vip-ip

We've seen them all, right? "Send them a hand-written thank-you card in the mail," or "Follow up via phone, not email" ... but have you had an unconventional occurrence just happen - a random thought of a better way to serve your client - that you've implemented?

Tell your fellow Warriors about it!

Best one, as per my judgment and the amounts of Thanks that I'll see, gets a $50 cash prize.

Best Regards,
vip-ip ...

bareket57

This is a nice challenge
"Unconventional" is my middle name – in fact everything I've done in life has been unconventional.

I sell gemstones and jewelry via eBay and my website. My off-line method for making a client happy is by adding a personalized horoscope with a special gemstone report to their purchase. I also offer a personal poem to go with the purchase if my client is buying the item as a gift for a third party. Beautiful words and sparkling jewels always go well together.

WillR

Aweber have a great way of following up with their clients.

1. When I first signed up I received a letter in the mail a few days later (signed by the CEO) thanking me for becoming a customer and letting me know who to contact if I had any problems getting things set up. I know it's only a letter but back when I received it I remember being very surprised - you just don't see that sort of thing very frequently these days. Even if people do send out letters after a purchase usually they are trying to upsell you to another product or service. This was not their intention at all - it was simply a welcome letter, nothing more and there were no ulterior motives.

2. I regularly post comments on their blog because they post a lot of tips and discussions that are of interest to most Internet Marketers. One day out of the blue I received a parcel in the mail. I opened it and inside was a tshirt and some stickers from Aweber. It had a short hand-written note attached thanking me for the comments and contributions I make to their blog. Once again, they weren't trying to sell me something - just letting me know they appreciated my efforts. I have heard of them doing this same thing to a few other people as well.

It's not hard to see why I have been with these guys for a couple of years now and have no intention of leaving anytime soon. When you get great service and the company goes out of their way to show you they care, it makes the choice very easy.

.

➨ Here's How to Make Your First $177 Online
This Week Using the Piggyback Method...

.

vip-ip

I'll add one of my own, now that the conversation has picked up (obviously I'm not competing - just to help you spark your imagination):

Whenever a client needs hosting, I go with a reputable company that allows affiliate sales via ClickBank. I simply grab my affiliate URL, make it tiny with one of the many URL minimizing sites, and shoot it to them in an email. $20 a sale net. Pretty neat, the hosting is great, and the client gets what he or she needs.

Whenever I do site work, I always proof read the whole site twice and correct all mistakes. For free. Without the client asking. I agree with Will: little things do matter.

Best Regards,
vip-ip ...

William Prawira

For offline marketings, the most important things to do is to keep in touch with customers and after sales services.

I'm in clothing business for a year now. Getting new customer is not a hard thing to do, but keep them happy is. When you are getting a new prospect customer, try to make them fill up a form for you. It may contains name, address, birthday and phone number. You can give a little appreciation gift in exchange if they fill up your form.

Simply put it on a computer, and every morning, spare a little time sorting out who is having a birthday on that same day, then you can text / send that person a cake and a happy birthday wishes.

If by any chance your customer complains about something that can cost you, just comply with it. You'll never now how much more that person can buy your stuffs. Perhaps s/he will even give a good review of you to his/her friends. After several months, you'll see new customers showing up from nowhere even without getting advertisement up.

Hope it works for you as well

bareket57

Here is a video discussing the importance of the personal element in the provider-customer relationship:
Phoenix WordCamp 2009 Archives - (The Power of WordPress, You, and Your Business)

Customer's value most the personal touch in their relationships with their service providers and vendors.

wanna-succeed

The next example isn't offline, so it might not qualify, however I feel compelled to share it with you all.

One of the first things I ever heard on this forum was:
"Give your clients\viewers value, and you will get value in return."
I don't remember the exact phrasing, however it was something like this, and the point is understadable I think.
Ever since, I have heard that same phrase everywhere, both here on the WF and in my niche.

If you were wondering, I am in the hair growth niche, and it's pretty brutal. I see my competitors and I start feeling like a minor league ball player in the Yankees stadium, pretty darn small.

Despite that, I received some incredibly important information once:
"Be active in your niche, be a market leader!" Again, perhaps not the exact phrasing, however it is the point that counts. This came from Ed Dale, the main instructer of the "Challenge" course, which I took not too long ago.

This got me to think for a while, and I finally came to the conclusion that my website isn't going to build itself, nor will people magically view it.

