As we head into the season of giving, now is a great time to show appreciation to your clients and customers. Taking the time to give thanks to your clients will set you apart, increase loyalty, improve retention, inspire more sales, and deepen relationships that last long after the initial sale.
Here are 10 easy ways you can say thank you to your clients:
1. Greeting Cards
My husband often teases me that I should own stock in Hallmark for the amount of money I spend a year on cards. I love to send cards, for a specific reason or for no reason at all.
For business, you’ve probably heard of SendOutCards (and no, I’m not an affiliate or a distributor). I get a lot of cards this way and it helps to deepen the relationship for me. And it’s a super-easy way for you to do that with your customers too.
2. Personal Notes
I love to send personal notes too. I have specially designed notecards that I send when I just want to connect with someone after a particularly powerful coaching call, when someone makes an investment in Platinum, when I’ve made a special connection with someone in person, or when a client just needs a little cheer.
3. Invitations
One of the things you can do for your top clients is to invite them to a special event just for them. It can be a lunch or dinner at an event you’ll all be at, or carve out a portion of your own live event to spend time just with them.
You can also invite them to special teleseminar or webinar where you offer them free content just for being your top clients.
4. Small Gifts
Flowers, books, a mug, or something more specific are all thoughtful gifts for clients. They can be sent for certain occasions or just because (that’s actually my favorite way to send a gift).
5. Gift Cards
These days you can get gift cards for almost any product or service. Some companies, like Starbucks, offer having your logo or business name imprinted on them. Other ideas besides coffee include restaurants, movies, bookstores, office supplies and online vendors like Amazon.
6. Referral and Affiliate Rewards
Even if your referral or affiliate programs offer a commission on each referral, sending a personalized note along with it will go further in encouraging your network to continue to promote your offers into the future.
7. Reverse Referrals
Whenever appropriate, refer your clients and customers to others whom they will benefit from. Making this a part of the way you run your business will come back to you ten-fold as it shows the Universe your belief in abundance.
8. Customer Appreciation Days
Pick one day a year to designate as a Customer Appreciation Day to celebrate your clients. Make a special offer only to them and make a lasting impression.
9. Host Events
Host a gathering at the next event where your clients and customers are likely to gather. A Tweetup is a popular way to connect with both current and prospective clients and they are super-simple to set up and cost you nothing but a bit of time. You can also hold a virtual event anytime you want to bring your clients and customers together.
10. Life Events
Weddings, baby showers, major moves, book contracts, big speaking gigs, TV spots, or any other major event warrants an acknowledgment. A nice card or personal note, or even a quick phone call, will make you memorable for sure.
Spending time in Vegas is not my favorite thing to do. However, Ali Brown’s SHINE conference made it definitely worthwhile. And although I had many light bulb moments during those three days, I wanted to share with you 10 of my top take-aways.
1. Your personal income cannot exceed the work you’ve done on yourself.
This is something I know to be true, based on my own experience as well as that of my clients. I know that the more I grow inside, the more my business grows on the outside. Your business (and your life) IS a mirror for what’s going on inside your mind, your heart and your soul. The more you work on yourself, the more your business will grow.
2. There’s always turbulence before the next level.
Another truism! Take a moment and think back to how you were feeling and what was going on in your business just BEFORE you broke through to the level you’re at now. Did it feel rocky, off-center, uncertain? Even just a little bit? The higher level you aspire to, the more off-kilter things will feel. Remember that it’s an indicator that you’re on the right course.
3. People buy from people.
You may know this, but it bears repeating: people buy from people they know, like and trust. The more YOU you put into your marketing, the more people will get to know, like and trust you, and the more sales you’ll make.
4. When you are yourself, you have no competition.
Enough said.
5. Frequency will always outpull a single blast.
You have to get comfortable not with just asking for the sale, but with asking for it a lot. It’s taking a lot more marketing these days to fill programs, enroll clients, and sell products, so one of the best and most immediate things you can do for your business growth is to get really comfortable with increasing how much you market your offer.
