Graham McGregor: The Added Value Dripping Tap

Each drip of communication holds value. Photo / Thinkstock

Opinion

Imagine a dripping tap which goes 'drip, drip, drip' continuously over a period of time.

Each individual drip does not seem to have much of an impact.

Yet over time, these continual drips can fill a large container and can even wear a hole in something hard like stone.

Now think of each drip as being a communication from you to a customer or potential customer where you add value in some way.

There may be no apparent result or impact from each individual added value communication you make. But over time, with repeated communications like this you can create a huge number of new customers, repeat sales and referrals.

Here's a good example:

A few years ago I read a great article on marketing by Bob Serling. (At this point I had never heard of Bob.) I signed up for a free ezine from Bob and over the next 12-18 months I received a number of helpful articles on marketing and increasing sales. Bob then offered a personal mentoring programme to help individual clients increase sales with more effective marketing. I had no hesitation in paying for this service as I really liked the helpful added value information I had been receiving from Bob. (It turned out to be excellent investment and was directly responsible for helping me increase my sales by over 91% within the first three months.)

Bob's approach is an excellent example of the 'Added Value Dripping Tap.'

Bob is continually in touch with existing clients and also with potential new clients in a way that adds great value. And while each individual message he sends may not produce a huge amount of sales, the cumulative impact over a period of time is excellent. (Bob has a wonderful free marketing resource called Ten Minute Business Success which I highly recommend you check out.)

The 'Added Value Dripping Tap' strategy can be used by any business...

Just make the decision to stay in touch and add value to three important groups of people. The first group is your existing customers and clients. The second group is potential customers and clients. And the third group is what we call Centres of Influence. (These are people who can recommend you to potential customers.)

So how do you add value and stay in touch?

I recommend you do it two ways:

First of all you should use digital media to add value and stay in touch.

You could send out a regular ezine that contains genuinely useful information. You might post a helpful video with useful 'how to' tips related to your product or service. You could provide an online monthly magazine with interesting articles.

Secondly you should send out added value information in a hard copy format as well.

Maybe six times a year you 'snail mail' something that 'adds value' in some way.

It could be a hand written 'Thank You Card' to a Centre of Influence which says you appreciate them recommending your business. You could post out a hard copy article on a topic that you know a potential client is interested in. This goes with a note that says 'Hi John saw this and thought you might find it interesting.' You might send an existing client a fun and unexpected gift. 'Hi Sue, thanks for being a client. I thought you might enjoy this small gift. With my compliments.'

When you use the 'Added Value Dripping Tap' consistently you will be delighted at the large amount of new sales, repeat sales and referral business you create.

Action Exercise:

How can you implement an Added Value Dripping Tap programme in your own business?

"The drops of rain make a hole in the stone, not by violence, but by oft falling" - Lucretius 95BC

Graham McGregor is a marketing consultant and the creator of the 396 page Unfair Business Advantage Report. www.theunfairbusinessadvantage.com (This is free and has now been read by business owners from 11 countries.) You can email Graham on graham@twomac.co.nz