Communication is what we are all about. By helping our clients to hear better we improve their ability to communicate and strengthen their connections to those around them. This is something we can all agree with, so my question to you is… how does your business communicate with its clients?
One on one – face to face conversations, occasional letters announcing a special event or sale, an email alerting a client to an upcoming appointment; these are all methods of communication that are required of any business, whether you are fitting/selling hearing aids or new cars. There is however, one thing I did not mention that has the potential to make a big difference to your office.
Don't just trust to luck, plan your shots.
Regular written information. Newsletters, or in today’s world – Blogs to your clients as well as your non-clients. Depending on your skill as a writer, it may only take you a few minutes, or at most a couple of hours, to write a short informative Blog (not an email message) and send it to your clients on a regular basis. It doesn’t have to say “SALE.” All you need to do is send information to your clients that might be of interest to them. You could even tailor the messages you send out to different groups in your data base. It could be a technical article on the latest digital processing scheme or how your youngest child is coping with kindergarten. Do this on a regular basis and you will start to get results. Some results will be tangible – a client you have not seen in many years suddenly calls for an appointment, or intangible – you hear through third parties that your office’s reputation has improved.
In years gone by, some offices sent out newsletters to their mail list. Some still do. Newsletters take more time and of course, cost more since they go by mail, but they can have a greater impact. (I am biased in this regard since I sent out newsletters on a quarterly basis for almost twenty years with very good results. It was always four pages printed on blue paper; many of my clients called it the blue bomb and we would get phone calls wondering what was wrong if it was not received on time.) Many clients will keep a newsletter around for awhile. Although we all get junk mail, we tend to read the stuff we get from business’ we have dealt with. A newsletter may be kept around for awhile or passed on to friends and relatives increasing your contacts in a more personal way than a Blog.
But, no matter how you do it, sending a regular communication to your clients is a well proven method of improving your bottom line and helping those who come to you for that purpose. Do you communicate? If so, please tell me what you are presently doing and if you have changed from a previous style or method.
