BNI using SendOutCards to grow your referrals

March 1, 2012 By Leave a Comment

We recently were invited to be a substitute for a local BNI networking group. Today we’re going to tell you why it’s a great idea to be connected in the community and why using a program like SendOutCards is a great way to stay in touch with those that you meet.

Our good friend Dan Dickerson had another engagement that he couldn’t miss so he asked me to fill in for him. As a substitute fill in, it was my duty to tell the group what Dan does and what type of referral would be best for him.

To prepare for the BNI meeting I had done some research on being a substitute:

Sometimes you need a substitute when you can’t attend your meeting. It is best if you have a non-BNI member stand in for you, perhaps a partner or customer or other business colleague. If that isn’t possible, members have offered to substitute for other members.

 Who can be your substitute:

  1.  Anyone who is not a member of your chapter, and is not on the list of the list of Who Cannot be a Substitute.
  2. Good Choices Are: Co-workers, Clients, Prospective New Members, Family, and Friends.

When a BNI Member or Non BNI Member, substitute’s for a BNI Member the following guidelines must be followed:

  1. Members must insure their substitute understands everything that will be expected from them. The substitute’s responsibility is to represent the person and the profession of the BNI member, and the substitute can mention their profession if there is no conflict with a BNI member.
  2. Members should know all professions represented in their chapter, and try to avoid a substitute that may be perceived as a competitor to another member of their chapter.
  3. Substitutes should be prepared to give a 30 second presentation about the absent BNI member.
  4. Substitutes should bring any referrals that the absent BNI member may have.
  5. Substitutes should bring back to the absent BNI member any referrals they receive.

Before the meeting started as I was able to visit with and network with several member of the group. This was a great opportunity to meet new people and find out what they do and how we could help each other get more business.

About BNI:

BNI is the largest business networking organization in the world. We offer members the opportunity to share ideas, contacts and most importantly, business referrals. BNI was founded in 1985 by Dr. Ivan Misner. There are hundreds of BNI Chapters around the world.

BNI meetings follow an agenda of introductions, education, 10 minute presentations and the passing of referrals. Most meetings last 90 minutes. After the meeting, the visitors are giving a packet of information on how to join and other materials. Our meeting was no different and went according to plan.

Feel free to check out some of the photo’s from the meeting.

Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug

 Networking with SendOutCards:

As SendOutCards distributors, we strive to use the system to it’s fullest potential this is especially true when attending networking events like BNI.

When meeting someone new it’s always good to learn a little about that person and how their business works. Do they have a territory? What kind of customers are they looking for? Do they specialize in one area? How long have they been in business? How can I help you with a referral?

It’s always good to get a little personal, but no too personal. Asking general questions like are you married? Do you have children? Where are you from? Where did you go to school? What do you like to do in your free time? These questions will help you build a relationship with that person. You should be looking for connections that you can relate to that person with. If you attend the same church or your kids are on the same softball league will immediately help your relationship grow.

A good networker, asks questions, then makes mental notes. Try to match a name to a face. This is one of the best things about networking then connecting later on social networks like facebook and LinkedIn. Be sure to ask for a business card, and have yours ready if they would like one. I normally don’t offer a business card unless they ask. Most people will ask if they are in business.

When I get a business card I look for several things, #1 being an address. Can I send this person a card later on? If it’s not on the card I will ask for it and write it on the back. Then I will ask if it’s okay for me to send you a card in the mail.

Note: when networking and collecting business cards. Always keep one pocket just for those cards of people you meet. As soon as the meeting is over, find a few minutes to go over the cards and make any notes that you remember from your conversations. This practice will reward you with better relationships.

After a meeting like this, I will sit down and begin to send out my cards. First card is always a “nice to meet card” and “hope we can connect in the future”

A good follow up card, is “hope you have a wonderful day” Then just put your name and that’s it. Don’t try to sell a person or give a coupon etc in your card.