I sat down and literally, started working my rear end off trying to impregnate my niche with my thoughts and creativity. For a while nothing happened, and I was starting to doubt myself, my website, everything.
I mean, I was signed up to all the hair loss forum, blogs. You name it, chances are I was there. I posted real, informative posts, to the degree of my ability. I am no doctor, but I have researched my niche extensively. I definitely didn't post any "thank you - check this website out" nonsense.

I had racked up quite a post count, on over 8 different forums & blogs, with no avail.....Until 5 days ago.
It had been a month of tedious, repetative work, however I made my first sale, 25$....I felt like a king.

I can honestly say I deserved it, as I tried to give people all the value I had in me, and it seems 1 person agreed with me.

Combined with all my articles, I believe there aren't too many other places to get involved, however this doesn't mean I should stop.

The type of products in my niche are hard to follow up on, as they are rather personal and unique.

I follow up with a thank you in a different manner, I keep posting, and posting, and posting. I believe this is what got me my first sale, and I wont stop until I get more. People have thanked me for the information, they have asked me more questions, which is all I can hope for, and it makes me feel good about what I am doing.

Since it is online, I do not know the identity of the customers.
In general people in my niche stay anonymous. Not many people like others to know they are experienceing hair loss.

The point is, I try to give them something to thank me for before I sell the product. I guess this is how online marketing works. My point is, all I can do is keep trying to help them, in any which way I can.
I hope that even after they buy something, they still come back to read more of my article & posts. For this very reason I continue to post on the many forums & blogs, I know people will appreciate it.

In time, I wish to get my entire nich "pregnant" with my ideas. It seems as the greatest thank you I can give these anonymous customers, useful information to aid them through their condition.



As I read my own post, I see it is a bit off topic, although I hope you understand it. I like writing content for people, it is what I do, both in my niche and in here.

I hope you enjoy this, it is me trying to give value to all of you.

Regards,
Daniel

No sig, good day m8...

bareket57

A personal experience these past two days have reminded me of another important issue in building up a business relationship with a client: Honesty!

I'm working with this Gemstone dealer from Hong Kong who I found on eBay. eBay guarantees a full refund if the buyer hasn't received the purchased items or if they arrived damaged or are different from the specifications. I did my first deal with this exporter without eBay's patronage and was quite concerned. After I transferred the payment to his paypal account, I emailed him a message telling him about the payment and asking him when he'll send me the purchased items. Two days past and I heard nothing … nothing … nothing … I got really concerned because for me personally it's a lot of money. This morning, Thank God, he emailed me the tracking number and I checked the number on the Hong Kong Postal Authorities' website, where it said that the parcel had been handed in today.

When it comes to business the most important factor is: honesty and trust. There is nothing, which scares a client more than being victim of a scam.

vip-ip

Great tips, fellas, keep 'em coming!

Best Regards,
vip-ip ...

Yogini

Knowing some of your clients' interests and letting them know about something that may be important to them is something that is very appreciated. For instance, one of my psychotherapy clients told me that her brother was visiting next week. I didn't think of it during the session, but remembered later that there were amazing plants and butterflies at butterfly world. I called her up to suggest it and she was so thrilled. I did not pitch any workshop or "special".

Also, I received some funding to distribute my stress reduction booklets to youth centers, agencies and other settings in my area. I stopped into some pediatrician offices and gave them some booklets. I saw the secretaries totally relax when I said there was no charge. They are so inundated by marketers, pharmaceutical reps etc. People relax when they are given something with no charge and you can build a relationship that way that may later blossom. It is also nice to suprise a current client with a little gift from time to time. I once had a dentist send me a little basket of muffins when I had to cancel an appointment due to being sick.

Debbie

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HollyK

If I know the client, whenever I think of them, I just call them or Skype them to ask how things are going. It's great to hear things are well, but it's even better to catch clients when they don't understand something, or have an obstacle. I can't tell you how many times I've reached someone who had a question but kept getting interrupted by other priorities before they had time to call me. The purpose of the call is not an upsell, but when you take care of people, they are more likely to trust you with more business when they have a need.

I've also seen something pretty wonderful in the case of a membership site where all the sales literature says it costs $25 a month, but when you get to the checkout page, you're only charged $22 a month, just because he wants to delight the new customer. Giving people nice surprises is a rarity, and people remember that you did it.

vip-ip

Very nice stories, guys. Let's hear 10 more and then we'll decide on a winner!

Best Regards,
vip-ip.

Jimmy Reilly

Offer to build your clients an iphone app, something that can be outsourced cheap. The trick is you also offer to print them a qr tag poster where their customers can scan the tag which brings them to the download site for the app.

