In the past several months we’ve talked a lot about technology and how you can use it to benefit your small business. As part of our recent series Technology For Your Small Business we discussed an array of different solutions including our free cloud-based inventory management tool alongside CRM and marketing software. It’s important as you move forward implementing these various solutions that you don’t lose the personal element of your interactions.
I recently received a letter from the Alumni Association at my alma mater. Instead of this plea for donations coming from the desk of the Director of Alumni Affairs they chose an alumnus to pen the letter. While I applaud their initiative and found the conversational tone of the letter to be preferable to the more standard requests for donations that we usually receive, there was one very disturbing thing about the letter. It began, “While you probably don’t know me, I’m an alumnus just like you.” The problem here is that I do know the author, very well in fact, so the entire tone of the letter became more humorous than compelling. Each time he tried to strike a chord of commonality it was laughable because it was so obvious this was a mass mailing generic letter.
This is, of course, the drawback to using technology to blast your message. The computer doesn’t know which alumni have personal connections and which do not, so everyone receives the same message. Of course, a program could have been written to determine which alumni shared classes with the author and an alternate letter drafted but that wasn’t an option they chose to pursue.
As you create your data records keep this in mind. Create ways to flag your customers so that you only send them the messages that will be of interest to them. Each message will have a greater impact if it feels genuine. Saying “Here’s a special offer, just for you!” isn’t going to generate a sale or garner goodwill if you just sent a bachelor a coupon for baby formula. For the offer to feel like it was intended specifically for the recipient it needs to be for something they might actually want to purchase. If it’s something that they’ve purchased in the past and you can include that in the message, even better. You can also market similar items to customers based on their past purchases. For example, ‘We know that you love our red widgets, so we wanted to let you know that we have new green widgets in stock now.’ We've found the activity of tracking "who requested what" to be a big deal as we've furthered our free cloud based inventory management system. Otherwise, our communications that new features are "ready" would have been meaningless to many without understanding who asked for what upfront.
Thanks to e-mail and other web based ways of contacting your customers it’s easy than ever to get your marketing message out there. Just be sure that when you’re sending those messages out there you’re reaching the right audience with the right message. It’s all too easy for the e-mail blasts that are supposed to be generating sales to start costing you customers. For most people it’s a daily struggle to keep the number of messages in their inbox down. Even if they signed up to receive your messages too many can start to feel like spam. Similarly, if many of your messages are promoting items that are of no interest they may start to question whether or not your business is a good fit for them. They certainly won’t feel like you know them as a customer either.
Remember to focus on your stated goals for each marketing and CRM initiative. Carefully consider whether or not this particular message is going to bring you closer to that goal. The point is to use technology to improve customer relations not to just increase the number of campaigns that you can produce.
Cloud based Inventory Management and Your Customers
Keep checking back with us, we’ll have more tips on how to grow your small business. Still looking for a quick, easy way to manage your inventory? Did you know our free cloud based inventory management tool is just what you need to track stock levels and such? You’ve found it. Try Stockpile today! Our solution is so robust and user friendly you won’t believe that it’s FREE. So if you want a cloud based inventory management tool that works like it costs a fortune - but doesn’t, you’ve come to the right place. Plus, our tool used in conjunction with a CRM will mean your customers stay informed for things that matter most to you and them.
