Relationship Marketing Works!

From the desk of Steve Wright

9:40am Wednesday

Do you want to be average or do you want to be at the very top of your game with a service business that is the talk of the town bringing in profits that are unheard of to your competitors? Dumb question, right? But you would be surprised at the countless number of service business owners and managers who simply follow the herd and do what everyone else does.

They may be hard working folks who have the best of intentions but are only working the traditional marketing angle-Pop out a few flyers, put an ad in the yellow pages, mail out some postcards, distribute some door hangers, and the list goes on.

Traditional marketing is absolutely important. I've mailed out over 56,000 postcards in my window washing business bringing my message to prospects, getting the phone to ring, and bringing in jobs. And I had the usual yellow page ad, inserted dozens of newsletter ads, probably distributed close to 100,000 flyers if not more, plus implemented countless other traditional marketing tactics.

Did they work? You bet! Calls were coming in daily. But do you want to know what the real secret to my business growth was? A secret that created a flood of quality (forget dealing with the nitpickers and the price shoppers of the world) jobs and numerous referrals?

Staying in touch and building relationships!

The vast majority of businesses out there are always going after new customers. And this is great. But what about the goldmine of customers we already have? Let's not forget about them. By working the relationship with current customers, you'll not only generate additional business from your customers, but the referrals you receive will take your business to that next level of profitability! Understand that referrals are already sold on your business because they were recommended by a satisfied customer. So present your estimate/pricing to a referral and walk away with the job. Easy as pie!

So...what is the best way to stay in front of your prospects and customers?

Sending a simple greeting card or postcard of course! That's all there is to it. The importance of this "marketing method" cannot be emphasized enough. It's amazing that a little 'ole greeting card could make that much of a difference. But it does. There's a reason why the greeting card industry is a huge multibillion dollar per year industry. People love to receive greeting cards. They'll brighten up anyone's day and make you and your business be remembered!

Here's an example of one of my messages in my "Summertime" card:

Hi John and Judy:

Just wanted to send you a note letting you know

I'm thinking about you.

Hope your summer is going well. Take care for

now and we'll talk soon.

Best Wishes,

Steve Wright

Clearview Window Washing Service

256-546-2446

Obviously the message would change slightly if it was sent around a holiday but you get the idea. Short, simple, and very effective.

Doing the above on a regular basis worked! It not only generated immediate phone calls, but my customers would send me referrals time and time again. My name and business was constantly in front of them. They tell their family, friends, and neighbors, and voila! More jobs, more profits, and more growth!

Do you wanna know what the best part is? Postcards costs money, right? So do flyers. So do door hangers. So does a yellow page ad. Well...referrals are FREE! And it's pretty much understood that if you get a call from a referral, you've got the job. It's not like a yellow page caller who might call 4 other businesses related to yours looking for pricing information. No.

I closed almost 100% of the referrals I received. Almost 100%! Remember they are being sent to you by a satisfied customer. They're already sold on your service.

So it makes sense to go after referrals in a big way. The problem though is "time". I used to buy my cards in bulk and then sit down and write, sign, seal, stamp, and send. Time is money so there is a dollar value associated with doing this. And let's not forget about the actual cost of the card.

So what's the answer?

Send Out Cards! When I was introduced to this service, I couldn't believe it at first. What a concept and what a huge timesaver. It's not necessary to write, sign, seal, stamp, and send anymore. They do it all from beginning to end. Check out what they do:

Send out real greeting cards
All cards have a real postage stamp and envelope, so no bulk postage “look”
Your personalized message is included inside
Each card is in your handwriting and your signature
Cost less than a buck a card

These are not cheesy little ecards. As mentioned in point #1 above, they are real greeting cards. Your customers will remember these cards and more importantly, you will see results in the form of more jobs and more profits for your business.

3 simple steps to sending a card using the SOC system:

Login to Send Out Cards and pick a card.
Write a note to the customer you're sending the card to.
Preview it and then hit the "Send" button.

Bam. 1-2-3...Done!

No more searching greeting card stores for an appropriate card. No stuffing envelopes. No licking stamps. And no more taking the cards to the post office.

And now I'm going to give you an opportunity first hand to send yourself or anyone you know a couple of greeting cards. You really will be amazed at how fast and simple the process is. So click on the banner below:

Welcome back. Pretty cool, huh?

But Wait...Using Send Out Cards Just Got Even Easier!

It wouldn't be fair for members of The Customer Factor to have to insert each of their customers into Send Out Cards one at a time. I'm all about simplifying processes. So check this out...

I created an exciting option on the export screen in The Customer Factor designed specifically for Send out Cards. But here's the best part...The Customer Factor remembers who you previously exported so you’re not exporting the same names again at a later time.

