Practical Postcard Potentials

Published 30 April 2008

Also in this issue: alice's actions

This week I'm going to offer another postcard possibility. We all know that a good way to get clients is through referrals. But asking for them is always difficult (we're not as confident as we should be), so having some sort of paper prop would be helpful.

When you've completed a project with your client, and it's gone well, they've paid up and there's good feelings all around, this is the chance to get some more out of them. Along with your compliment slip thanking them for their payment, include a postcard asking them for three referrals (giving them spaces to write their details) and, maybe on the other side, a space for a testimonial from your satisfied customer. Make it attractive and easy to use, emblazon it with your logo, strapline, corporate image or whatever, and don't forget to include a very attractive incentive, both for your customer and his referrals, to get your feedback delivered to you.

Alternatively, you could adapt your referrals postcard to get your satisfied client to send it out to his contacts as a referral for you, providing him with a space to write his comments, and highlighting the special offer both he and his referrals will get for working with you. Provide him with more than one, making sure it is easy and quick to complete, to get maximum benefits.

And follow all this up with a phone call or a 1-2-1 to see if he received, read, appreciated and acted on your referrals postcard. It's easier when there is something to talk about rather than coping with cold thin air.

Ask Alice a question or visit my blog to find out more.

Alice's Action #17 – Have you got a story yet?

If you had read my last newsletter about postcards, you would see how they could be used for multiple mailshots. It is worth considering that it takes at least six approaches (or attacks) to make an impression (or impact) on your prospective customer, ranging from 'I can't be bothered with this' right up to 'that's amazing, this would really work'. Give it a go, write your story-board and start the ball rolling.