent gifts to celebrate the
relationships that were formed and the business they have provided. So,
what are you sending – cookies, food baskets, etc.? While each of these
things are nice and mostly effective, the goal is to show your
appreciation and create a deeper relationship – ultimately making it
harder for them to leave. What are you doing to connect your audience to
the gifts you are sending?
One
year, while working for a print marketing firm that focuses on the real
estate industry, our National Association of Realtors (NAR) conference
(over 10,000 attendees) was held in New Orleans. That year, rather than
sending the usual gifts I stopped by Café Du Monde - a popular local
coffee shop, and ordered a couple cases of their most popular coffee. I
sent over 100 containers, each with a personalized letter to my top 100
customers/prospects. The response was amazing! I received 9 hand
written thank-you letters and several emails sharing personal
experiences from Café Du Monde. Not only did that $5.00 gift show each
of these customers that I was thinking about them, it helped tie back in
an experience and joyful emotion the French Quarter and New Orleans has
to offer. Not to mention I retained 100% of those clients and gained 5
new accounts because of it.