Yesterday I had the pleasure to interview Becki Maxson who is a senior manager from Send Out Cards. We discussed how to build relationships with your prospects and customers using an online system that allows you to send personalised postcards and greeting cards from the convenience of the Internet. In this article I’d like to tell you how we are introducing this system into Wonderful Web Women as a relationship and marketing tool and hopefully give you some ideas on how you can use this tool in your own business. I’ll also give you some brief points which cover most of the questions we received on the call as well as show you how you can leverage our team and infrastructure to implement similar strategies in your own business.
So here goes…….
Adding a Personal Touch To An On-line Business
We are so conditioned to think of Internet businesses as being completely “hands off” that it is rare to find an Internet based business that actually looks beyond the Internet as a way of communicating with clients. Over the last year I’ve come to realise that customers really wish for more personal contact and actually want more of a relationship with the businesses they purchase from regularly. So I’ve been on a bit of a mission to find ways to personalise our service which meets the following criteria:
- is respectful of our customers (no tele-marketing)
- time efficient
- cost efficient
These are the 2 methods we have just introduced.
1. Personal “getting to know you” welcome phone calls from one of our mentoring team to all new gold members. The phone call is arranged at a time that suits the member and helps them find out how to make the most of our services and helps us understand their needs. First calls have been this week and the response has been extremely positive. Can you do something similar? Can you pay a team member for 30 minutes of their time to help a new customer become a long term loyal customer?
How does this meet my criteria?
- is respectful of our customers: we make a time that suits them, we help them use the service they have paid for, we ask them their needs, no hard selling
- time efficient: Reduces help desk support, the call is focused because of the procedure we have created so we can offer a lot of help in a short amount of time
- cost efficient: We expect this to increase member retention & long term value of a customer. Reduces help desk support.
2. Personal greeting cards sent regularly to gold members. These cards feature inspirational art and quotes by children as they interpret 52 Virtues (you can read all about this wonderful project here). The messages I have written to each member are not salesy. It is designed to inspire, motivate and support our customers so they know we care and they will continue to remain our customer. Can you do something similar with your customers? You set yourself apart from your competitors if you take the time to thank your customers for trusting you, especially in a way that is personal, inspiring and with something they can pin on their note board instead of their inbox.
How does this meet my criteria?
- is respectful of our customers: The cards are inspiring & the messages caring. No hard sales.
- time efficient: Set up of the cards and messages takes a few hours. After that, a few minutes to add new member details & it runs on autopilot
- cost efficient: Using this system it is HEAPS cheaper than sending cards yourself or through a fulfilment service. Much cheaper than sending a paper newsletter. We also expect this to increase member retention & long term value of a customer. The system has a multi-level affiliate program so we will end up making more than we spend!
Main Features of This system
- Thousands of cards to choose from
- Nice envelope with a real stamp
- You can upload samples of your handwriting and it will use that as a font
- You can add your own signature
- You can upload your own photos / artwork
- A fraction of the cost of sending cards the usual way
- You can set up an “auto-responder” series and create relationships and follow up on autopilot
- You can send out a mass card mailing for Christmas etc or with a special offer
- You can even add special gifts such as books, gift cards, chocolate brownies
- You can sign up for personal use, wholesale card prices, or as an affiliate entrepreneur and get paid well when other people sign up on your referral.
- It’s easy!
How You Can Leverage Our Resources
Becki has joined our team to help people who are interested in this system get training and support. She’s excellent and has been training our team. So you get personal support. Becki’s team has ongoing regular training and a special blog where you can get support from her extended team.
Plus, we have an extra few bonuses:
When you join through www.WonderfulWebCards.com you also get access to something that no-one else has….
We will gift you our custom made cards to use with the Send Out Cards system. This set includes 52 cards, each one featuring childrens’ artwork and quote on the 52 virtues that have been found common to every one of the world’s religions. Example are love, persistence, enthusiasm, tact etc. I’m sure you can see how you can relate these messages to business as well as your personal life. People outside of our direct network will eventually have access to these cards – but they will need to buy them from us. You get them for free. You can also offer these as a bonus to people who join on your referral (which helps you offer an incentive to join with you).
Find Out More
If you’d like to have a tour around the inside of Send Out Cards and ask Becki all of your questions, you can join Becki on a personal webinar. The first one will be held tomorrow. You can get the details here and register your interest. You can be up and sending cards in time for Christmas.
We will also be running another introductory webinar in January but please register your interest using the link above.
Still waiting to hear from Becki.