With the SendOutCards contact manager, you can organize your contacts by group. Creating groups for single events can help you stay organized. Likewise, you can create unlimited amount of groups, and contacts can be located in multiple groups. For instance you meet someone that is a BNI member and a real estate agent, and maybe a personal friend and they would be listed under all three groups in your contact manger.

Lastly, after your meeting try to think of others in your network that you can give a referral to. This works both ways, if you already know someone that could use this persons service give the referral. If the person you just met could use a current contacts service then put them in touch. This is another great way to use your social networks like facebook and LinkenIn.

What if you are just getting started? What if you just moved to an area or go to a networking event away from your town? You can just let everyone know that you are new or not from there, but you are open to building your network in their area and you would like to connect. I always say “A stranger is just a friend I haven’t met yet”. That will normally break the ice.

Become a better networker, use SendOutCards to build relationships, provide referrals, and get more business.

 

Comments to this post are welcome. Let us know your approach to networking and meeting new people.

 

Michael Sparks-ThoseCardFolks

Filed Under: Networking Tagged With: , , , , , ,

Top 10 Reasons You Should Consider Sending Out Cards!

February 23, 2012 By Leave a Comment

1. Most businesses lose 10-17% of their business every year.

2. 62% of your clients aren’t taking advantage of all of your products or services.

3. 91% of our customers say they would give us a referral, but 80% haven’t been encouraged to do so!

4. Simply saying thank you to your customer will increase your business by 17%.

5. You lose 10% of your influence for every month that you don’t have contact with your client.

6. A 5% increase in customer loyalty could yield 20-80% to your bottom line.

7. Studies show that an average prospect won’t do business with you until they’ve seen or heard from you or your message at least 7 times.

8. 79% of all trade show leads aren’t followed up with. Most business from a trade show comes from the vendor following up with the prospect.

9. 66% of your business within the next year will come from your sphere of influence. How are you staying in touch with them?

10. Only 3% of the mail we receive is personal.

What do you have to lose?

Alecia and Michael

Filed Under: Customer retention, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , ,

The Importance of Follow up

February 18, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Consider this:

48% of sales people never follow up with a prospect
25% of sales people make a second contact and stop
12% of sales people make more than three contacts

2% of sales are made on the first contact
3% of sales are made on the second contact
5% of sales are made on the third contact
10% of sales are made on the fourth contact
80% of sales are made on the fifth to twelfth contact

How do YOU follow up with leads? As you can see from the shocking statistics above, having a simple yet effective follow up system is absolutely essential to growing your business!

Have you ever been involved in a trade show and found that three months later you still have a list of contacts that you haven’t contacted?  Perhaps you contacted them once — but what next?  Do you have a system that automates your follow up to save you both time and money?  Would you be interested in one?

 

Michael & Alecia

Filed Under: Organization, Uncategorized Tagged With: ,

Ways to Grow your Business with SendOutCards

February 5, 2012 By Leave a Comment

Business people often fail to immediately understand the value of a tool like SendOutCards and how this system will help their business. One of the reasons for this is because they aren’t focusing on the right activities. Another is that they underestimate the power of a personalized greeting card! They can’t see that if they used a system like SendOutCards to help build better relationships with their customers those customers will become life long, faithful customers and raving fans.  And those types of customers provide referrals, which is what we all build our business upon.

If you are a business owner, please take a moment to see just a few of the ways you can use SendOutCards in your business to help you get and keep more customers.

