by Gail Z. Martin
Adele and her husband had worked very hard to build a wireless telecom business and it was growing. But she wanted to find a way to stay in touch with her customers between orders, so they would be the first people those customers would call the next time they needed more supplies.
But because of the nature of their kind of business, that created a problem on social media because Adele didn’t want to be talking about rates and industry gossip. Those things were very sensitive. That information was proprietary. And she was afraid that they wouldn’t be able to have a Facebook page because of it.
And it was driving Adele crazy. When she came to me, she said, “I know we need to be on Facebook, but I don’t want people talking business. How do we get our customers together and not talk shop?”
So I asked Adele to tell me about the business she and her husband had built. I was really impressed. And one of the things that impressed me the most was what they did at the holidays.
Every year, instead of sending out cookies or wine baskets, Adele and her husband would select a business book that they had found meaningful and send that book to all their clients, with a note about how it meant a lot to them and they hoped it would help the client’s business.
I got chills down my back. I jumped up and started pacing like I’d just downed a couple of Red Bulls. And I said—“That’s it!”
Adele’s customers all knew about the gift books. That was a story they were familiar with.
So Adele created a Facebook page where she invited all her customers to come have a discussion about the book and what it meant to them. No talking shop, no spilling the beans on sensitive pricing….the story was all about the books.
In other words, Adele was able to create a way for her to have an ongoing conversation with her customers to keep the relationship warm between sales. That’s essential, because if your buyers only need your product a few times a year, no matter how much they like you they can forget about you if months pass without hearing from you.
And when the relationship goes cold, it gets harder for your customers to get past the twin obstacles of not wanting to ask for help and being afraid to spend money. These two obstacles are the biggest speedbumps to getting prospects to move past window-shopping to make a purchase.
