As virtual assistants we know that our clients and customers are not transactions, so we should not treat them as if they are. We can keep business personal by "nurturing" them.
How do you keep in touch with your client on a more personal note? Well-using a personal note, using snail-mail. It worked years ago and it still works, in fact even better now than it used to be.
That's because so many people have moved to email and social media that most of us don't get the huge amounts of mail we did before. When you send something by mail now it really stands out.
Here are some ways to start nurturing:
* Thank your clients. Help them to thank their customers. Using a personal card with a note just to say thank you makes people feel good about their business with you.
* Offer to take care of this for your clients. Do all the work involved and they will love you. You can use letterhead, set up letters, do a mail merge, print, fold, stuff and get them to the post office. You can use an online service, create and upload the content, upload your list, and click send. You can send small gifts and research vendors online and handle all the logistics of doing so.
* Send birthday cards, congratulations cards, and holiday cards. I just starting using SendOutCards, which gives you a high quality card and lets you do everything electronically, but you can also use cards straight from Hallmark or the grocery store.
* Thank your clients for the referrals they gave you! Years ago some businesses sent out fake million dollar bills to a client who referred them a client. They would add a little note that said "Thanks a million!" People still talk about them...
* An interesting twist on this is to review your clients' satisfaction (or their customers) through a survey. Include a written note in a card with a few simple questions. Ask them to reply to you on email. People love to give their opinion. Ask your clients to share their valuable insights with you.
* Another way to can use nurture marketing is to regularly send people information about your business that educates them about your services, products, helps establish your credibility, answer questions they ask, makes people feel good about services. Your clients will really appreciate your help in doing this.
* It's called Nurture because you are taking care of the people who matter to your business. Helping your clients to do the same using your services. You build stronger relationships. That helps your clients increase their sales and grow their business, as well as growing yours.
Nurturing is powerful! How will you use it this week?
Annette Pedersen is an accomplished Virtual Administrative Consultant (VA) specializing in Customer Engagement via Social Media and Nurture Marketing. You can visit her website at: http://annettescustomerlove.com/