  1. Send Birthday Cards to all your customers. You will stand out because you will be the only “business” to remember their birthday.
  2. Upon meeting a new customer, send a nice to meet you. If you can get a picture with them, add that to the card! They won’t throw away a card with THEIR picture in it.
  3. Send a Thanksgiving holiday card. Your card will get there before others send the typical holiday card, thus making your stand out.
  4. Upon closing new business, send a gift or gift card with your thank you.  Think about the impact of a real estate agents including a $50 Home Depot gift card with their thank you, to help the new owner make their home nice.
  5. Use a card to ask for referrals. Ask them “Who else do you know that would love the XYZ service I have provided you?”
  6. Thank people for giving you referrals!
  7. Be mindful of your customers’ life events (i.e., sickness, births, anniversary, death, marriage, graduation, moves, etc.)   Send an appropriate card.
  8. Send a thinking of you card for no reason other than to say “Thinking of you and hope you have a great day!”
  9. Send a reminder postcard for appointments, meetings, and new announcements (like an open house, new services or products, etc.)
  10. Use SendOutCards video card feature (QR Code) to send a personal announcement to them from you. (Upload your video to YouTube and include the QR Code in the card.)
  11. Send a heartfelt card every day (preferably in first thing in the day). It will make YOU feel better and put you in a better mood knowing you touched someone’s life. You will then start your day off right.
  12. Use photos to personalize your cards. As they say, “A picture is worth a thousand words” and for a business person, “A picture could be worth a thousand extra dollars (or more).”
  13. Use SendOutCards to build and strengthen your personal relationships.  Never forget a birthday again by utilizing our easy-to-use contact manager, complete with birthday and anniversary reminders!

Our business customers are ecstatic about using SendOutCards. We can teach you how to use the the SendOutCards system to manage and grow both your personal and professional relationships.

Get in touch with us now to schedule your send a free card walk through. We can do this over the phone. All for a fraction of the cost of the standard greeting card or other “marketing” tools you might be using.

Think about it this way.  Do you remember the last greeting card you received?  Of course you do.  Did you open the envelope and read the card?  Did you even save the card for awhile?  Display it?  Now think about the last email you received from someplace you have previously done business with?  Are your answers the same?  I’d bet not.

We believe appreciation marketing is the best way to grow your business — let us show you how.  Here is what one of our customers, Elaine Murray, has to say about  SendOutCards and its impact on her Mary Kay business.

I have had my own successful Mary Kay business for over 13 years.  I always knew the importance of thanking my customers, but when I signed up for SOC I was somewhat skeptical.  Could it really be this easy and inexpensive?  Boy, was I in for a surprise.  This is one of the easiest ways I have found to stay in touch with my unit members and my customers, as well as family.  The cards are very high quality, and I get thank you’s all the time for remembering a birthday, anniversary, get well, etc.  For my Mary Kay business, I use the system to thank my clients, remember their birthdays and inform them of any specials being featured.  I’m very busy, and because SOC is so easy to use, it is a lifesaver for me.  Thank you SOC!  And thank you to Michael and Alecia who are always available to help me out!
 

If you would like, you can click on the Send a Free Card link and walk through on your own. SendOutCards is an easy to use system.   Or you can contact us and we’ll be happy to give you a guided tour.

To your success!

Alecia & Michael

 

Filed Under: Resources Tagged With: , , ,

Sending Thanks Makes Sense.

January 20, 2012 By Leave a Comment

This blog post is from Michael Sparks, AMSOIL Direct Jobber.

You may or may not know but I have been in business in 2000. I had started in business with the goal of giving my customer the best experience possible with our products and customer service. When I first found SendOutCards, I was already in the habit of thanking my customers for their business. With the SendOutCards system what I found was a more effective, more efficient and easy way to let my customers know how much I appreciate their business.

Recently one of the AMSOIL Corporate Regional Sales Managers wrote an article detailing how important it is to give thanks to your customers. I would agree 110%. I have talked with several of my customers and they say I’m the only vendor that sends cards. Isnt’ that a great idea, sending a personal message of gratitude for their business delivered via the mail will get their attention, and you will be the only one doing it.

Below you will see an expert from the article that was featured in our AMSOIL Dealer magazine.

