Graham McGregor: The power of 'high touch-low tech' marketing

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Opinion

Here's a simple way to get a large number of people remembering your business.

The strategy is the simple practice of sending out a small number of handwritten thank you cards on a regular basis.

This is my favourite 'low tech-high touch' marketing strategy.

('High Touch' is a phrase coined by John Nesbitt in his best selling book Megatrends. It means a person has an interaction in some way with a real person rather than a computer screen or voice response system. As John pointed out 'there is no substitute for the personal touch.')

I use personalised thank you cards from a local print centre.

They look good and don't cost much. The key with thank you cards is to send out at least four each work day and have a personal handwritten message inside each one.

Here are the types of things you could say in your thank you cards when you send them out...

1. Thank you card after meeting with someone

"Hi Bob; thank you for taking the time to meet with me. I enjoyed talking with you and look forward to seeing how we can best be of service. Regards John"

Notice that this thank you card message is only a few sentences long. One of the things I love about thank you cards is they only take a minute or two to write.

Another nice benefit of hand written thank you cards is the people you send them to will always remember you when you contact them at a later date. (This is because hand written thank you cards are so rare to receive.)

2. Thank you card after a purchase

"Hi Bob; thank you for investing in our product or service. I know you will delighted with the benefits you receive and look forward to your positive feedback. Regards Jane."

A very common experience when you buy a product or service (particularly one that costs a lot of money) is what we call 'Buyer's Remorse".

In other words you wonder if you've made the right decision buying this product or service. A thank you card after a client purchase goes a long way toward reducing any second thoughts or doubts they may have about what they have bought.

3. Thank you card for a referral

"Hi Bob; thanks for the referral to Fred Smith. I appreciate your thoughtfulness. I'll let you know how I get on when I talk with him. Regards John."

If you want more referrals from your clients it pays to thank them whenever they give a referral to you.

4: Thank you card after a 'no'

"Hi Bob; thank you for taking the time to consider letting us be of service. I'm sorry we aren't able to be of help right now. If you need any more information please contact me. Regards Jane".

There are many people you speak with who you will not make a sale to right now. However if you thank them for considering you, it always leaves the door open in the future to getting referrals from this person and maybe even a sale at a later date.

If you send out four thank cards each work day this is 20 a week and close to 1,000 thank you cards in a year.

So you are now positively influencing 1,000 people in a delightful 'low tech-high touch' way.

What a great way to differentiate your business from all your competitors.

"Here is a simple but powerful rule - always give people more than what they expect to get"
Nelson Boswell

Action Exercise:

Send out 4 handwritten thank you cards a day in your business for the next 90 days and notice what happens.

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 27 countries.) You can email Graham on graham@twomac.co.nz