Firstly, let me explain …when I say “Just say thank you” to people I’m not suggesting for one minute to teach you manners. What I want you to think about is exactly how do you say ‘thank you’ to your customers at the moment? …or perhaps, now thinking about it you don’t say ‘thank you’?
Before we get into this any further, lets just remind ourselves the real business value in having a happy customer…
A]. a customer is much more likely to want to do business with you again if they feel valued by you.
B]. In almost all business transactions, money is parted with by the customer for your product or service. The ’softening’ of the act of parting with money will help make future purchases less an ordeal and more a positive experience, which is exactly what saying ‘thank you’ has the ability to do.
C]. A strong ‘thank you’ (we’ll talk more about how to do this in a moment) has the ability to build resilient
relationship bridges between you, your business and the customer, to the point that the customer WANTS to do more business with you rather than any of your competitors.
D]. The cost of retaining loyal customers who repurchase will always be far less a cost then the amount it takes to find new customers.
These are just a few reasons why you should say ‘thank you’ to your customers and I could go one with many more but I think by now you’ve got the idea saying ‘thank you’ is important for your buiness.
So, let’s go back to my opening question - do you say ‘thank you’ now to your Customers? I don’t doubt that when someone buys your product or pays to use your services you acknowledge with a ‘thanks’ but
I’m asking you to consider going way beyond this. Here’s some ideas for you to consider…
=> 1. Why not follow up any Customer order with a personal, hand-written (very important!) thank-you card. Imagine your customer receiving a card in the post (not via email - too impersonal and gets lost amongst all the other stuff they receive in their Inbox), and that card is a hand-written note sincerely thanking them for their business, and saying you appreciate that they choose to order from you, or use
your services. Even if you don’t write it personally but someone in your business does, it still has the same impact.
Think about this - how good would you feel if the last time you bought something or used someone’s services, a couple of days later you had a hand-written ‘thank you’ note arrive in your letterbox? Would make you feel pretty valued, yes?
=> 2. Why not think about using your ‘thank you’ to do an upsell on another associated product or service, but you offer it at a very special price as a way of saying ‘thank you’ to your customer.
=> 3. What about finding a way of getting your customer’s date of birth; and yes I know some people are reluctant to give their details but just ask for Day & Month and don’t worry about Year so they’re then keeping private their age. Armed with this info you can now send them a regular birthday card (again hand written), and its another great opportunity to thank them for being one of your customers.
=> 4. What about in your ‘thank you’ card you enclose a short questionnaire asking them for any ideas on how you could improve service to them. This is a great way to continue the relationship building and keep communicating with them.
=> 5. What about asking them to recommend you to 3 friends. We’ll discuss more the power of Referrals to your business, and ways to get them, in a future MPI edition but now why not consider just asking customers for 3 people you could be recommended to. And the time Customers are most receptive to
giving this info is just after they’ve just done business with you.
Don’t ask for loads of details when asking for Referrals - just ask for the First & Last Name and an email address, and tell Customers exactly what you will say in your email to their contacts so they are comfortable about you emailing them.
=> 6. Here’s a fun way to say ‘thank you’ that we’ve used before, which you can use or change to suit you …we sent a little ‘thank you’ card (again hand written) that said “Thank you for being our newest Customer. We sincerely thank you for your business. Just having you as a new Customer gives us that excited ‘Friday feeling’ and so to give you that same feeling please enjoy a Crunchie on us!”, and then we’d enclose a Crunchie bar in with the card in jiffy bag.
Now I know what you’re thinking …corny, right? Yes I admit, but effective it certainly was. When we next were in contact with that new Customer how many of them do you think remembered us? How many times do we think our name was brought up over bar-b-qs, dinner parties, cups of coffee …all of them telling
their friends about the quirky ‘thank you’ that came with a Crunchie bar!
Don’t be scared to find fun and unusual ways to say ‘thank you’ …your customers will remember it and your business will thank you for it!
In closing now, don’t dismiss the power of what a strong, personal ‘thank you’ can do for your business. The cost of sending a card or something emotive, will be returned in business 20-fold, and you will retain ongoing loyal customers who will enjoy doing business with you time and time again.
So, now let me now ‘thank’ YOU for taking the time to read my blog …hope you found the info
useful. There’s much more to come so check back regularly…
Kind regards, 