Steve LePage, AMSOIL Western Regional Sales Manager. November 2011

When you make a sale, a verbal “thank you” is almost automatic. Sometimes it can even be perceived as less than genuine. Should you do more? Absolutely. I am not saying the words are not sincere, but words carry less weight than a gesture does as an act of appreciation. Take the time to send a thank-you email or an e-card. Better yet, go back to the old reliable: an actual handwritten thank-you card.

A handwritten thank-you card shows that you’re willing to take the extra time out of your day to show your appreciation. Sign your name and make each card personal to the customer if possible. Send them to thank people for purchasing a product, or just to thank them for being your customer. You may even wish to send thank-you notes to prospects you have met with who have yet to commit as registered customers. Make this a rule rather than an exception. It will require some quality time, but you will be setting yourself apart from your competitors.

Set a goal of sending something each day that requires a thank-you card be sent, then make sure you send it. When it comes to sending a handwritten thank-you card, there are a few basics you’ll want to remember.

Be prompt. Timing is crucial if you want a thank-you note to really make an impact. Procrastination can lead to missing the opportunity altogether.

Send the card when the memory is still fresh in your customer’s mind. It’s best to respond within 48-72 hours of a meeting or sale. It will bring back the memory of the meeting or sale and serve as an anchor in conforming the good feeling your customer had at that time. It confirms that he or she made the right decision to choose you as a supplier.

Be professional. Write your note on quality stationery or in a quality card using your best handwriting.

Be specific and brief. Specially identify the event for which you’re thanking the individual. Whether it was a meeting with a prospective commercial account or a purchase from one of your retail accounts or Preferred Customers, explain how the event or gesture is meaningful to you. Try not to exceed 100 words. Be real. You might suggest a future meeting, an informal lunch or getting together at an upcoming event just to keep the recipient informed. If you have a more established relationship, include a more personal note related to the event prompting the thanks.

Go back to basics. Say “thank you.”

You may thank yourself later.

Good Selling!

Steve LePage

 

Again, if you are a business owner or a sales person and would like an easy way to stay in front of your customers on a regular basis then take a look at SendOutCards. It works.

As a departing note, I will leave you with this statistic.

  • Average company loses 50% of its customers every 5 years…Cost of replacing them can be 6-7 times more expensive.

So what will you do to keep your customers? Maybe it’s time to take a look at SendOutCards!

 

Michael Sparks, AMSOIL Regency Direct Jobber
www.lube-direct.com

 

Filed Under: Customer retention Tagged With: , , ,

Businesses, people are not overloaded with appreciation

December 15, 2011 By Leave a Comment

Consider this….someone comes home from work and the first thing they do is go out to the mail box. These days, this is a painful experience, so painful that most people hate to even open it. The mail box is full of bills, advertisements, and junk mail offers for stuff they do not want or need.

The person pulls all the junk out of the box and rifles through it on the way back to the house.  What are they looking for? What do they really want to see?

Trust us, they want some type of actual correspondence from someone, anyone. They want Personal Mail addressed to them from an actual someone!  The don’t want an offer, they don’t want a sales flyer. They want to be acknowledged and appreciated.

As a business owners, we buy all kinds of products and services. Guess what?  Our mail box is not overflowing with correspondence thanking me for my business.  It’s filled with junk. Though when we do get a show of gratitude from someone that We’ve done business with, it sticks with us (our carpet guy was the last one we got).  That feeling that someone took the time to say “Thanks for your Business” makes us feel important, valued.  This business is not only likely to get repeat business but referrals.

Gratitude and appreciation are why we got involved with SendOutCards. As business owners we have always tried to show our customers that we care. With SendOutCards it’s easier than ever. Where else can you choose your card (from the comfort of your home), type what you want to say and then just click send? From there SendOutCards prints, stuffs, stamps, addresses and sends the card for you — all within 24 hours! In a couple of days that person gets a real greeting card in the mail. The card is addressed to them with a real first class stamp. You can even write the card in your own handwriting and include your own signature!

