When does contacting clients become too much?
It may seem surprising to hear that some business owners worry about having too much contact with their customers or clients, especially when it’s a new relationship.
Let me shed some light on this. It’s rare for a business to do too much. Most of the time, you likely spend far too little time developing these new client relationships than you should.
The biggest challenge most businesses face after a sale is maintaining regular contact with their clients or customers right from that first sales transaction. The second challenge is, once you’re connected, how to keep your message as personalized as possible.
Recently, I helped set up a follow-up strategy for a sofa retailer. After the sale was made the salesperson would write up a thank-you card before the end of the day and it would be sent out that night. The thank-you card contained a handwritten message that directly addressed that individual customer. Once the furniture was delivered, a follow-up call was scheduled within a week.
In January of this year, I signed up with a new financial advisor who knew the value of bringing me into the fold. His office sent me a gift basket right after I signed the transfer papers for my investment portfolio. This was followed by three letters, an email, and several phone calls from his assistant. All of this was followed up by a courier delivering a binder for me to store my statements as they arrived.
Since then, I have received quarterly emails and follow-up phone calls from my advisor checking in about the state of market and how I was doing. Is this too much? Only because I’m not accustomed to this much regular contact from other financial advisors I’ve worked with. To be truthful, it feels good. I feel cared for.
Ask yourself: When you get a new client or customer, do you have a strategy in place to stay connected?