Building Your Contact List
Practical Buzz Marketing Tips from a Savvy Local Business Woman
To be able to build your business, you’ve got to have contact information and follow up. Sales gurus say that the way to convert a prospect is to contact them 3 times within 72 hours. This may vary with your business field, but it applies whether you’re in a high-tech field or health and wellness. Melanie Papa, owner of Healthy Path Hypnosis in Sanford, Maine, is a cracker-jack grass roots marketer and has a hefty contact list.
Here are her Top 6 Buzz Tips, starting with The Jar:
- The Sign-Up Jar: When Melanie does presentations or lectures, she sets out a jar and asks people to fill out their
name and phone number on a small piece of paper and toss it into the jar. If they like, they can add their email address, or check a box to not receive further contact. Only a few people ever check no. By using a jar instead of one sheet that everyone sees, she protects people’s privacy and makes it more comfortable for them to give her their contact information. It also allows a small crowd of people to sign up all at once. - Be A Good Tipper: After eating at a restaurant, Melanie makes sure that she leaves at least a 20% tip — wait staff is dong a job that deserves kudos — and with the tip she leaves 2 business cards — one for the server, and one for their friend or relative. She gets numerous calls and referrals through this technique. The waitstaff and their friends and family call!
- Reach Out: Melanie looks at the sources of her referrals and sends letters of introduction to similar businesses. For instance, many physicians send their patients to her for smoking cessation. So she recently sent a mailing to other local physicians establishing her credentials as a Registered Nurse, noting the scientific studies supporting the efficacy of hypnosis, and the fact that many of hospitals have hypnotists on staff. She also makes sure to mention her astounding success rate: people that work with her are easily quitting even after half a century of smoking.
- Incentives: Melanie has several structured client referral bonuses. When a client refers someone to her who makes a purchase, she sends the referring client a check.
- Selectivity: Melanie won’t work with everyone. She does a thorough screening and assessment. If someone is not truly ready, she turns them away with the suggestion that they try back again in a few months for a reassessment. Otherwise, they are set up to fail. She wants them to succeed and to benefit from her services. A successful client is a walking billboard.
- “Free” Classes: This fall, Melanie is teaching several Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) Adult Ed classes in Sanford, ME. The cost is about $9 to students, which just covers the overhead. She purposely left the price low — it’s like doing a free lecture without having to rent the hall.
Tags: contact list, Marketing, Sales
