I received a nice Thank You e-mail the other day. It was from a store where I had just recently purchased holiday gifts. Their message was brief but effective....

"We already know you're a great customer. Your recent purchase is just the latest proof. Thank you again for choosing to shop at..."

Can you guess the store?

Yup. Best Buy. (I bought cameras & accessories, CDs, and a few movies in a single visit)

So far, it's the only thank you I've received from any of the merchants I've shopped this holiday season. Of course, none of the others have my e-mail address (most have never asked for it).

Why is that? And, more to the point...

Are you collecting e-mails and addresses & phone numbers? Are you sending Thank You's soon after a purchase, or soon after you've had a meeting with a prospect or client or associate?

You might guess what I'd advise if any of your answers are "No".

I'm looking at an envelope I recieved today, from this guy Steve Firszt in St Louis, MO. The envelope is addressed (not a label, labels are tacky) and there's a real stamp on it.

Inside is a glossy holiday card printed with a personal note from Steve, in his handwriting, with his signature and his company's logo. Nice!

I sent this card to myself so that I would know when my clients and associates were receiving theirs. It's the outcome of a really nifty greeting card service I use, where I send cards thru the mail from my PC. There's a page about it on my website, http://www.ffbizcoach.com/soc.html.

If you haven't mailed your holiday cards yet, there's still time (as of this posting). But that's not what this blog is about.

While postal mail is a nice way to touch customers, so is voicemail. In fact, when you're trying to get a near-term response to a business or personal message, leaving a voicemail can be even more effective than postal mail, or e-mail.

Now, calling your customer list and leaving a message can be tedious and time-consuming - unless you use an automated voicemail marketing service.

This is not a commonly-used methodology among integrators, but I've got a client whose two biggest business days (he's a retailer) were both driven by a voicemail message he recorded and then had distributed, to his customer list, by an automated voicemailing service (callzing.com, in this case).

You can't do this with people you don't know, but if you have an existing relationship, this type of marketing doesn't violate DoNotCall regulations.

Do a search on "voicemail marketing" and you'll find lots of resources. It's really affordable, too.

It strikes me this could be a good way for you to get a personal holiday greeting to your customers, even if you fail to get cards in the mail.

All day today I've been working on dealer business planning for 2010. The numbers, that is.

This is an exciting exercise for me, as it quantifies specific ways that companies can improve their financial performance during the year ahead. And while this blog is supposed to focus on ways to improve your marketing, I am compelled to pause a moment to point out the critical importance of these numbers.

The goal of marketing is to bring your sales staff more leads, so they can create more paying customers, so your company can make more money. But it's the numbers that measure your succes at increasing sales and profits; it is via the numbers that you set goals and targets that help you decide on how much to budget for marketing, and how many people you'll need should your goals actually be met.

I know that many business owners pay little attention to the numbers, and that's a shame. No goals, no plan, no way to proactively create greater profits for their company. Lots of money left on the table.

My new CEO Group is going to help business owners become vastly better numbers managers. It's going to be me, riding shotgun with you, creating a powerful TLM plan for profit in 2010.

Stay tuned for my next newsletter, and a new page on this site. The CEO Group is going to be a really important, exciting, and powerful experience for the owners who sign up.
 
I promise.

The latest edition of CE Pro magazine features a cover story about a dealer in Florida who implemented service contracts in 2009 (p44). This was a hot topic earlier in the year, after the CEDIA Management Conference once again highlighted the need for recurring revenues in the CI business.

But in this article the dealer makes a key point about how these contracts obligate them to provide two maintenance vists each year: this helps them proactively resolve/prevent issues, while also getting them back in front of the client. As mentioned in the previous post, this "getting in the door" thing can lead to business.

So, a "premium service agreement" not only provides recurring revenue, it also helps maintain customer relationships AND opens the door to new business opportunities.

Could be a good item for your 2010 "must do" list. And it so happens that I wrote about how to do this in a newsletter back in summer 2008. If you'd like a copy of that newsletter, e-mail steve@ffbizcoach.com and request "ACCELERATE # 87".

A prevalent theme in 2009 has been that big jobs haven't been happening. The absence of new construction has a lot to do with this, of course. But I think the general caution with which people are spending their money suggests an approach that offers prospects a lower-cost way to try out your services.

One integrator told me that their affiliation with Service Magic has produced a higher ROI than any of their other marketing efforts. They have to wade thru a few phone calls to get to a qualified lead, but once they are in the home, good things can happen.

Now, I'm not suggesting you sign up with Service Magic. My point is to look at ways you might offer prospects a low-cost opportunity to engage you. Maybe Apple TV, or Vudu. Sonos? These are especially relevant for the holiday season, and many of your customers don't know they can use your company to acquire these items.

So, tell 'em! Somehow, some way, you need to get in their homes. Because that's where you'll have an opportunity to grow your relationship, and maybe get a big job you didn't see coming.

Einstein called it insanity to expect a different outcome when you keep doing what you've been doing.
So, assuming 2009 wasn't the best year you've ever had in your business, what will you do differently for 2010?
Perhaps you'd like to grow your sales. OK. How?
There are three ways to increase sales. You can...
1)  sell to more of the same kinds of customers, or;
2)  add a new segment of customers, or;
3)  take more dollars from each customer.
These decidedly-different strategies require decidedly-different tactics. And none will succeed just because you've "decided" that's what you want to accomplish.
Over the next few weeks I hope to share some ideas on things you might do differently in 2010. (One of the things I will be doing is hosting this blog. We'll see what happens!)
You are welcome to comment by clicking the Comments link below. You can also click the Comments link to see previously-posted comments. Not the most elegant "forum", but it's the best I can do right now.
(Maybe that's another thing for me to work on in 2010??)