Give cusotmers an incentive when they scan the tag to download the app, like a free pizza or a discount for whatever the business is.

The app can be something as simple a 'coupon app' where customers can see the latest coupons for said business.

Also I find alot of the big companies love penetration testing, something you can easily get done with software like Acunetix which also prints out a customer report and suggested fixes. You can charge big bucks for this, even offer a free 'test' and they only pay when you find exploits. Almost every site has something that needs to be fixed or updated.

I've charged 5 figures for 'penetration testing' that was little more than running a scan.

The pitch is simple, you're sites security may be at risk, give me permission to test it for free. Then the sale is easy when you point out all the flaws and they pay you to fix them.

Guess that's two tips. You'll owe me $100 if I win

- Reilly

vip-ip

Reilly,

I doubt small businesses would be able to afford 5-figure prices, but perhaps $1mil+ / yr companies could. What was the client whom you've sold on this like?

Best Regards,
vip-ip ...

Jimmy Reilly

A loan modification company in New York. I was in the finance biz before going into internet marketing so I had alot of connections, plus my original business partner who handled the sales was formerly a manager at Lehman Brothers.

After the collapse of the mortgage biz alot of the owners of some of the biggest companies went into other areas including the short lived loan mod biz. Alot of these guys had big check books and remembered me because I was always 'the computer guy' in the office having built a few lead generating websites when I was in the biz so I was the first one they called.

Creating lead generating websites were huge, but for clients who already had websites I would either promise to increase their conversions which was simple enough because non of them split tested or I would simply say you're site can be hacked, let me fix your security issues.

There are still alot of very talented sales people out of work from the mortgage biz, people who are in with big financial companies. It would pay to hire a few and split any fee's they manage to bring in. Let them be the big game hunters and set up interviews with them. They are used to working on commission so you wouldn't have to front any money.

And don't be afraid to go after the big clients. salesgenie.som is a great basic lead source to sit down and do some cold calling. It's a numbers game, make 500 phone calls a day (average number of calls when I worked in sales) and you WILL land the big clients. After that you can work on referrals.

- Reilly

patadeperro

I love your approach very, very nice and it remains me some of the old direct marketing techniques like sending a shoe via email with a note saying "Know that I have a foot on your door, let me show you what we can do for you", I don't know if that counts as a post service but I think it is a great way to get to the decision taker and read your sales message .

Hope it helps

Tony Tikos

Branded Freebie Items

Handing out branded free items is a great way to etch your business name into people’s memory. Purchase useful items that people will keep and look at multiple times per day. Items such as refrigerator magnets, mousepads, calendars, and key chains are all items that are seen multiple times throughout the day. If you hand out refrigerator magnets, hopefully every time potential clients open up their fridge, they will see your magnet. Next time they need services that you offer, hopefully they will think of you and give you a call. Make sure to have your logo, contact information, and web url printed out on the freebie item.

vip-ip

Tell us about how you participated in a sales deal that went extremely well thanks to your foresight

Best Regards,
vip-ip ...

rosetrees

This probably isn't in the true spirit of this thread - but it happened to me a few days ago.

I arrived to talk to an old client about their entry on our village website. Just in time for a photographic session involving chickens and eggs. So there I am, standing in their garden with a chicken (alive) under one arm whilst they set up the background for the photos.

The serious advice here - be nice to people's animals (and children). Really - you have no idea how many of my clients tell me their animals love me and aren't nearly as friendly to other visitors as they are to me. I do live in a rural area, so I've talked to cats, dogs, chickens, geese, cows, horses, sheep, parrots and a good few children too.

If children are present, involve them. They love it.

Happy_Balance

Thank you for offering this worthwhile contest vip-ip,
One tip is not enough; To succeed you need:

The Worlds' Best Unconventional Tips For Offliners

1a) Aim way beyond your current abilities.
1b) '1a' is a cliche, but very few people *actually* do it with both enthusiasm & persistence.
2) Persist no matter how many unexpected challenges get in your way.
3a) Do something truly original, despite your habit of using some cliches. :p
3b) Create useful projects which are so original some people might laugh or call you crazy. >>> Do you have the courage to actually be different?

4) Prepare to interact with people *both* online and offline.
5) Do *not* settle for a job you dislike, do what you LOVE to do, even if you take huge risks like quitting a stable job.
6) Make certain you are familiar with Unconventional People like Harlan Sanders, Bill Veeck, Richard Branson, and that goofy little jockey who came up from *18th place* to win on a horse named Street Sense.

