Increasing the ‘frequency of interaction’ increases sales
The number of times you make contact with your customers—your ‘frequency of interaction’—directly affects the amount of repeat sales you make.
The greater the amount of interaction, the greater the sales. The greater the profits, too.
Because you paid to acquire a customer on the first sale, every other sale after that has no cost other than the cost of the goods itself or the labour to complete the service, both of which would be covered in the price. So the more sales you make to a past customer, the more profits you keep.
You see, studies show it costs 6 times more to win a new customer than it does to have an existing customer come back and purchase again. As such, if you can build repeat sales for your business, you’ll be even more profitable. Communication schedules are designed to keep them coming back!
So the more often you communicate with your customers, the more sales you’ll generate for your business. It’s a means of keeping them ‘warm’ to you or ‘on the boil,’ so to speak, ready to buy from you at any time. It can turn them into customers for life.
Communication schedules and the result—staying in touch regularly—offer a great opportunity to nurture your customers. It’s also a great tool for promoting new products or services. Or for cross-promotion of the other products or services that the customer hasn’t yet purchased from you.
There are 2 types of schedules: calendar communication schedules and rolling communication schedules.
Calendar communication schedule
As you can probably guess by its name, this schedule revolves around the calendar and yearly events.
Events like Christmas, New Year’s, end of the financial year, Easter, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, the anniversary of your business, your national holiday. Things that you know happen year in and year out.
The communication schedule maps out the communication you’re going to have with your customers at those special times throughout the year.
You can include regular promotional tools in the yearly calendar communication schedule, too. For example, if you know you’re going to send a quarterly newsletter to your client base, you’d map it out here as well. The same would be true if you sent catalogues to your customers. You’ll find an example at the end of this handout.
Your ‘promotions schedule’ is a consideration here, too. A promotions schedule maps out the specific promotions you’re going to complete during a year. These promotions also revolve around yearly events.
Communication schedules should tie in relevant elements of your ‘promotions schedule’ as well.
Rolling communication schedule
A ‘rolling communication schedule’ rolls with each customer’s activities, so to speak. That is, this schedule isn’t built around any fixed yearly date or event, but rather a specific event in the life of the customer.
For example, some time after the first purchase, the customer might receive a thank you note, letting them know you understand they had a choice and you really do appreciate that they chose you.
Some weeks after the purchase, the customer might receive a follow-up phone call to confirm they’re happy with everything and to let them know you’re available to help out.
At another certain point after their initial purchase, they could receive a special promotion about a product or service they haven’t purchased from you.
Further on, they could receive a reminder letter, offering them a service on their car, lawn mower, television, and so on. For a service business, rather than a service per se, you could offer them a free ‘check,’ where they can visit your business to make sure they’re getting the most out of the service they’ve purchased. Alternatively, you could ask them to complete a feedback form every couple of months just to be sure they’re receiving ongoing value and support.
Often the customer will first receive items from a rolling communication schedule, with the calendar communication following on. This way, your customers are made to feel special and are impressed by receiving personalised mail specific to their needs right from the start.
Then only after that do your customers start to receive other communications that are still useful to them but that may not specifically relate to their personal situation.
Communication schedules continue the great first impression you made at the time of purchase. It continues and builds on the relationship you’ve already created. It’s an impression that shows you really are interested in the customer.
In fact, it removes a condition called ‘perceived indifference,’ where the customers feel you’re indifferent toward them and so leave you to deal with a competitor. Never hearing from someone you bought from creates this impression of indifference. And means you lose a customer.
Communication schedules ensure that you keep the investment you’ve made in winning that customer—and increases sales AND profits from there.
I also wanted to find out how you felt about the level of service you received, whether you thought anything could be improved or changed to make it better for you in the future.
And I also wanted to make sure you knew that if you have any problems, feel free to give me a call right away—we’re always here to help you.”
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