Next time you are thinking of ways to retain your current customers and increase your referrals, think about sending them a heartfelt appreciation that they can hold in their hands, read your personal message and feel good about doing business with you.

Thank You for your Business

Thanks for reading this post!

~ThoseCardFolks

 

Filed Under: Appreciation Tagged With: , ,

Are You Ready for Holiday Cards?

September 6, 2011 By Leave a Comment

 

I know that it’s hard to believe it, but NOW is the time to start planning for your holiday cards.  Don’t fall victim to the last minute rush this year (you know you’ve done it!).  Taking a few easy steps now will ensure that you are in a position to send out your holiday cards in time this year — without all the rush.  How about actually being early this year?

This is a picture of a standard greeting card available in the SendOutCards catalog

Sending holiday cards provides a great opportunity to touch base with the important people in our lives.  We can give them an update on what’s going on with us (new babies, marriages, job changes, etc.) and even share some updated photos.   It’s also a great opportunity to tell your customers that you appreciate them by wishing them a wonderful holiday season!  Remember, a heartfelt message (one given without asking for anything in return) sets you apart from your competition!

Your first step, getting your contacts in order, was discussed in this earlier post.   Remember to make sure that you group/identify your contacts appropriately if you wish to send your customers or vendors different cards than what you send to family and friends.

This is a picture of a standard greeting card available in the SendOutCards catalog

Now plan your cards!   How many different cards do you need?  A card for your family and friends that contains some personal updates?  A more formal card to your customers or vendors?

This is a picture of a standard greeting card available in the SendOutCards catalog

Are you going to include a recent family or business photo?  If so, do you have a high resolution digital photo already on hand or do you need to make arrangements to get that photo taken as soon as possible?

Now draft each of your cards and send a sample to yourself!!  Especially when you are dealing with photos in cards, it is a good idea to send yourself a sample card (if the system you use allows that of course) so that you can verify that the colors come out correctly, the images are well placed on the card, etc.  I have actually changed photos on my holiday card because the photo didn’t look at nice on the card as I had imagined — and I was very glad I hadn’t sent out a hundred of them before I previewed it.

Once you are satisfied with your proof card(s) – you are ready to go!  If you use a system like SendOutCards, you have the ability to send a card to an entire group of people all at once with the click of your mouse.  You can even schedule the delivery date (I like to have mine mailed out during the first week in December).   I can even select certain contacts and go into their card and add a gift card, some brownies or maybe a holiday wreath.  All of this is easily done with the SendOutCards system.  And the best part?  I never had to leave my computer!  The cards can be personalized (using every contact’s first name in the card), written in my own handwriting font and signed with my own signature!   Does it get any easier?  What are you waiting for?!

This is a picture of a standard greeting card available in the SendOutCards catalog

Contact us right away for your free trial of the system so that you can start using SendOutCards this season!

Happy Card Sending!

Alecia

 

 

Filed Under: Appreciation, Customer retention, Greeting Card, Organization, SendOutCards Tagged With: , , ,

Getting Your Contact Manager In Order!

August 25, 2011 By 1 Comment

Does this sound familiar?  It’s time to send holiday cards again, and you need to pull together all your addresses.  You find some information in an old address book that you haven’t updated since 1992.  You find some other information on your cell phone contact manager and some other information written on scraps of paper stuffs in various spots on your desk.  You need to call your Mom to get the new address for your cousins who just recently moved out of state (and you just KNOW you have that address written down somewhere…but aren’t sure where it could be now)!  Oh…and didn’t you do this same activity just last year about this time?

Now is the time to get your contact manager in order!  Investing a little time right now will save you a tremendous amount of time in the future.  Spend some time pulling together all this information (just one last time!) and consolidating it all into one place.  That place could be on your computer in your email contact manager (don’t forget to back it up!) or you could even use the free SendOutCards contact manager (you can even upload contact information directly into SOC!)  While you are making the effort to gather this information, make note of birthdays and anniversaries, as well as the names of spouses and kids.  Collect and record once….reap the benefits all year long!

