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[Wayne Brooks Contribution Level: 1]

Hi everyone,
Wayne aka Coach Cashflow here.

With all the effort and attention being given to…
“word-of-mouse”(viral) advertising these days,
it never ceases to amaze me how many marketers
put forth a minimal effort to take care of the customers
that they get from the advertising.

When was the last time you dropped your customer a
brief message just to see how they’re doing without the
message evolving into a pitch? Customers are the
lifeblood of any business online or off.

After someone has taken the leap of faith to purchase
from you, Good Business 101 dictates that you should
make sure your new customer is well taken care of.
After all, follow-up sales are still in play here.
A gentleman by the name of Tom Locke decided to put
customer care practices to the test by running an experiment.
He contacted a hundred companies asking for free stuff just to
see how they would respond.

His first finding was that it was that even finding a specific
someone to talk to about free stuff was challenging in a big
corporation…and the smaller companies weren’t much better.
I dare say, that’s no big surprise in the corporate
world where customer calls are viewed as expenses to be
minimized, rather than opportunities to build a relationship.

Don’t let this be the case with your business, as any marketer
worthy of his/her list should clearly understand the value of
relationship building.

Locke is still testing and ranking his responses.

So far, Mercedes is leading…they even sent a
thirty dollar keychain. However, more than two-thirds
of the companies contacted haven’t responded at all,
and half of those that responded gave flat out rejections.
Looks like the brick and mortar world isn’t as liberal
with freebies as their online counterparts…is there a
lesson here?

When customers are acquired, by whatever means,
treat them like the valuable asset they are. They
should be told (and shown) on a regular basis that
they are valued. Their inquiries should always be
answered promptly and requests granted as often
as is feasible. Ignoring customers is the first step to
losing their business entirely…along with any referrals
that may have been sent your way.

Your thoughts? B)

[* * Contribution Level: 1]

Great post. Thanks!

I believe that everyone is so focused on the "Right Now" that they lose sight of the big picture.

It's great to aquire new customers, and you must constantly be doing that...But don't forget the customers you already have.

They have already bought from you and they want to buy from you again and again.

[Tyreek Baskerville Contribution Level: 1]

I like the post. Treating your customers good is very vital to the longevity of your business. You must treat your customer as if each one is your last one. Without your customer you have no business.