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Ann uses her Plymouth for hauling tools and building materials. She owns rental properties, and does the repairs and maintenance herself. Two months ago, Ann's venerable old vehicle needed repair. So, she took the Plymouth to an auto repair shop here in Tucson. A few hours and $80.00 later, she got the car back. Unfortunately, the problem was still there. Needless to say, Ann was not thrilled. She'd never patronized this establishment before, and she wasn't too eager to return. So, imagine her surprise—and annoyance—when she received a postcard from the shop. It was one of those reminder cards you get when your car is due for periodic maintenance. Among other things, it said: "We know you have a choice when servicing your vehicle and we sincerely appreciate your business." Then the card when on to list five recommended services, based on her car's mileage. I can visualize what was going on back at the shop. When she first brought the car in, Ann The New Customer became part of the shop's database. Then, two months pass, and it's time to send her the Bring Your Car In For Service postcard. Unfortunately, a vital step was missing from this process. It was the follow-up step. A day or two after Ann got her car back, the shop should have called her to ask how the car was working. After all, she was a brand-new customer, and it is difficult to get new customers in a business that's as hyper-competitive as auto repair. A simple "Thank you, and how are things going?" call wouldn't have taken more than five minutes. And Ann would have told them that the Plymouth was still having problems. But, alas, no call ever came. Postcard Marketing Done Badly, Part Two One of the joys of being in the property management business is that you find yourself on the mailing list of every real estate agent who works in your area. Or so says my "lucky" neighbor, Ann. She has been on the mailing list of one guy who has been especially persistent. Seems that Bob has a real hankering to list the property that Ann owns in his city. She gets his postcards several times a year. In addition to sending the cards, Bob has also called Ann to ask if she's ready to list. She has turned him down every time. Why? Because Ann feels that Bob comes across like a high-pressure salesman. She doesn't think that approach would be welcomed by potential buyers of her property. So, when it comes time to sell, she sure isn't going to be calling Bob. Not that he's calling her anymore. After getting several turndowns, Bob must have gotten tired of making long-distance calls to Ann in Tucson. But those postcards keep on coming... Postcard Marketing Done Badly, Part Three Now, let's talk about what went wrong, and how these two businesses could do better with their postcarding. 1. At the Auto Repair Shop Ann would like to offer some advice to the auto repair shop that's hoping for repeat business: "Before you send a postcard, check and see if the customer was satisfied with the initial work." To which I would add, "Don't assume that all is well if you don't hear anything from the customer." Ann was just too busy—and annoyed—to call that shop and tell them that her car still wasn't working right. A quick follow-up call from the shop, combined with an offer to make that repair right at no extra charge, would have been appreciated. A "we sincerely appreciate your business" postcard two months later was not. 2. "If you don't have any friends in real estate, you don't have any friends." Just about everyone's heard that saying. And there sure is a lot of truth to it. But the hyper-competitiveness of the real estate field doesn't justify dumb marketing. Not now. Not ever. Back in December 2002, I profiled a real estate agent who, in my not-so-humble opinion, does an outstanding job of postcard marketing. You can read about Shelly Gallichio's unique approach here. So, to all of you real estate people out there, I say, "Be like Shelly." And, to everyone else, I say: Every one of your postcards should delight your recipients, not annoy them. This means that your work, whether you're a butcher, baker or candlestick maker, should be first-rate. Nothing less will do. One more thing, if you follow your card mailings with phone calls, and people repeatedly turn you down, then take them off your list. You may think that you can wear down their sales resistance by sending more postcards, but all you're doing is being a pest. If you'd like to learn more about doing postcard marketing right, buy the Postcard Marketing Secrets manual now. It's in the Adobe Acrobat PDF format, which means that you can download it and put it to work right away. Martha Retallick, "The Passionate Postcarder," hails from Tucson, Arizona, USA. She is the author of Postcard Marketing Secrets, a downloadable PDF manual will show you how to put postcards to work for your business—profitably. Learn more about it at: http://www.PostcardMarketingSecrets.com | ||||||||||
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