Personally, I store all my contact information in my SendOutCards contact manager.  This allows me to have a single place to keep track of names and addresses, as well as birthdays and anniversaries (for which I get email reminders sent to me two weeks before these important dates so I don’t forget to send a card!).  I can also add dated notes so I can keep track of my interactions with my customers, and record when I wish to follow up!  I can design a single card (Happy Holidays for example) and send that card (personalized with everyone’s first name!) to anyone or everyone in my contact manager all with the click of a button!.  I can even export the information into a spreadsheet if I wish.

There’s no time like the present to get your contact manager in order.  Don’t let the holidays sneak up on you this year — be prepared!

Happy Organizing!

 

 

Filed Under: Appreciation, Customer retention, Organization Tagged With: , , , , ,

Why SendOutCards?

August 20, 2011 By Leave a Comment

In 3 1/2 minutes, watch the video and you will understand why SendOutCards is the best tool anyone who wishes to stay in touch via “Real” greeting cards and gifts.

http://www.alecialavacot.com/

Filed Under: Appreciation, Business Opportunity, Customer retention, Greeting Card Tagged With: , ,

Building Relationships and The Impact to Your Business

June 23, 2011 By Leave a Comment

“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
-Maya Angelou

Do you know how to:

  • build customer loyalty and increase customer retention rates?
  • attract new and repeat clients?
  • dramatically increase referrals?
  • stay top of mind with your current customers?
  • send heartfelt thank you notes (at the moment it means the most, not 3 months later)?
  • motivate and encourage employees?
  • remember birthdays & anniversaries of all those important people in your life?
  • show genuine appreciation towards your customers, colleagues, volunteers, family and friends?

Every successful person knows that life is all about relationships!  How do we build strong, sustainable relationships in both our personal and professional lives?  I am a firm believer in the universal Law of Attraction – what your put out into the world, you receive back ten-fold!

One of the keys to building strong, lasting relationships is to stay in regular contact with people, taking the time to let them know you value and appreciate them and what they bring into your life!  Who doesn’t love to hear that they are appreciated for what they contribute?  When was the last time one of your service providers sent you a heartfelt thank you for doing business with them?  If they did – wouldn’t you remember them?  Wouldn’t you be more likely to refer them to your friends and family should the opportunity arise?  When people feel appreciated, they will remember you for a long time, if not forever!  Think about what this would be worth to you and your business if you were to make each of your customers feel the same way?

Remember these statistics?

  • Average company loses 50% of its customers every 5 years…Cost of replacing them can be 6-7 times more expensive.
  • 5% increase in customer loyalty will yield 20%-80% to our bottom line profit…Much wiser to spend money on customer retention than acquisition.
  • For every month that we don’t contact or communicate with our client, we lose 10% of our influence.
  • Just saying thank you to our clients…particularly new clients even with only a phone call to do nothing more than saying thank you…(do not try to sell on this call) will increase your business by 17%.

What’s one of the top reasons that people don’t keep in regular contact with the important people in their lives?  They don’t have time!!  Well, we have a system that will allow you to send personalized, customized, high quality PAPER greeting cards (not e-cards!) with just the click of your mouse!  From the convenience of your computer, you create your custom card (or chose one of ours), write your personal message and click send.  We print, stuff, address, stamp and mail the physical card for you!  These are beautiful, high quality greeting cards! You even have the ability to include your own pictures, write your message in your own handwriting and include your own signatures!  Plus, we have a robust contact manager to store all your addresses in one place.  When sending a card, simply select an address that’s been saved and we’ll do the rest.   You can easily create a single card and send it to multiple people – all at once!  Can it get any easier?  And all this (and more) for a fraction of the cost of greeting cards purchased in a store!  With no sign up fees!

Contact us now and let us show you how easy it is to get started!

Filed Under: Appreciation, Customer retention, Greeting Card, SendOutCards, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,
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