How to Use a 12 Month Plan for Following Up With Your Customers

Since most of your future business will come from your present customer base, why not put together a twelve month customer contact plan? By taking a portion of your advertising budget and focusing on your present customers, you can increase the size and frequency of orders you receive from them.

There are tons of ways you can make this concept work for your business or organization. Let’s take a look at a few of them. First, hold a meeting with your staff, and brainstorm all the ways your company is currently contacting your present customers after they have purchased. Once you have exhausted that discussion, ask the question, “What are all the other possible ways we can contact and service them after the sale.

Remember, in a brainstorming meeting, initially, no ideas are off limits to suggest. Get them all up on the white board and then decide which ones are worth trying. Here are some of the ideas you could include as you reach out to your present customer base:

*Make a follow up phone call within five business days after the sale to check on the satisfaction level, and inquire if there are any questions that can be answered.

*Have someone from your company stop by the business of your customer and bring a small gift.

*Send a handwritten thank you note after a sale or anytime during the year.

*Sponsor a free seminar for your customers to attend that will educate them on a topic of current interest not related to what you sell.

*Send a Starbucks coffee gift certificate.

The main thing is to provide some kind of perceived value to the customer with whom you connect.

After every 30 to 60 days evaluate how your efforts are working, and tweak the results. Do this for an entire year and watch your business grow.

If you are interested in a better career in customer service visit www.customerservicejobs.com


Tom Borg is president of Tom Borg Consulting, LLC. He is a business consultant, speaker, coach and author. He helps companies and organization become more successful and profitable by helping them attract and retain their customers and clients.