For Example: If today you export your database consisting of 142 customers in The Customer Factor so you can then import them into Send Out Cards, but then next week you want to export any additional customers which may have been added to The Customer Factor since your last export, well...you don't want to export the first 142 all over again do you? It'll create all kinds of extra effort on your part to remove duplicate names in your Send Out Cards account.

So after some extensive adjustments made by my programmer, what The Customer Factor does now is "remember" exactly who was previously exported, so you're not duplicating your efforts. You'll be able to view a video to see how easy this is in a second, but here are the five simple steps:

Search for "All" Customers on the "Search" screen.
Click the "Check all" button at bottom of screen.
Click the "Export Selected" button.
Check the "Send Out Cards" export option.
Click the "Export" button.

Whammo. That's all there is to it! Turn up your speakers and check out my quick video discussing this exciting feature. You can also access this video directly from our Video Training webpage at the bottom of any screen inside The Customer Factor.

Send Out Cards and The Customer Factor. What a team! You'll be creating a 1-2 punch that'll bring your service business to new heights and profitability. If you haven't already done so, I encourage you to click the banner above and see a demonstration of how easy the process is. Send a couple of cards to yourself and envision what kind of impact this system will have on your business.

Now I'm sure you have some questions like "How much to get started?", "Where can I signup", etc etc. So I'll talk about this now.

Retail Account: $99 setup plus $24.50 per month.

You get a lifetime system license, with Picture Plus* for custom cards.
You get 50 points each month. Sends 25 greeting cards or 50 postcards!

Wholesale Account: $298 setup plus $31.00 per month.

You get a lifetime system license, with Picture Plus* for custom cards.
You get 200 points & 10 stamps to start with. Sends 100 greeting cards!
You get 100 points per month. Sends 50 greeting cards or 100 postcards!
35% off the purchase of additional points.
You get a personal handwriting font, plus four signature fonts.
Earn $100 to $150, paid weekly, per customer or distributor referral.

Note: Greeting cards = 2 points. Postcards = 1 point.

*Picture Plus is a really cool way for you to include photographs on the front or inside of the cards.

I do get asked sometimes whether the points roll over from month to month. Absolutely! You'll never lose your points.

The Retail Account described above is a great way to get started with Send Out Cards if you simply don't have the funds for the Wholesale account now. You can always upgrade later. I would recommend upgrading to the Wholesale account as soon as possible though because because each point in the Wholesale account is only 31 cents vs 49 cents in the Retail account. That means you can send out greeting cards which include first class postage for around a buck!

One dollar. This is worth extra mention. Where can you even buy a quality greeting card these days for a dollar? Through Send Out Cards, with the wholesale account, it's costing you 62 cents for a top quality greeting card. You can't get a better investment than this. For around one measly dollar you can let your customer know that you care about 'em and at the same time gain the exposure necessary for you to receive referral after referral after referral.

Whew...I'm not sure what more I can say to emphasize the importance of including Send Out Cards in your arsenal of business building tools. So to signup, you can do it one of 3 different ways:

Click the banner above and go through a quick "walkthrough" demonstration. Or...
Visit http://www.sendoutcards.com/19402 Or...
Call me at 256-546-2446. I'll walk you through it.

There is no disputing that referrals are important to any business. But don't think that all you have to do is a good job for your customers and they will automatically send you business. Some will. Most won't. They need to be prompted and asked for referrals. So by using Send Out Cards, you'll be able to regularly ask and then regularly receive. No muss...no fuss.

To Your Success,

Steve

256-546-2446

P.S. Building a profitable service business is all about investing in the proper tools. Any service or product that can bring you more customers at low cost needs to be looked at seriously. The Customer Factor is one such tool. Send Out Cards is another. It's fast, it's easy, it's low cost, it's quality, and using SOC will work your relationships to the max bringing you more repeat jobs and more referrals than you can handle! Relationship Marketing Works!

P.P.S. Some folks might look at the $99 or $298 investment involved in Send Out Cards and hesitate, but if you could turn this tiny investment into $10,000 of EXTRA profit this year, is it worth it? Without a doubt. That's how truly powerful relationship marketing is. This isn't about bringing in one extra job, two extra jobs, or even a dozen extra jobs. It's about serious growth!

P.P.P.S. With all this talk about how important SOC is to our businesses, I forgot to mention that Send Out Cards does more than that. Every family member or friend you might send cards to can be added into Send Out Cards. Send cards on birthdays, anniversaries, or holidays. Or send get well cards, thinking of you cards, etc. etc. Being able to do it all from the comfort of home is sweet. No more fighting the crowds and paying inflated prices for greeting cards. Oh...and when logging in, there's a prompt reminding you who needs to be sent a card. It is soooooo easy.

P.P.P.P.S. I forgot to mention that I'm working on a few videos now that'll I'll post here when I'm done. One video will show you how easy it is to send out individual cards. Another one will show you how to create campaigns on auto-pilot for your customers. And I'll create another one showing you a cool trick with Send Out Cards that you can do with photographs. So come back soon!