7) After aiming high, did you remember to enthusiastically obtain valuable skills to help make your huge dreams come true?
8) Time passes way too quickly, and money is starting to run out. Are you going to "play it safe" or continue pursuing your true passion?
9) ~90% or more of all people would have given up by now, even your friends and family are doubting you and concerned about what's taking so long?
10) ~90% or more of all people never really succeed, and end up regretting the things they did not do.
11) Most of your canned food reserves are used up, and it's crunch time.
12) You *have* to start making money from your amazing, original, useful projects, despite another round of delays.

14) You see a generous, unique contest with a prize of $50.
15) You make an effort which out-shines all the others.
16) You win the $50.
17) Now you can eat a decent meal & launch your projects, both off-line and online, and succeed where most people would have failed.

Important Valuable Information!

• There are at least 4 emerging markets (both high-tech and global) where you can realistically aim to share over a Billion Dollars in profits.
• The Internet is maturing and consolidating. Your most wonderful windows of opportunity are closing later this decade.
• Can you name all four prime emerging markets which are genuine Once-In-A-Lifetime opportunities?
• Do you want to live up to your full potential?

ps. I have been working* long-hours for over 5 years to prepare for "the next step."
I suggest all people (offliners and online) approach their dreams with the same gusto!

*"I never did a day's work in my life. It was all fun." ~Thomas A. Edison

pps. >>> Do you have the courage to actually be different?

Every Day Is Fun! :)

dorothydot

Okay, I'll give this a shot.

My tip comes from how I went from being a Tree Lady/Arborist to a copywriter.

Here's the story:

* * *
I play a Celtic harp, both in English Country-Dance bands and as solo for various people and places.

At a number of Celtic festivals, I sold harps for basement-harp-builders who could construct excellent instruments but not play them. This was entirely voluntary - it started because no harp player can resist trying out a new harp.

So I'd go to their booth and play their harps. It always attracted attention, and every person who came asking how to choose a harp - I sold them a harp. 100% closure.

I recall one mother who wanted to buy her teen-aged daughter a sturdy harp to play for local nursing homes. Mom headed for the larger, flashier harps.

The harp-builder handled Mom; I took the girl and told her, "It's going to be YOUR harp. It'll become part of YOUR soul. YOU need to choose it, not your mother." So she and I tried out all the harps there while Mom kept talking to the builder.

The girl chose a smaller, less pretentious harp and we both stood firm until Mom gave in.

As they left, I told the daughter, "It's good luck to name your Harp." She smiled as they walked away, carrying her new soul-friend.
* * *

Okay, so my off-line tip is, demonstrate yourself how wonderful the product really is. Let any potential customers see for themselves how well the product works. Answer their questions, eagerly and knowledgeably (?), while letting them "live" the dream the product fulfills along with you.

Gets them buying every time.

Dot

"Sell the Magic of A Dream"
www.DP-Copywriting-Service.com

eagertolearn

I hope this is still open.
Specialty bakeries have the a new technology that they can "print" a picture with edible ink on any frosting. You find a picture that represents your business transaction (example Realators- The picture of the house they just sold) Load it to your computer send it to the bakery. They put it on a large sugar cookie with "Thanks for the bussines it was a sweet deal". Then send the cookie with the picture to the cleint. If the local bakery can't get that specialized go with the writing and simple picture on the giant cookie insted.

darrylb

I know nothing about this contest and this is my first post, but I'm choked up by this story. Thank you for sharing it!

gefflong

When I worked as a real estate agent/broker, I had a system where I would do the following with huge success. Clients loved it.

After first contact, when they went through the hoop of getting a pre-approval letter (this is for buyers) from the bank, I would send or deliver a gift to them. Couples might get 2 tickets to a movie with popcorn and drinks. Families might get 2 large pizzas and drinks or tickets to a local zoo or amusement park... Things like that.

Once they bought a house, we kept track of the move-in dates and at that point, we would have another gift delivered to the new address. This would be bigger and more personalized. After working with people for a while, you get to know their likes and tastes on things... A young couple might get 2 nice paintball guns (it was big back then) and gift certificates for a paintball place. Families might get an above ground pool or something (if that is something they would like). It was really geared towards what the individual clients would like.

We also had take-out food ordered and delivered straight to their new house on move-in day. I did have a coordinator who kept track of all that info and made sure they were going to be there and had one of their favorite meals delivered.