6. Luck favors the prepared.
Are you ready for the next level of business success that you desire? Do you have the systems in place? Do you have the team in place? Do you have your mindset ready to receive the abundance that’s coming?
7. Your best ideas don’t come from sitting at your desk.
My best ideas come to me in the car. Or sitting on the dock in the early morning of summer. I created this business under a palapa in the Turks & Caicos. Where do your best ideas come to you? When you’re stuck or need to hit the refresh button, go where your best ideas are able to pop into your mind.
8. Does __________ represent where I’m going?
This one really struck me. Fill in the blank with all the pieces of your business.
For example:
“Does my website represent where I’m going?”
“Does my team represent where I’m going?”
“Does my photo represent where I’m going?”
“Does my brand represent where I’m going”
“Does my business model represent where I’m going?”
Etc.
Well, do they? If not, what do you need to do to make sure that they DO represent where you’re going?
9. Be serious about your numbers.
You have to pay attention to your numbers if you’re serious about running a successful and sustainable business for the long haul.
Track what’s coming in, what’s going out, how many people you have in each program, what that adds up to, how many subscribers/fans/friends/followers you have, etc.
It ALL counts – you need to know your numbers!
10. You’ve got to be comfortable with being uncomfortable.
Being an entrepreneur will bring up all your stuff. 🙂 Most of the time, that’s going to make you uncomfortable. You have to be ok with that and recognize that it’s just an indicator that you’re moving through whatever you need to in order to grow and reach the next level. If you can remember that, it’s actually pretty exciting, isn’t it?
It seems that, at least in the US, the holiday season starts earlier and earlier, with Christmas cards taking over most of the card section of any store right after Halloween (if not before!).
And while it bugs me to hear holiday music over the store speakers while I’m shopping for my kids’ Halloween costume (because by the time Santa does visit, I’m quite tired of dreaming of a “White Christmas”), as far as planning on how to market for and during the holiday season for my business, it’s almost never too early.
One of my business principles is “Giver’s Get,” in the sense that you are giving from a place of having no expectation of getting anything in return.
What follows are 5 ways that you can give in your business, feel really good about it, and reap the rewards from the Universe.
1. Thank your clients and customers.
An obvious one to do around Thanksgiving is to show your gratitude to your current clients and customers for their business. But you might be surprised at how few business owners actually take the time to do this.
It could be something as simple as expressing your thanks in a short email. Or you could send a thank you card in the mail. Or you could take it a step further and do something I’ve done before – sending a postcard expressing my gratitude with a link to a special – and fr*e – gift to my VIP clients and customers.
Taking the time to say thank you goes a long way towards deepening that all-important relationship with your current clients and customers. If you do nothing else this holiday season, at least do this.
2. Give your ezine list a gift.
Your ‘pot of gold’ in your business in your email list of potential clients and customers. You should always be treating them well, but at least once a year, offer them a gift – no strings attached – just because…
Something I’ve given to my subscribers a few times that has been hugely successful was my 12 Days of Christmas series, where they received something of value that benefited them in building their business once a day for the 12 days leading up to Christmas. You don’t have to offer 12 gifts, however. Just one will do very nicely as well.
3. Give a holiday coupon.
As a gift to your list as well as to give you a boost in your income, why not offer a coupon towards one or more of your offerings. You could offer a 2-for-1 coaching session, or a 20% off discount for one of your ebooks or ecourses, or you could offer a special price for the month of December only on one of your programs.
4. Give your affiliates a gift.
our affiliates are also one of your greatest assets in your business. Show your gratitude to the folks who have chosen to join your ‘sales force’ by increasing their commissions for the holiday season.
Ideally, your commission rate should be at least 25%. Why not reward them further for promoting your offerings by doubling their commissions to 50%?
5. Give yourself a gift.
And don’t forget yourself! If you haven’t already, hire a virtual assistant to help you now so you can enjoy more of your holidays. You’ll be so glad you did and you’ll never go back to being a lone ranger!
I’d like to invite you to choose at least two of these ways of giving in your business to implement this holiday season.
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