Volume #2

“The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling”
Lucretius 95BC

The magic power of the dripping tap

A dripping tap goes ‘drip, drip, drip’ continuously over a period of time.

Each individual drip does not seem to have much of an effect. However, over time these continual drips can fill a container and can even wear a hole in something hard like stone.

Now think of each drip as being a communication from you to a customer or potential customer where you add value in some way.

There may be no apparent result or impact from each individual communication you send. But over time, with repeated communications you can create a huge number of new customers, repeat sales, referrals and testimonials.

Example:

A few years ago I came across an interesting article on marketing by a person called Bob Serling. When I read this article, I also had the opportunity to sign up for a regular free article on marketing from Bob from one of the ezines he published.

At this point I had never heard of Bob Serling. However over the next 12-18 months I received a number of articles on marketing and increasing sales from his ezine.

I liked what I read and eventually decided to purchase one of the products Bob had for sale on marketing. It was a short easy to understand downloadable book on getting a competitive advantage in any business. I invested around $39 and continued to get my regular articles from Bob’s ezine.

About a year later Bob offered a six month personal mentoring programme to help individual clients increase sales with more effective marketing. The investment was many thousands of dollars and I had no hesitation in signing up for the service. It was an excellent investment and was directly responsible for helping me increase my sales by over 91% within the first three months.

Bob’s approach is an excellent example of the dripping tap concept. Bob was continually in touch with existing clients and also with potential new clients in a way that added great value. And while many of the individual communications he sent may not produce a huge amount of sales, the cumulative impact over a period of time was excellent.

There are many ways to implement a dripping tap programme of ongoing added value communication with your customers and potential customers.

Here are two ideas to get you thinking.

A: Use the 1-5-15-30 day follow-up system with new customers

Many customers never hear back from a salesperson or business after a purchase.

Remember "Out of mind" means no opportunity for future business and referrals.

One approach that is very helpful is the 1-5-15-30 follow-up schedule. (It's called this because you take specific follow-up action on days 1, 5, 15, 30.)

Example:

Day 1: Within 24 hours of the first sale to a new customer send a short handwritten thank you note. "Dear Mr Smith, I enjoyed helping you choose your new widget. I trust you will enjoy years of enjoyment in it. Best wishes Your Name”.

Day 5: Approximately 5 days after the sale deliver a small present to the purchaser. It could be a small pot plant, a gift book, a couple of free movie passes. Enclose a short thank you note that says something like “Dear Mr Smith, I appreciate you being a customer and thought you would enjoy this small gift. With my compliments. Your name.”

Day 15: Approximately 15 days after the customer purchase make a quick follow up call. Ask them how their widget is going and how they are finding it. This follow-up call lets the customer know you value the relationship with them even after you've made the sale.

Day 30: Approximately 30 days after the sale send another small gift. (A little something extra.) It doesn't have to be expensive but it should have a high perceived value. Ideally it should be a conversation starter. One salesperson who sells car phones gives customers a pen shaped like the antenna of their car.

Customers love these unique mementos and often keep them on their desk. This often leads to other people picking them up and talking about it. This leads to further business.

The 1-5-15-30 day programme can easily be adapted to any business by changing the days you take follow up action on.

For instance, you may implement a 1-7-30-60 day follow-up programme in your business. Or perhaps yours is a 1-10-20-30 day follow-up programme.

The key idea with this 1-5-15-30 follow up system is that you are in contact in an added value way several times within the first month of a new customer making a purchase. This shows the customer that you are serious about treating them well and looking after them on a long term basis. This is a very rare experience for most customers!

B: Use the ‘rule of six’ with potential customers

The rule of six in selling says that you can multiply your sales by contacting all your potential prospects at least six times within a 12 month period.

Example:

A very successful professional speaker uses the following contact system to stay in touch with meeting planners from large organisations who might be interested in using his services.

1: Mails out a brochure and introductory audio tape or CD. (Twice a year)

2: Sends a quarterly newsletter. (Four times a year.)

3: Sends an invitation to hear him speak at a public presentation (Twice a year)

4: Sends testimonials from half a dozen happy clients (Twice a year)

If you add all these communications up he is in touch with a potential client at least 10 times a year. This costs him about $25 per potential prospect each year to do. When you consider the average client spends between $7,000 and $25,000 on his speaking services over a period of time this is a very small investment to pay.

Here’s an embarrassing personal mistake you can learn from:

A few years ago I worked full time in a sales and marketing role with a company that sold Investment Property.

In my first year I hardly used the dripping tap concept at all with any of my Investment Property clients. My clients would purchase an Investment Property and would only hear from me about once a year after that.

This was a big mistake on my part because I got next to no referrals from any of my clients and very little repeat sales. What was worse, when I did make contact a year later there was no real connection or relationship between us.

One day one of my clients named Steve wrote me a letter that said he was very surprised about not hearing from me after becoming a client. He was delighted with his investment property, however he had not heard from me and wondered why not?

He told me he was a good potential source of repeat and referral business and that I should treat him better. He then gave me a list of things I could do to stay in touch with all my clients.

I was embarrassed to get Steve’s letter because I knew the importance of staying in touch and adding value to clients. I had just forgotten to do it.

So I swung into action with the dripping tap concept.

I started sending every client a personal monthly note.

I included something of value with every note.

One note might have a couple of free movie passes with it that said “Thanks for being a client. I thought you would appreciate a couple of free movie passes with my compliments. And while you are enjoying the movie, remember that you are growing your wealth at the same time with the investment property that we are managing for you.”

Another personal note might include a short motivational article I had come across on something like goal setting. It would say “Hi John, thought you might enjoy this short article on goal setting. Thanks for being a client. Regards Graham.”

Within 12 months of using this dripping tap of added value communications the results were obvious.

I started getting calls and even letters from my clients telling me how much they appreciated the added value dripping tap follow up.

I got referrals, I got repeat sales and best of all I now had a good relationship with many of my clients. My client Steve told me that he was now thrilled with how well I was treating him. Within 18 months he purchased another Investment Property himself and gave me a referral to a family member who also became a client.

Within two years of using the dripping tap concept regularly, I was getting nearly 70% of my sales every month from repeat sales and referrals.

Summary:

In this edition of Easy Business Success I’ve touched on the importance of having a dripping tap programme of added value communications you send out on a regular basis.

I recommend you use some of these ideas in your own business.

You’ll be amazed at how well this will work to create delighted clients and large amounts of repeat and referral business.

Have a wonderful month and I’ll be in touch again soon with the next volume of Easy Business Success.

You can contact Graham at www.twomac.co.nz