Those things worked great. We ended up not even having to advertise for clients. We got so many referrals from happy clients that we started having a hard time keeping up with them all.

In all... just give more than is expected. Everyone likes that.

Geff

tristatemedia

here is what i did for one of my carpet business clients.
i went out and got 2 people who needed carpet work done. they both used him. he was very greatful and he kept advertising with me for a long time.
he was very happy, he made thousands od dollars ofthe deal and i made money from him.
thanks
god bless

traianturcu

I really like gefflong's post

And great take-away story! "Give more than you're expected"

We often forget that behind each sales, behind each lead or click - there's a human being. We keep looking for schemes and techniques, but the simplest and most efficient ones are just about treating people like people!

eflo

Ok, here's a neat trick I've used as a financial planner in the past.

Not an affiliate link: Buddha Board ? Water Painting Art - Official Website

I would send customers a mini buddha board as a gift or as a Christmas card / special occasion card. (you can get them wholesale for $5 - if you need a hook up, just ask). The board comes with a place to drop a message, and what I'd do is plop a link to a video on there where I'd teach them how to write a certain character in Kanji.

eg: Health, Wealth, Happiness, Success, etc. (you get the idea).

If you don't know what a Buddha Board is, it's a board that lets you paint with water. It looks kinda like ink, but it fades away in about 5-7 minutes or so. Just think etch a sketch but with more class. The practice that I would show them would be to visualize their goal while writing the character. Since it faded pretty quickly, I would have them repeat this practice a few times in a row, and it would ingrain the idea into their subconscious.

This served 3 purposes.

1) With their goals in mind repeating the process helped a few folks reach their goals sooner - simply because they had it front of mind more often. It's just like when you buy a red car, you see more red cars on the road. Same thing goes for your goals. If you keep them in mind, you get them completed.

2) Since I was the one who taught them the technique, they would associate "happy thoughts" with me, and whenever we met in person, they'd generally be more receptive and open to ideas I had for them (which included an increase in overall sales)

3) Because it's such a weird and unique product, their friends and colleagues would ask what the heck it was (typically while they were doing the practice I taught them) and it would bring me up as a speaking subject. I got a TON of referrals this way.

Lastly - I would send them a larger Buddha Board if they became a larger customer (more than one product line) as a gift, and brand it with my information to reinforce all of the stuff I talked about above.

Full Disclosure: I was once a sales manager for Buddha Board, but it was also because I was a huge fan as a client. I no longer hold the position, but still absolutely love the product.

midasman09

I don't know if this is still going on BUT...I'll toss in an "OffLine" money maker;

Balloon Bux -
1) go to an Independent Bakery that makes "Birthday Cakes". See if there are any Balloons in the store. If not...go to your nearest "Dollar Store" and buy 5 "Happy Birthday" balloons....2 "Yellow Smiley Face"...and 3 "General" balloons.....for $1 each. ($10 investment)

2) Put balloons in back seat of your car and go back to bakery. Tell bakery owner you will leave the balloons on "consignment" (attach balloons with a weight from Dollar Store and place on counter)....and put a price on them of $4 each. Tell owner you will give them $1 for each balloon sold (You keep $3) (Make sure you leave your Cell Phone #)

Bakery owner has NO Risk. If balloons don't sell....you just remove.

However....I'll bet that within 2 hours, the Bake Shop will be calling you asking for MORE Balloons!

Now....what if you had 10 bakeries selling 20 balloons a day? 200 Balloons a day @ $2 Net to you ($1 cost, $1 to bakery)

Let's see...200 x $2 = $400!

This can probably be done with 5 Bakeries selling 40 balloons aday.

Also....you can make "Balloon Bouquets" with 1 B'day Balloon and 4 plain silver or gold balloons. 5 Balloons for $17.95 (saving of $2 to consumer) Your cost is $5....$5 to bakery and you get $7.95

You "lose" some of your Net BUT....make up for it in VOLUME.

Don Alm

When biz starts going good....offer "Balloon Arbors" (20 balloons) for weddings and special occasions.

warrior1985

zappos...pays for shipping both ways

sandrasims

My chiropractor hosts a free dinner for repeat customers and prospects. It's at a Benihann'as type place, so dinner value is like $25 per person. So it's easy for him to get sign-ups. He does a 10 minute presentation on health and then does a little sales pitch.

Related - A local pharmacy does $5 lunch and learn's every week. The topics change every week. All great information. No sales pictch

Sandra Sims

Established marketing services website - view my Flippa website auction here!