Staying in contact with customers
When I have a mini stamp camp coming up and I want to get the word out, I just send an e-mail to my customers who then forwarded an e-mail on to their friends/family and so on and so on. 99.9% of my customers are online and the one person, who isn’t, my godmother, is someone I talk to a few times a week so she’s always in the know. E-mail is a wonderful way to communicate with my customers but it isn’t the only way.
Prior to e-mail, if you wanted to contact someone quickly, you’d pick up the phone. But in this day and age of voice mail, answer machines and cell phones, you never know if you’ll get someone live or if you’ll be bothering someone by calling their cell phone during an inopportune time. Additionally, I have a 4 ½ year old who likes to yell “WHEE!” and a 19 month old who likes to melt down when I’m on the telephone. So, I rarely make any calls to my customers, less they think I’m calling from a battle zone.
There’s always the tried and true method of sending mail, but come on, who wants to spend money on postage stamps when we can spend money on STAMPS? I used to send out post cards announcing my mini stamp camps. I’d sit and stamp them with the stamps I was featuring at the event and make sure everyone looked the same. I actually enjoyed the process, but then everyone told me they were online and to save my money. A good demonstrator ALWAYS listens to their customers when saving money is involved.
Another way to communicate with customers is through newsletters, again which can be either e-mailed out or snail mailed with a postage stamp. There is a section on the SUDSOL website devoted to Demonstrator Newsletters. You can find it under Business & Recruiting – Newsletter Samples.
Newsletters can be used to tell customers of the current Stampin’ Up! promotions or any individual promotions you may be running. You can use it to feature a make & take or to list a recipe for a card. You can thank you customers in newsletters, feature stories about customers and tell funny little anecdotes, add cute poems, or highlight your scheduled events for the next few months. Newsletters are a great way to entertain and educate your customers and can be created with various software programs. Again, reference the SUDSOL section on Newsletter Samples for great ideas and guidance.
Whether it be with e-mails, snail mail, or smoke signals, staying in contact with your customers is an important aspect of customer service. It lets them know that even when they aren’t buying from you, you are still mindful of their needs and wants. Dropping them a line or a cloud of smoke will remind them of dates to mark on their calendars, ideas to copy at their stamp table and that their demonstrator thinks of them often and that will sometimes create more of a lasting impression of good customer service than anything else.
SUDSOL Business Basics Coordinator
Shannon Krone