In any life crisis, the best offense is to dig in and re-ask the important questions, “What’s most important here?” and “What outcome do I really want to happen?” In business, the answers are usually found by getting back in touch with customers in your database, most of whom are probably experiencing the same uncertainty you are. Honest communication about shared fears and aspirations fosters trust and confidence.

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Eight years ago I was an AFS host parent to Marilia, an exchange student from Brazil, for a school year.  Imagine having no children of your own, then being “mom” to a 17-year-old plopped into your life. Who barely speaks the language. Who comes from a completely different culture.  Here’s what being an exchange mom taught me about relationship building:

1.  Try harder in the beginning to establish a bond. Don’t take the connection for granted. Don’t think about “equal effort.” Give it everything you’ve got, without expecting a payoff.  I was matched with a very independent teenager. Most families expected their exchange student to blend into their “regular lives.” With no pre-existing idea of what being a mom meant, I treated Ma more like a guest than a kid. Instead of telling her what to do and how to do it, I solicited her input and gave her choices.

2. Find ways to help people achieve their goals. Ma had already graduated from high school in her country by the time she arrived. But it was very important to her to study in English and get good grades in her senior year in America. It was important to me that she experience as much of life in the USA as I could share with her. Somehow we managed both: She got straight As each semester, and we traveled to 13 states.

3.  Receive the lesson; don’t resist new learning. There is nothing more powerful than re-evaluating a “truth” by filtering it differently through someone else’s eyes.  Surprise. You may not really know it all.

4.  Keep the relationship alive by keeping in touch. With Marilia going back home 2 continents away, it would have been easy to lose contact with her. Instead, I decided to send her a postcard every time I went out of town. I was shocked in 2005 when I visited her in Porto Allegre  when she showed me her postcard collection.

In a couple of weeks, Ma is coming for a long visit and I’m most excited about all the time we will have together to catch up on each other’s lives. We haven’t planned more than a short road trip, and we’re keeping the itinerary focused on us. Since she went back home, she’s gone to college, become the manager of one of her father’s businesses, fallen in love and become engaged.

Knowing Marilia has been one of the most fulfilling relationships of my life, one that’s really been about the journey, not the destination.

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Two years ago I had a custom closet built in my bedroom. The closet company did a great job and finished promptly. So I asked them to give me estimates on two other projects. My thought was to do one per year.

Well, as you know, life happens. But this year, when I was finally ready…I couldn’t remember their name. I couldn’t find the receipt from the job. And in all this time, they never called! They never wrote! I haven’t heard so much as a peep from them.

I don’t get this. Is the closet organization business that great? Is there such a backlog of overflowing closets belonging to women entrepreneur workaholics that this company doesn’t feel the need to do any marketing?

The truism that it costs significantly more to get a new customer than to sell additional products and services to existing customers is TRUE. Good marketers do what they can to continue relationships with customers because the profit is in the second sale: THERE’S NO ADVERTISING COSTS! Good marketers use inexpensive tools like a customer database and automated email marketing service to keep in touch.

Why wasn’t I at least invited to receive an email newsletter from this company? I wouldn’t mind seeing pictures of other perfect closets (especially since I have two other ones waiting for makeovers). I’d like to get special sale info or any coupons they have.

The email marketing service I use and recommend is Swiftpage. There are hundreds of email service providers but this is the only one that integrates with ACT Software, my database tool of choice. That means there’s no need to upload lists, an extra step that prevents a lot of businesses from sending consistent marketing campaigns. And my open / click-thru / and forward results are written back into the contact record so I can data mine my next hot marketing list.

Swiftpage rates as my top email service because a 90-day free trial is included with purchase of ACT Software. Then it costs about $55/month to send 3,000 emails. Swiftpage comes with ready-made templates or you can create your own. Deliverability is higher with Swiftpage than sending through Outlook because Swiftpage works with the major ISPs who recognize them as a professional service and not some untraceable spammer out of Nigeria.

Swiftpage also monitors opt-outs (the service is entirely CAN-SPAM compliant, which is a law, not an option). Best of all, it shows who opens your email, who clicks on your links (so you see who’s interested in what) and it generates call lists of hot prospects to hand off to salespeople for follow up. Salespeople can see the contact’s readership score “diary” by looking in the ACT marketing database history.

Swiftpage’s advanced version allows “schedule send” or “send as.” Save time by programming a month of messages in advance to be sent out under the sales rep’s name (instead of a spammy “from” address like sales@company.com).

In about a month, Swiftpage is releasing a drip-marketing version which automates the email newsletter process based on business triggers in your marketing database. What used to be a wish-list item for dedicated marketers will now be an easy stay-in-touch tool within reach of every business.

Like everyone, I get a lot of spam. I delete messages on vitamins, sex aids and stock tips. But a nice newsletter from a company I’ve done business with before would be fine. It may even remind my failing memory to place another order that I meant to do anyway.

