How to increase the lifelong value of your client through leveraging gratitude and thank you notes
Sending thank you notes or letters of appreciation has been a regular part of my life from an early age. Since it’s pretty much second-nature at this point, I’m still taken aback when someone expresses surprise that I sent them a thank you note.
Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do?
The truth is that everyone loves feeling appreciated, whether it’s expressed verbally or in writing. That it’s unusual to receive a thank you in the mail (particularly in the E-mail Age) makes a handwritten note especially memorable.
It means someone was thinking of you, and that feels great. Wouldn’t you agree?
Isn’t that what we want from our clients, that they remember us? If we’re top of mind because we went the extra mile to express appreciation, the greater the likelihood for either repeat business or new business generated by positive word-of-mouth, or both.
So, how about you? Are you consistently expressing gratitude and saying (writing!) your thank yous? It’s clear that thanking our clients and our potential clients makes good business sense.
That’s why I was intrigued by the article headline The Art of Saying “Thank You,” written by the managing editor of PowerHomeBiz.com, Isabel Isidro.
I have to say that I didn’t expect to learn much from the article. Like I mentioned, I’ve been saying thank you and writing thank you notes for years.
But, that’s what I get for getting uppity. 
(Whenever I catch my mind saying “I know that already,” that’s precisely when I need to pay all the MORE attention!)
Isabel explains how great thank you notes are — whether mailed the old fashioned way or sent electronically — and she infers that if you aren’t sending them to your customers, you need to start sending them.
But maybe you are already sending thank you notes on a regular and consistent basis. Even so, you may be still missing an opportunity to create more sales.
Every interaction with a client or potential client should have built into it a specific plan to develop or further the relationship.
You probably have heard the marketing wisdom that people do business with people they know, like and trust. Expressing appreciation is one way to deliberately begin building trust, but after you’ve done that, “Now what?”
In other words, what plan do you have in place to further the relationship beyond simply engendering that warm, fuzzy feeling?
Have you ever thought of extending an offer that gives the client the opportunity to purchase from you again? The client is already feeling awesome because you expressed genuine gratitude to them, and a carefully crafted offer that would further enhance their life would be a welcomed addition to the thank you note.
Isabel offers by way of illustration how Art.com expertly encouraged her to make a second purchase (which she did) when, in their thank you note to her (addressed to their “Valued Customer,” although if they had also used her name, it would’ve been even more effective), they offered her free shipping.
There wording was right on target: “Now with our Free Shipping welcome offer, get your next purchase delivered on us!”
What satisfied customer could resist that offer?
When you feel appreciated by someone, aren’t you moved to return the gratitude and appreciation in some way?
Now, if you’re a real estate agent reading this, you might be thinking something like “If I just sold a house to someone, it would be a bit ridiculous to try to sell another house to the client in your thank you note to them!”
(And, I’d have to agree with you!…..Besides, the “free shipping” offer wouldn’t have the same effect, I’m afraid.)
The point is that we want to be strategic with our interactions with clients and proactively plan ways to leverage those interactions so that we are perpetually furthering the relationship. This means thinking about ways to add value to the client, while also adding value to your pocketbook.
So, what would add value to a new homeowner?
Do they need lawncare or landscaping? What about quality childcare? Is health and fitness important to them?
Can you see where I’m going with this? I’m sure you can come up with even better ideas. These are just off the top of my head.
In these cases, you might decide to build solid relationships with various high-quality service providers who give you discount certificates to give your clients. For example, a lawn care person might charge $200 a month (I’m just throwing a number out there, since I have no idea how much lawn care costs!), but because of your relationship with him, you can offer a thank you gift to your client of perhaps 25% off. This alone would be a great way to raise your esteem in the eyes of the client and foster repeat business.
(Of course, you might also create a source of recurring income for yourself as well if, by agreement, the lawn care person paid you a percentage of the sale each month for the life of the client you brought him that he otherwise would have had to get on his own.)
Do you see the enormous power of the thank you?
What other ways might you add value to your clients that enhances and leverages your thank yous?
- – -
Flickr Image by drcw under a Creative Commons license
