Many sappy cliches are associated with relationship such as "appreciation wins over self promotion" and "people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care". Well, my advice is not to get involved in the relationship marketing aspect of marketing if you are not prepared to be sincere about it. You want people to like and trust you, yes, but then you must be absolutely sure that you can be liked and trusted. There is a simple way to get people to like and trust you and that is to show appreciation genuine appreciation. When you say thank you, you had better mean it. If you don't mean it, rather don't say anything at all.
You might think I am being melodramatic or too extreme when I say you should be sincere but it is a known fact that one of the two top facts that people stop using the services and products of a business are as follows: in the first place they feel their business was taken for granted. In other words, the sincerity had gone out of the business relationship. Let's face it, everyone says "thank you" to their clients on the conclusion of a transaction. It's when the evidence of gratitude is not present, i.e. the sincerity that things fall apart.
The second reason people stop doing business with other people is that they forget about them! After trying one's utmost to win a new customer once we have them we tend to neglect them. It's human nature. Yet it takes so little to write a personal card to someone reflecting sincere sentiments. Ask anyone when last they received a card from someone they did business with (not a birthday, holiday or special occasion) and it wasn't a business card or branded logo? The chances are no one ever has.
Relationship marketing means staying in touch with the people that you've done business with and showing sincere appreciation and gratitude on a daily basis. This does not mean sending out self-promoting mailings, email and newsletters. People don't care how great one or other product or service is. They only want to know how it can benefit them personally. What is more, they don't want their patronage taken for granted. If you are looking for relationship marketing techniques here are some and remember to be sincere. Otherwise it's better not to implement them at all.
1. Every day you should send out one unexpected card to a prospect or an existing customer. Remember you need to be sincere and it must be a real tangible card that goes by mail or courier, not an ecard. It must show genuine appreciation or gratitude. Forget about logos and business cards and don't even talk business. A thinking-of-you type card does just fine. Do this daily and see the results.
2. When you communicate with your clients ask yourself what you would do with the piece of mail, email, newsletter, if you received it. If you would appreciate it and keep it to show to others, then go ahead and send it. If you would throw it away then don't bother sending it. You should keep your sincerity detector working overtime. Really care about your customers and their businesses and you will have friends and customers for life.
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