It’s the Little Things That Count
Beyond providing top quality service - which should be a minimum requirement - you can do a lot of little things that inspire loyalty from your customers. Just saying thank you goes a long way.A couple of years ago I ordered a product online from Peter Bowerman - a self-publishing and copywriting expert. When I received it in the mail, included was a handwritten note: “Thanks for the order, Peter.”
It didn’t take him long to do - for all I know he writes up a stack of these in advance and has an assistant stick them in with every order that goes out. Regardless, the note gave me a warm fuzzy feeling that doesn’t go away. I already like Peter’s work and his products so I’m very likely to make future purchases from him. But this little note helped cement this relationship.
It’s not just thank you notes. Recently I had a birthday (don’t even think about asking which one). The first two emails in my in-box that day were happy birthday notes from people I do business with online. Both have forums that their paid customers can access. As part of the sign up process, there’s a spot to put your birthday.
Now, I don’t think for a moment that these two people woke up that day and said, “Wow, it’s Andrea’s birthday. I’d better send her a note.” I’m sure it’s just an automated message. But my first reaction to seeing these notes was to smile. And I can’t help but have positive feelings towards someone who makes me smile.
Keep Your Employees Happy Too
The same applies to employees. While it’s important to have good working conditions and to pay your staff a fair wage, there are little things you can do that cost you little or nothing but will keep your staff happy.
A well-timed thank you goes a long way. If you’re only commenting on employees’ work when it goes wrong, you don’t have a happy staff. Sure, their continued paycheque is a sign that you’re happy enough with their work. But a well-timed pat on the back for a job well done will boost morale and productivity. And it makes your staff less likely to pour over the job ads in the newspaper.
Unexpected gifts for staff are also a big morale booster. Try loot bags of candy on Halloween or a kiddie Valentine’s Day card. How about a cupcake with a candle on the anniversary of their start day? Try ordering pizza for lunch after a busy sale week.
None of these things cost a lot of money, but they let your staff know they’re appreciated. It inspires loyalty. So the next time you need to ask them to stay late or do a little extra, they’re more likely to jump in with enthusiasm.
Both your staff and your customers are important to the success of your business. Make sure you’re doing the little things that keep them happy and inspire loyalty. You’ll be glad you did.
Andrea J. Stenberg
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Wednesday, February 27th, 2008 at 12:02 pm under
Thought you might be interested in this latest article about Peter’s work:
Self-Publishing: Dispelling the Misperceptions, Reaping the Rewards
Award-Wnning Book is Practical Tool for Non-Fiction Authors
By Melissa Leedom
Self-publishing: a phrase with a boatload of baggage, evoking stereotypes of vain, amateur, would-be authors, desperate to see their work in print at the cost of shoddy production value. Not to mention nearly losing their shirts as they purchase a garage-full of books they’ll never be able to sell. Stories carried recently in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today and other national publications, have related such tales of woe as if they were the only side to the self-publishing story.
Certainly, self-publishing has meant all of this to many people, but Peter Bowerman, author of the award-winning The Well-Fed Self-Publisher: How to Turn One Book Into a Full-Time Living (Fanove Publishing, 2007, $19.95; http://www.wellfedsp.com), as well as two other highly successful volumes for freelance writers, is living proof that a self-published work of non-fiction can not only garner respect and critical acclaim, but can also be a financial success.
The Well-Fed Self-Publisher contains advice on producing a book indistinguishable in quality from those produced by major publishing companies, in addition to packaging Bowerman’s knowledge on product and brand promotion gathered from nearly 30 years of personal and professional experience. Exhorting his readers to shed their “starving artist” self-image – the “fundamental belief that you don’t really belong” in the big leagues – Bowerman stresses that the key to sales and marketing success is a sharply focused, targeted marketing plan, and work, work, and more work to implement it.
“If you want to see a roomful of right-brained author-types sweat,” quips Bowerman, “just say the words ‘sales’ or ‘marketing’.” But “S&M,” he contends, is not an elusive or overly complicated beast. Success depends largely on employing the same proven strategies over and over again.
The Well-Fed Self-Publisher reveals how little most traditional publishing houses do to promote individual titles. “By doing a better job of marketing and promoting your title than a publisher ever could or would, you can make far more money from your book than you ever would with that publisher.” Bowerman even backs up his strategies with a 100-page ebook “toolbox” (the Well-Fed SP Biz-in-a-Box): templates and ideas for producing marketing documents such as letters, press releases, websites, samples—an arsenal of concrete, useable tools authors can personalize when going public with their books.
Bowerman is his own best test-case for the success of his methods: with over 50,000 copies of his books in print, he has built a franchise that has made him self-supporting for the last five years – no small success by anyone’s standards. Having learned from his first two books, the award-wining Well-Fed Writer titles, that readers want information spelled out in detail, he doesn’t just tell them that they need a good press release or an ezine; he provides step-by-step information on how to produce them. And, in The Well-Fed Self-Publisher, he outlines tools and strategies so that virtually anyone willing to put in the time and elbow grease can duplicate his success. As advertising icon David Ogilvy explained, “It is useless to be creative unless you can also sell what you create.”
Bowerman’s conversational, approachable style, a quality much praised by his readers, arises from his perception of himself as a fellow traveler. “I’m just like you,” he says. “I don’t like to work any harder than I have to, and I certainly don’t have it all figured out. But The Well-Fed Self-Publisher provides all the how-to stuff delivered through the filter of someone who’s made a healthy living with his books. That has to count for something.”
Stressing that self-publishing success is far more a function of process than aptitude, The Well-Fed Self-Publisher turns stereotypes on their ears. Because self-publishing authors retain complete control over their product and the outcome of their sales and marketing activities, Bowerman suggests that self-publishing, not a traditional publishing house, should be an author’s first choice.
Writers who enter the process armed with the information provided in this volume do so with the knowledge that self-publishing is an eminently viable option, albeit one requiring a tremendous amount of effort (and a fair amount of working capital) at the outset. Done properly, though, it is, indeed, possible for an author to transform a non-fiction book into a full-time living.
February 28th, 2008 at 12:06 pm