Building a business that stands the test of time requires many things. Delivering on your promises would be the least of them. Doing that at a profit would be paramount. But in all cases of those who made it versus those who did not one thing stays true.

Staying in touch with your existing clients is key!

A Great Way to Stay in Touch With Your Clients

With so much new technology out there you'd be forgiven for forgetting that the best way for staying in touch with your clients is by talking to them directly.

And nothing beats email. Especially if it's a one to one personal email. Your client tends to notice that and generally speaking will respond.

But reaching out to your individual clients on any sort of regular basis is often easier said than done.

Take Back Control of the Beast

Ensuring your business stays in touch with it's client base requires first and foremost having a comprehensive database of who your clients are.

That means that one of the best investments you can make is by implementing a customer database and more importantly implementing the policies across the company that ensures that every new client is recorded on it as a matter of course.

Use It or Lose It

While there’s a certain accolade to having a huge database of existing customers, it's not really all that great if you never use it. Sending out the occasional offer may seem like the best thing since sliced bread to you, but actually the real gold at the end of that rainbow is by sending out personalized mail.

Sitting down and composing a letter personally addressed to each client that they can relate to.

Confronting the Beast

No surprises that the most profitable type of email marketing is the one that is the most personal, the most one to one. It is after all the communication that most closely approximates meeting a person face to face. Mano O Mano.

But how do you speak via email to a group of hundreds if not thousands of clients who knew you and liked you well enough to give you their money for your product or service?

Be personally invested in the relationship!

It's not going to work if you ask one of your staff to write the email. Your client will notice that your subordinate is talking to them. no, you are the one who has to compose the mail. The time for hiding behind the CEO sign on your door has gone.

It's time to put pen to paper or at least fingers to keyboard and say something your can stand behind.

The Buck Stops With You.

If there’s one thing that social media has taught us, its that people want to relate. The days when people quivered when the boss walked past are over. Our markets are no longer in awe of us.

The internet has for all effects and purposes given the client 'right down to the guy who cleans the office' the power. They want to meet us, in person and on an equal footing. Respect is now more than ever the name of the game.

Which is why a letter from the guy at the top is so enormously powerful. Especially when it's personalized and has includes that delicious sense of transparency. Our clients want transparency. Sure, they don’t want doom and gloom but they do want it to be real. Most importantly they want you to be approachable.

Reaping the Rewards

Ask any business owner or CEO and he'll confirm that this single habit is worth its weight in gold. Especially when it's a regular habit and backed up with a response system that clearly indicates that you value their response.

Even if the client only goes as far as reading the subject line as they're clicking delete. There’s a connection for that brief moment.

A Fear Worse Than Death

The Reason We Dont See More Personal Missives From The CEO

Amazingly fear of public speaking remains one of the top fears. This extends to speaking en-masse via the written word.

Conquer this fear and you will have set yourself apart from the vast majority of humanity.

Keep Going

The next really important part of staying in touch with your clients is to keep on doing it. Keep on building the database. Keep it updated. Keep on sending out your personalized emails and keep on responding to every mail you get back.

Set the goal of doing it at least once a month. Anything less and they forget you.

Tips For Staying Relevant

Read more about those people who've made it in this world. Besides being inspired you're sure to notice that each and every one of them had a challenge when it came to speaking to more than one person at a time.

Learn how they did it. Use whatever helps you to actually get a product on sending a newsletter out consistently.

Because once you've sent that message out is when the good stuff happens. Clients call you and reconnect, relationships are strengthened and in many cases there is an increase in sales.

Conclusion

A Business Will Survive Only So Well As It Can Communicate.

And by communicate we mean that process whereby we say something to someone, they both hear what we said and understand it and then respond in turn with their own thoughts and ideas.