Recently, I spent an afternoon with some friends at a go-cart track. We had
time of our life each pretending to be world class race car drivers. Although we were older than most of people there we felt young and alive. We committed to doing this again and soon!I found over next few days I shared stories of my experience with countless people. I told story after story of what a great time I had had and how nice staff was and of my plans to return. With each passing day my plans to return got swept up with day to day activities of running my business.
A couple weeks after my go-cart experience I got a call from a friend who wanted to know name of track. Honestly, I just didn’t remember. I didn’t even know what to look under in phone book or on Internet in order to find company name. “Sorry,” I said. “I just don’t remember.”
How often does this type of situation occur? Sadly, more often than not. And how many sales and potential sales are lost as a result of poor follow up after initial sale? Sales that could be easily won if people could only remember your company name, phone number, and web address.
If you are like most people you have set goals and outcomes for coming year that include increasing client base and revenues while increasing profit margins. The sad truth is these are probably same goals that are set every year and strategies for achieving outcomes are probably same also.
Why not use a smarter strategy? Cultivate relationships with your current client base and keep your name fresh in their mind.
Fact is if someone has already bought something from you and they were pleased with their purchase there is a good chance they will buy again. That is if they remember you and your company when it is time to make purchase. This applies to hair salons, dentists, specialty gift shops, pet stores and dog groomers, clothing stores, nail salons, or just about any type of business.
Additionally, if they were happy with their experience often they are more than willing to refer people to you, if they could remember you company name. Seems a bit ridiculous they wouldn’t remember your company name. After all, they had such a great experience and said they would be back. Not remembering a company name is more common than you might think.
A good friend loves shopping at an upscale clothing consignment store in Salt Lake Valley. Her sprees there are sporadic at best. Although she enjoys her experience and will spend in excess of $100 each time she does shop at this unique store, she often forgets about shop just because she gets so busy with other things in her life.
She said if owner would simply send out an occasional reminder to come on it she would likely stop in more often. Even a quick email message could work well, she said. An email that could turn an occasional buyer into a frequent buyer. Not only a frequent buyer, but one who more often tells others about store because name of shop is fresh in her mind.
Unfortunately, with many businesses, beyond initial sale, not much is done to keep their name fresh in customer’s mind. Customers who have already proven they are willing to spend money with company and customers who get busy and easily forget name of company.
