Hello owners! Here we are with Episode 72 today. I’m standing out in my garden here in England, but will be traveling to Canada very shortly.
Now, let’s talk about our past customer. Now let me explain what I mean when I say “past customers”. I mean people who have bought from you in the past but don’t buy from you anymore. You can figure them out. All you have got to do is look back through your accounts.
[player]
You should have a system in place to do that — to analyze that data and figure out who hasn’t bought recently. Just simply go through your accounts and find if they’ve bought anything recently and get their details. Now what I’m going to need you to do is make sure you have the following information —
- Customer Name
- Customer address
- Customer phone number
- Customer email
Now, you have three ways of contacting them. They trusted you in the past, and guess what? They will trust you again. Let’s find out how we can make the most of them.
How to Make the Most of Your Past Customers
1. The Nine Word Email
The first one is easy. We are going to take advantage of a very clever and fabulous guy –Dean Jackson. He came up with this concept called the ‘Nine word email.’ It works and has been proven to work over and over, so trust me.
I didn’t invent this, but I know it works. Just do it exactly as I explain.
Start with your email subject line. Simply use hi’ or ‘hello’. You can even put their name if you want, such as — ‘Hello Jeff’. Don’t waste time with ‘Hello Jeff’ again in the body. It’s an email, and emails are designed to be quick to get people’s attention.
So just say, for example, that you are a fire extinguisher maintenance company. So the email will say ‘Are you still interested in fire extinguisher maintenance? And then hit enter twice and then put your name. No need for closing words like “kind regards, Sincerely, etc.
This email does not need all the bells and whistles — just a simple and plain looking one. Leave out the logos, the images, the html. All you need is text and no other detail than that.
That is the beauty of the entire system. When they get that email, a lot of your customers will open it up and they will realize that it’s directly from you.
Now those of you who use auto-responders, you would use this for your dead list where you don’t get a response from someone.
You can put a lot of line spaces between your name at the end and where it has to insert signature at the bottom. So that’s kind of further down the page but hidden out of obvious sight. Now when people get that email, they think that is just from you, just to them — one on one.
You will be amazed at how many people will reply.
2. Offer Them Something To Compliment a Past Purchase
Is there something else you can offer your customer? For example, if they bought something in the past, is what you can offer them something like an accessory that will go with what they bought?
If so, then pick up the phone and call them or even better –send them something in the mail that relates to their purchase. Of course they may say to you, “I still have not quite decided.” That is a hot lead. Get straight on them and don’t hang around, don’t wait, don’t mess about. That is all you need to do. How easy is that?
3. The Old Fashioned Hand Written Note
Now if your customer no longer has an active email address, or for some reason, you do not have a phone number, you can always send them a ‘hand written’ note. Use a single piece of paper (not a scrap of paper) and just say, ‘Hi Joe’. Just wondering were you still interested in, and then list the product, and then sign your name.
Be sure to include your phone number for the customer to contact you. You will want to include everything under the sun in this hand written note to your customer, but DON’T do it. Leave out all the special offers, etc. Only list the essential information.
Be sure to hand write the envelope as well. Write it directly to them. Put personal or private on the front, because most secretaries and receptionists are probably going to open the mail for them unless it is marked otherwise.
That will get a response of some kind. If you don’t have any of the above information in order to send them correspondence, just call them on the phone and ask them the question over the phone. You must have a lot of old customers.
How long is that going to take? It’s going to be a cycle. You will be able to tackle this if you take it just a few per day and work on it over time. You will be amazed, and it doesn’t cost you a penny — well maybe a stamp.
Tuesday Toolbox Tip
Today I am going to share a modern marketing tool with you — Trello. This is a free tool. It’s like a pinterest board for to-dos and lists making, but can be used for so many thing.
You can use it for project management. It is very clever. You can share, you can collaborate. Multiple people can get access. It will sync so use it on the desktop, and then sink to your iPhone or your iPad.
You can get it live on whatever device you’re on and you can update it. You can use it to plan a wedding, or to plan a tour, or you can save images in it and then put it all in a board. The possibilities are endless.
You can make it like a blog post. You can invite people to share. You can send information. I found the best to way to learn how to use it — go on Google and type in ‘how to use Trello?’ or ‘best ways to use Trello’.
Click here to instantly download our FREE Book
“The 71 Ultimate Marketing Tools”
Then after you’ve done that in Google, go to Youtube and put ‘the best ways to use Trello’. There is a lot of information and people have put up guides on how to use it and they all have great ideas, it’s fabulous. It’s free. Just try it. Trust me!
Subscribe
What way is the best way for you to connect with your past customers?