So don’t let customers forget about you. The replacement cost of losing a customer is far more expensive than a $55/month email newsletter.

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To celebrate 2008, I’m sending you 10 tips as New Year’s resolutions for your database…

10. I will clean up old contacts. I have thousands of names in my database, and many are outdated or duplicated. I will create a *dynamic group membership* for all customers with missing or bounced email addresses.

When addresses go bad, they’ll automatically be removed from my email distribution list. Then I’ll call (or delegate someone) to update this critical information. I will have Aviva update my postal addresses with National Change of Address processing (NCOA) to find out who’s moved and standardize addresses to find more duplicates.

9. If I’m using ACT! Software, I will delete unused Groups. Groups take on a life of their own. I will “use them or lose them.” I can delete groups without deleting my contacts.

8. I will get my company newsletter out monthly. If I planned to start an email newsletter and never published, I will attend The Database Diva’s half-day workshop, “Start an Email Newsletter that Makes You Money”

7. I will erase or clear the “antiques” on my Task List. I will NEVER get to those incomplete tasks from a year ago.

6. I will stop setting activity alarms, except when I REALLY need them. One to three alarms per day is plenty. Alarms are unnecessary if I keep my eye on my Task List.

5. I will stop rolling over my calls, meetings and to-do’s in my ACT! Database (TOOLS > PREFERENCES > SCHEDULING PREFERENCES). If I can’t keep up with activities I schedule for myself, I will design a more realistic follow-up plan.

4. I will call one day ahead to confirm all my Meetings (not really an ACT! thing, but I’ll set my Task List DATES filter to “Today” to do it).

3. When someone hands me a business card, I will write a few words on the card to remind me about this person. (How many business cards do I have that I can’t remember why I have them in the first place?) Then I will use a Card Scanner to auto-import it into my database. (Why leave it to mold on my desk?).

I will code the contact record in the REFERRED BY (where I met this person) and ID/STATUS (database segmentation categories for future communications.)

My “few words” will go into LAST RESULTS (which in ACT! will automatically record a time/date-stamped history for me under the HISTORY tab, saving me an extra step). I will then THROW AWAY the card!!! (Ed. Note: The Diva gives you enthusiastic permission for this.)

2. When I make an unscheduled call I will ALWAYS record it in ACT! with my keyboard shortcut CTRL+H

1. When I clear an activity, I will ALWAYS schedule a follow-up so I never let important contacts fall into a black hole.

BONUS TIP: I will not become a poster child for bad database marketers: I will back up my database daily and/or test the backups I currently create. If I am a single or remote user, I will buy a flash drive (for less than $20) and make an additional back-up copy of my database to store in a safe, off-site location.

Happy New Year!

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Have you noticed how customers “pre-shop” online to educate themselves before they contact you to buy or ask questions? Which means by the time you actually receive a website lead, you’ve got a very short window to make the sale.

If you don’t engage this prospect just right, it’s an easy click to the next competitor. Marketing Sherpa just released a case study on when to follow-up on website leads. I bet you’ll be surprised by the results.

How savvy is your sales follow up? Take this short quiz, and find out. (The answers appear at the end.)

1. How long should you wait before calling back a prospect from a website inquiry?
a. Less than 1 hour
b. 4 hours
c. At least 24 hours

2. What time of day results in the highest conversion rate?
a. 9 am - Noon
b. 1 pm - 3 pm
c. 3 pm - 6pm

3. Which day gets the most completed calls?
a. Monday
b. Wednesday
c. Friday

Answers:

1. “C” is correct. Customers often need management’s approval before placing sizeable orders ($200+), but may go through an order or inquiry form to see what is required. Following up immediately doesn’t give them enough time to get this authorization. By following up the day after an inquiry is received or the shopping cart was abandoned, the action is still fresh in the prospect’s mind and the lead is still hot. But don’t wait until day 2; studies show 4 times fewer conversions and 6 times fewer completed follow-ups if
you dally.

2. “C” is correct. The highest conversion rates typically occur between 3:30 pm and 4:25 pm. Even though it may be hard to close the sale from 4:30 pm to 6 pm, sales people often find prospects willing to set phone appointments for the next day at that time, so the follow-up is not wasted.

3. Surprisingly, it’s “C”. Fridays can be an untapped goldmine for reaching decision makers, so don’t give in to truisms that say prospects are in “weekend mode” or already out of the office. Follow-up success increases each day after Monday. In fact, according to one study, Fridays showed 241% more connects than on Mondays.

Tightening up your sales follow-up process is the one risk-free tactic you can implement instantly that increases sales by 10%, 20%–even 30%–without spending a nickle on advertising, employees or infrastructure. To learn more sales follow-up “do’s and don’t’s”, check out my upcoming Follow-Up Marketing Workshop in Chicago, St. Louis and Houston for business owners and sales executives.

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