How to build and maintain a relationship with your database
22 08 2010The value of your business is in your database. Your database is one of the most important parts of your coaching practice or any business for that matter and so it is very important that you treat it with respect and continue to develop and nurture it.
It is easier to sell to an existing client than it is to get a new customer so you must continually be offering new things to your database so that they can continue to spend money with you. As well as always generating new leads and bringing new people into your funnel, it is also important to create even stronger relationships with those who are already on your database.
If for a moment we replace the word database with the word community it creates a more accurate image of the way we need to relate to our database.
Your community will be made up of prospects and customers and firstly it is valuable to be using software such as Office Outlook or ACT that can assist you to track relationships and group people onto lists.
Once a prospect is in your “funnel” it can sometimes take many contacts with that person before they will choose to spend any money with you. Therefore, by building in these contacts the prospect moves toward becoming a customer. Contacts may include, sending them something in the post, a friendly email, adding them to Facebook or giving them a call on the phone. Some people may like to try before they buy, so if you have the option of a complimentary session or a free workshop or webinar this would appeal to some people.
You will come to realise that some people are fast buyers and some are slower buyers. For example, some people may want to go straight for your high end product after only having had one conversation with you and others will buy a low end product and enjoy your newsletters for months before spending another cent.
You must have different products, programs, systems and strategies, which cater to all of the different buying styles so that your sales and marketing will be attractive to a broader range of people. The personality profiling tool DISC is a great place to start when learning more about buying strategies and is also really valuable when selling, because if you can note the personality profile of the person you are selling to, you can adjust your strategy to suit their style. For example, often times an “I” profile will buy based on the person selling to them rather than the product and would only become frustrated if you were to offer too much detail about the product. They prefer the bigger picture.
Avenues of contact such as a regular newsletter are a great idea because it is a very non threatening way for a prospective customer to get to know you and make a choice about whether or not they would like to do business with you. In recent times staying in contact with your community has become even easier due to social media. Avenues such as Facebook, Twitter and Linked in are fabulous ways of creating a sense of community and giving great value to prospective customers.
Send out cards is another fantastic initiative, which allows you to send cards very affordably to make contact with members of your community. As you can imagine if a prospective customer receives a card from you on their birthday they will be left feeling as though you are someone who cares about them and they will feel even more comfortable to do business with you or refer a friend or family member onto you.
Take some paper and a pen and brainstorm 20 different ways that you could stay in touch with your community and then create Key Performance Indicators for each.
For example
1. Facebook- sent private messages to five people per day who are fans of my business on Facebook
2. Twitter- send one tweet to my community each day offering something of value
3. Newsletter- send a weekly newsletter to my community
4. Complimentary coaching session- offer one per week to different members of my community
5. Make one blog post per week
6. Invite 10 people per week to follow my blog
Each day it is important to create time for; activities that generate new prospects and activities that build relationships with existing prospects and customers. Then of course you must create time to close the deal on new business!! Wow, so many hats to wear when running a coaching business, or of course you could delegate and outsource these activities. Have fun
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