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Smart
executives know it's
important to keep your current customers coming back to buy
from you, maybe even more than finding new customers.
So how do they do it?
Smart marketers put marketing "systems" in place to
get you to choose them in the first place and to keep you
coming back.
Systems are used for finding new
customers and selling to existing customers. So what
systems do you use to entice your customers to come back and
buy from you? What's a system in the first place?
It's a series of steps
you pre-determine to accomplish a particular task such
as coming back to buy from you again. A broad overview
of a system is 1) collecting customer contact information when
they buy (2) then putting it in a database (3) then using
tools to send a reminder or
invitation to buy again.
To your customer it can be several
things. A phone call, a fax, an email, a postcard, a
letter (all of which are tools),
they receive from you. The purpose of each tool should be
specific and include an offer.
Most often your tools arrive at
the your customer's doorstep, in their mail, in their inbox,
on the phone, consistently over a
long period of time that keep your company, product or service
in front of your customer. Here are some examples:
POSTCARDS - JIFFY LUBE
| I take my cars to Jiffy Lube for oil changes, radiator flushes
and to replace burned out lights (they usually change the
lights for less than I can buy the bulbs at an auto parts
store). |
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They recommend changing oil &
filter every 3 months or 3,000 miles. Their system
consists of 2 marketing tools. A personalized sticker
inside my windshield with my target mileage & next visit date written on it for
my next oil change. And a reminder postcard
mailed out 75 days after my last visit,
to come back in for an oil change.
The postcard is 4" x 6".
On the billboard side (below) they do a little branding with
their logo, their services and some copy that says "Just a reminder, you're
due for an oil change". These are preprinted in large
quantities with the same message.
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Flip it over and on the
address side is where they make their specific, personalized
"offer".
Please bring in your (they insert
your car year, make and model in all CAPS) for a Signature
Service oil change.
$3 Off Now Jiffy Lube
Signature Service.
Pretty simple looking and
effective. I normally throw it in my car, check the
sticker they put on the windshield and by 3,000 miles
I'm there. |
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This address side is "personalized" with
my car information, the offer (Signature Service) they want me
to buy and my address for mailing.
They use probably use a mail
house to send these out by the tens of thousands each month to their
customer base.
Why do they do this?
To keep a $300/year customer (2 cars x 4 visits per year per
car x $35/visit) from going down the street to one of 4 other
oil change shops in my neighborhood.
I've been taking my cars to
Jiffy Lube for at least 10 years. My lifetime value to
them so far is about $3,000. So is it worth it to
spend 50 cents in materials and postage every 3 months for a
reminder postcard with a small incentive ($3.00 off) to come
back to Jiffy Lube? They think so. I'd agree.
THANK YOU EMAILS & NEWSLETTERS
- RED CROSS
Hurricane Katrina struck the US
on Monday Aug 29, 2006. Two days later when the
President and news channels started promoting organizations to
funnel funds to relief providers, I went to the Red Cross
website and made a donation.
In minutes I received a reply
email back from them (click
here to view) thanking me for my donation.
Then a week later I started to
receive
Situation Updates. After that I started receiving
monthly newsletters titled One Minute Update from them
advising me on their ongoing activities.
Here are links to these
newsletters for
November 2005,
December 2005 and
February 2006.
In between the newsletters I
receive
requests for donations with the subject line on the email
reading: can we count on your support?
Do these types of tools work?
In the 7 months since Katrina the American Red Cross
reportedly received $2,116,000,000.00 (that's $2.116
Billion) in donations and pledges.
Their systems for accepting the
money are immense & varied including local organizations,
inbound call centers and their website. But the ongoing
contact with prior givers certainly generates "repeated
donations".
 Why do this? For me I
"feel" good knowing what activities and results my donations
are helping the Red Cross accomplish. When I feel like
giving or the next disaster strikes, I'll choose to go back to the Red Cross because
I feel they've
maintained a relationship with me via their emails and
newsletters.
Newsletters are one way
to build relationships and create a sense of reciprocity in
your customers, clients and patients so they'll continue to
favor you with their business.
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TOOL NOTE - Sending
emails is virtually free and emailing newsletters in bulk via
services like Blue
Sky Factory,
Constant Contact and
Exact
Target (there are dozens of email vendors) can cost around
$8.00 per thousand or $0.008 each.
Or if you're on a budget,
programs like
High Impact Email help you build your emails through
templates then you send them through your own email account
for whatever your monthly fee is.
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EMAIL SALES ANNOUNCEMENTS -
KOHLS
One day I went to Kohls, a
clothing store chain, and bought a sweater for my wife.
