Calling your past clients on the phone to update your database is the perfect time to get their email address and let them know about any discounts, specials or new products you may be offering. Ask them if they would be interested in receiving a monthly email newsletter or participating in a new referral reward program that you just implemented. A strong solid customer relationship is the best sales tool for generating future business, and as much as we hate to admit it, there’s nothing more impacting on sustaining customer loyalty than calling customers personally. The main purpose for contacting your past customers on the telephone should be to
1. remind them about your business
2. update their contact information (and get their current email address), and just as importantly
3. get them to refer you to others.

Once you’ve connected with them via telephone, your first question should be to ask how they’ve been. Then, establish whether they had a positive experience with your company or not. If not, see if you can salvage the relationship. If they did have a good experience, then you can pursue your original intent, to update info, get their email address, and their permission to stay in touch. By practicing targeted permission-based emailing on a consistent basis, you will save serious money on advertising through improving customer loyalty and keeping your customers longer. Repeat customers are cheaper to get and buy more product than a new customer. Some of the applications for sending permission-based emails to valued customers include:

1. Periodic discount offers that are good toward future purchases or business.

2. Reward Incentives in exchange for referrals.

3. Coupons that can be forwarded on to others.

4. Monthly or quarterly newsletters with valuable tips targeted to your customer's needs and wants.

My suggestion would be not to email your customers more than twice a month. Emailing too often can have an adverse affect and cause your customers to get irritated with you. However, when you take time to re-connect with past clients and show them that you are personally interested in them, the rewards can be significant, not only for generating repeat business, but also for getting more referrals.

Diana D’Itri is the co-founder of Ravebiz, a leading referral marketing and technology company that specializes in boosting online referral lead generation through its innovative Rave eReferral system software. Since co-founding the firm in May, 2002 with her partner, Brett Duncan, she has played an integral role in the development and implementation of the Ravebiz eReferral system for a number of diverse industries, including mortgage, medical, and retail. She’s a key driving force behind educating clients on how to generate more quality referred customers through practical applications supported by an automated, web based system.

Diana can be reached at (866) 284-3020 or diana@ravebiz.com Or visit Ravebiz’ web site at http://www.ravebiz.com

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