31 Ways to Build Your Business
Because there are so many ways to use this system and I get asked what are the best
ways to use it, I thought I’d provide a quick list of my top 31 ways to use
Send OutCards.com/sweet that will help you grow – even during a recession.
Except where noted, all these can be set up as campaigns and other than the initial
approval of content and uploading signature/handwriting, the owner/manager of any
business can have all this done clerical staff.
Note that the best use of SOC is for building personal relationships by showing
appreciation, sending heart-felt messages and small gifts, not hard core selling. When
people open a greeting card in the mail, they expect a personal message and that’s
what they should get.
In summary, here are the 5 categories you can use the SOC system to automate for
your business.
1. Customer Retention Programs
2. Customer Referral Programs
3. Lost Customer Reactivation Programs
4. Converting Leads to Customers
5. Employee Recognition Programs
Customer Retention Programs
1. “Thank You” for your business card/note – should go out after every job/order –
photo of the owner & family inside, bus card upload, personal note – depending
on size of job, maybe include a small gift like brownies – you can also use this
card as a way to get people to go to a web page and answer a question
survey.
2. 1 Question Survey – Send a card after every order to get your customer to go to
a landing page and fill out your “1 question survey”. This card can offer some
sort of a downloadable coupon as a gift in exchange for their opinion.
3. “Thank You” for the business card (Google Maps) – ask customers you
already know are very happy with your service to go to your Google Maps listing and give you 5 star review –(and then send them a gift for doing that).
Build your social proof and control your reviews by getting the ones you want.
4. Holiday cards – especially for Thanksgiving – perfect holiday to appreciate your
customers – also Christmas and other fun holidays – when did you last get a groundhog day card? Show your personality and have some fun--people love getting quirky cards that make them laugh or think.
5. “Thank You For Your Time” – after doing any in-person sales call, send a
thank you for your time card. We know of million dollar deals where one
company got the business by showing appreciation in advance of the account
becoming a customer. This really makes you stand out from your competitors.
6. Sequential monthly cards – offer helpful information about how to buy whatever
you sell. This type of card builds trust because you are sincerely trying to help
people without asking anything in return.
7. Birthday Cards – an ideal time to send a card to a customer – people in their
family might even forget, but with the reminder system in SOC, you never will.
Very good for building that personal relationship you should want to establish
with all your customers. Use photos for greater impact.
8. “I’m Sorry” – if you ever mess up – make sure to fix the problem immediately
and send an I’m Sorry card with brownies. There are some very cute cards with
animals of children that say I’m sorry. Not to say you want to mess up on
purpose, but nothing will make a relationship stronger than showing the customer
that if there’s a problem, you will go out of your way to make it right and apologize.
9. Annual Gift – one of the most effective techniques – send a nice holiday gift.
You don’t have to do the same thing for every customer, but send at least your
top customers a nice gift at holiday time. I have clients who do this and whose
customers say they could never leave them because they want to see what the
gift will be next year!
10. Personal Card with Photos – whether it’s a before and after photo card of the
job you just did for them, or a card with a photo of the customer, their family,
pets, kids, etc. People save cards like this forever and you can make them in
minutes from your computer for less than $1.00. Not a campaign – but a “one-off”
card made from digital photos.
11. Personal – the owner can use the system for their personal needs for birthday,
anniversary, sympathy, congratulations, and any other occasion they might like
to send a card.
Customer Referral Programs
12. Use for all your Referrals – with or without gift depending on value of a referral. When people are regarded for referrals they give you more!
13. “Faithful Customer” method – going to your suppliers asking them for referrals
since you have been a faithful customer of theirs.
14. “Fire My Ad Agency” and give the money to you method – offering cash for referrals.
15. “Who Do You Know” method of asking for referrals.
16. “We Love Referrals” method of asking for referrals.
17. “This one’s for you” method – formalize the giving of a referral to someone else
– invokes the law of reciprocity.
18. “Note From George” – very cute, effective, and engaging. “George” is a dog and the card is signed with his paw print. Do you love pets or are you known for your collection of unicorns or butterflies? Make it the centerpiece to a custom campaign that sets you apart.
19. “Thank You” – any time you can show sincere appreciation for someone else it
builds relationships and therefore referrals.
20. Do JVs with other non-competitive business owners with the same target market – you use the
“Let’s Do Lunch” card to get the meeting and then propose to provide a gift and
a letter of appreciation to go to the other person’s customers. You pay for the gift
(discount coupon for your services) and the mailing.
Lost Customer Reactivation Programs
21.“We Want You Back” campaign – sequence of 2 or 3 cards to let a
customer know we miss them and would like them back – offering an incentive to
use you again and asking if there was a past problem you didn’t handle
properly...
Converting Leads To Customers
22. “Nice To Meet You” – special card for each networking group you may be in –
bring business cards of people you meet and have an admin person launch the
campaign.
23. “Before and After” – if you provide a service that can be illustrated with before
and after photos, send to people who are prospects for that.
24. “We Want To Earn Your Business” – we have cards specifically for this too.
25. Monthly Tips Cards – great, inexpensive way to build trust and help people
before they become customers.
26. Send People To Your Web Videos – People like video better than reading these days. Put videos on your website doing demos of your product and providing a strong call-to-action at the end. Give people the
URL in the card. Maybe even use an opening screen shot with a headline on the
front of the card.
Employee Recognition Programs
Everyone likes to be appreciated and business owners never do it enough. We typically
don’t hesitate to let people know when they do something wrong, but are slow to
appreciate what they do right. Studies have shown appreciation and recognition are
valued by employees more than money.
27. Personal Note From Owner – to an employee who has done something well.
28. “Anniversary of Employment” – congratulate on working here for 1, 2, 3, etc
years. The SOC system can do automatically using the “anniversary” field to mean anniversary of employment instead of wedding.
29. Birthday – the most important day of the year to the employee – maybe
forgotten by family or loved ones, but should never be forgotten by you –
automatic using the “birthday” field in the contact manager.
30. Appreciation for a job well done – not only from you, but can be from anyone
in a management position to those they supervise.
31. Congratulations – for achieving a new certification, getting a promotion, etc
Setting up only half of these programs can skyrocket your business with essentially no
advertising or marketing other than just this! Contact me if you would like help
implementing these programs.
32. BONUS Idea - Welcome mat campaign. A series of cards after the sale to help customer better use your product and to learn more about your other services.