Ever since then every 2 weeks I receive sales announcements via
email about their sales. (click on the graphic below for
a sample email)
The one above is intended to
drive you to their website. I receive others that drive
you to their retail stores.
Do they work?
Unfortunately yes. I know because one, I pay the bills
and see their bill come through. And two, I've seen the
power they have to drive behavior. A quick example.
My wife and I were at a local
strip mall where Kohls is right next to Staples. I thought I
was there to buy a ream of printer paper for $5. Instead
I was notified that Kohls happened to be having a sales and if
you bought BEFORE 1:00 pm that day, everything was 50%
off. (Plus with her Kohls card she received ANOTHER 15%
off.)
It was noon and the next hour
was spent at Kohls filling a shopping cart with new clothes.
All the registers had lines 4 people deep.
Whenever I'm at Staples with their 5-10 cars in their parking
lot, Kolhs lot usually has 50-100 cars in theirs.
I'm no stock picker but here's
the quick numbers. $13.4 Billion in Revenue. $4.7
Billion in Gross Profit. $841 Million in Net Income last
year. Their symbol is
KSS.
Now it's fair to say they
have good quality merchandise and their repeat traffic of
course doesn't all come from these emails BUT from what I can
see they help.
Simple Overview Of Jiffy
Lube's Marketing System
|
Customer
Viewpoint |
In Store |
Marketing System |
| Day 0 -
Customer Visit |
Log mileage & print out sticker at current mileage +3000
miles, place in window, upper left corner, after
service. |
Jiffy Lube
central computer starts counting days since last visit. |
| Day 75 |
 |
Flag
customer, send customer data to mailing house for mail
merge. |
| Day 76 |
Mail merge
and print personalized postcard. |
| Day 77 |
Deliver to
post office. |
| Day 80-83 |
Postcard
delivered to customer. |
|
Day 84+
Customer acts on postcard reminder with
offer ($3 off)
and/or notices the next visit mileage written on sticker
and returns to change oil |
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MARKETING
SYSTEM |
In Retail
Store |
In
Corporate Office |
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EQUIPMENT USED: |
Host
computer to capture customer information: address, car,
mileage, services performed & print window sticker. |
Server
computer to maintain customer info & retail location.
Internal or external mail merge postcard printer. |
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MARKETING TOOLS USED: |
Next Visit
Window Sticker |
Direct
Mail Postcard with DISCOUNT OFFER |
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MARKETING MODE: |
Servicing |
Servicing |
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FROM LAST WEEK...
Which letter
from the fitness center was more STAND ALONE and which one was
part of a SYSTEM? Answer - the letter that offered a
Free Week
was part of a system.
(click to see
both)
The other letter
that said come in and join today was more stand alone because
it's asking you to come in and "buy" without any "prior
knowledge of the company. The "system" letter takes the
approach of just trying to get you to visit the fitness center
- that's it. No pricing, no join today, no "pressure".
The free week is
OFFER and it's used as the HEADLINE in the letter. You want people to 1st
come in. Once there they can try the equipment and have
your staff, whether it's sales people or trainers, help the
person get to know how to use the facility. Have your
staff learn about the person and their goals THEN explain
features and benefits and how becoming a member can help them
achieve their fitness or health goals.
The other letter
is like asking a stranger you just met if they want to go get
married. Too much too fast.
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 Emails
& postcards are by no means the only tools you can use as part
of your system for keeping customers coming back. Others
are direct mail (letters), faxes (to businesses),
telemarketing (within the law), tele-seminars, conferences,
trade shows, speeches, CDs, etc..
 Don't
let the operational mechanics of building systems STOP
YOU from actually doing it. Ask your peers at other
companies HOW they build their systems and WHO they use as
vendors. Most software can be tried on a trial basis or
vendors can demo their programs.
 Systems
are usually executed when certain time frames go by, events
occur (or don't occur) or at prescheduled intervals.
When this years hurricane season officially opened I received
another
Red Cross email asking to donate in preparation
for expected needs this year.
 Build
& work from a marketing calendar that details each week or
month what activities you're doing to keep customers coming
back. Rule of thumb: don't let a MONTH go by without
customer contact. Would you let a month go by without
calling your mother??
NEXT WEEK - How I helped grow a company from
$2,000,000 in sales to $9,000,000
in sales in LESS THAN 24 MONTHS. (We had a very
good SYSTEM.)
Until then keep Growing Your
Business!
Jeff Bell,
www.Growing-Your-Business.com
Do you have a marketing question?
I have an answer.
Click here and go to
www.AskJeffBell.com
Turn on your SPEAKERS to hear my
message.
Jeff Bell
Sales and Marketing RESULTS
PO Box 267
Noblesville, IN 46061
317-774-3787
www.Growing-Your-Business.com
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