Have any of your customers ever seemed surprised to hear that you offer a certain service? After their mouths fall open a little bit they may ask “When did you start doing that?”
“1978,” you reply.
Because we’re so involved in our own businesses on a daily basis, it’s easy to assume that our customers – especially our best customers – know all about everything we do and sell too. But, of course, that’s not the case.
Your customers are living in their own worlds, not yours. So, even if they’ve been buying from you since you first opened for business, you still need to:
- Inform them in meaningful ways about your new products and services.
- Remind them about the “classics” – all the things you’ve been doing for years. Those services may have slipped their minds over time; or maybe they never had a need for them until now!
On Hold Marketing is an excellent tool for keeping valuable callers “in the loop” and encouraging them to ask questions about the other products and services you offer. (Read how promoting their new capabilites paid off for a printing company.)
Here’s another take on the subject. It’s from the July 21, 2010 e-newsletter by author / marketer Marcia Yudkin.
Yesterday at the copy shop I’ve patronized for seven years, I read a poster about the shop’s publishing program.
I read it again, more carefully.
“Adam, you’re printing books now?” I called to the man who was binding manuals for me. “In house?”
“Since last year. On that.” He pointed to a machine behind him.
“Would you quote me on a book order?”
“Sure thing.”
Driving home, I marveled at how hard it had been for me to make the connections needed to realize they could get the business I was about to give to a company in Tennessee.
I knew the local shop was publishing books. I had paged through some on previous visits. It never occurred to me that they would own the expensive machinery needed for digital book printing. Their poster talked about publishing, not printing.
I practically had to be hit on the head to get it.
They should have told me – explicitly – either personally (they know I’m an author) or through a newsletter (they don’t have one).
Don’t let loyal customers wander around oblivious to your capabilities!
We recently welcomed a new Creative Consultant to our staff, and as part of the training process, we staged mock client interviews. I was asked to role-play as the representative from a local credit union, and the new colleague called me to discuss what should be in their next On Hold Messaging update.
