You already know I’m a big fan of keeping in regular touch with clients and prospects.
With clients, keeping in regular touch increases the likelihood they will stay as clients and that they will buy even more from you.
With prospects, it gives them multiple chances to buy from you and increases the chances they will remember you when they are ready to make a purchase decision.
I received an email the other day from a website that helps businesses find local commercial printers. (I’m always on the hunt for reliable printers I can recommend to my clients.) I’d signed up at this website to find a printer about a year ago…and then I heard nothing.
Until this week.
The email said:
We thank you for previously signing up as a print buyer on xxxxx.com, however, we noticed that you have not yet submitted a print project for bid. We just wanted to remind you that we are still available to meet your printing needs with more qualified printers than ever before.
And then came a link.
Let’s forget about the scores of things wrong with this email (like the lack of a good reason for me to contact them today) and focus on the timing.
The thing that struck me was this: it’s been a year since I used this website. And in that year, I haven’t thought about this company once, despite needing printers on a regular basis.
The reason I didn’t think about them was that they didn’t keep in touch with me. I’d forgotten about them.
So kudos to them for getting in touch now. But it’s too little, too late. They probably won’t contact me again until next year, by which time they’ll have missed many opportunities to have me as a customer.