Do You Remember Me? - Part 2

In my previous article, I suggested that you stay in touch with your customers via an anniversary card on the anniversary of the product or service you provided. As a result, they would be constantly reminded of your services and perhaps would possibly recommend you to their friends, family, neighbors, and co-workers. If you’re willing to invest the time or effort in this, I’m confident that the return on your “investment” would meet or exceed anything that you’re doing, from Yellow Pages to direct mail. And, the calls you receive from such a referral would certainly be “pre-qualified.” How impressive do you think it will be to a potential customer to learn that you stay in touch with your customers’ years after the installation? There aren’t many contractors or customer representatives that could make this claim. If you’re going to do it, you need to commit to it. If you aren’t going to keep up with the anniversary cards, then don’t bother getting started. If you don’t follow up, it will only appear that this was a ploy to generate work. If you accept this as a viable alternative to generate new and qualified leads, then I’d like you to consider something else. We all know that buying a new car is something that to a great degree involves emotions. We get excited by the appearance of that new car, the new car smell and by visualizing ourselves tooling down the road. It’s sort of hard to get customers to feel the same way about their new furnace or air conditioner. That’s just a fact. But, wait a minute. What if there was a way to at least get them more involved with their new purchase? For example, I take before and after pictures of all my jobs. The pictures help me when I review my paperwork, as I have a distinct visual aid to refer to. It also becomes part of my portfolio to show my prospective new customers. A natural extension of this is the following: When you complete a new installation, pose your customer, in front of, or beside their new equipment. Think this sounds corny? You’d be surprised at how this would stick with these folks long after the new equipment or system has taken its rightful place ‘out of sight and out of mind.’ Some automobile dealers started do this, and regardless of what you believe about the car sales industry, they do come up with some good ideas from time to time. I never thought I’d go into someone’s home and see a picture of him or her with their new car right next to the kid’s schoolwork on the fridge! Take the picture with your digital camera and then include the photo with that first anniversary card! Use your own ideas on what works best. All I can say is don’t knock it ‘til you’ve tried it. And like I said earlier, remembering them is the best way to ensure they remember you! John L. Lloydhas been involved with HVAC for the past 30 years in a variety of positions and has presented programs and seminars for groups both in and out of this industry. John can be reached at [email protected] and welcomes your comments!