Getting to know you......

getting to know all about you.....etc. There's a playful mood in the office today as the sun is shining and there's a new lady delivering sandwiches who's proving rather popular. I don't tend to buy them myself - I mean the sandwiches are very nice, but if I buy lunch at 10.30 then it's lucky if it survives until 10.40. Then I go home at night, look in the mirror, think I look fat and then tell myself that I will eat less and exercise more.....over pizza and a night in front of the telly.

Was I in a good mood when I started this? Oh yes, there it is. Last night I saw the new movie Julie and Julia (or it might have been the other way around) and I have to say I thoroughly recommend it. To summarise, it's the story of Julia Child - the world famous author and TV cook, and Julie Powell; a young wannabe writer who starts a daily blog as she cooks her way through Julia's entire cookbook.

What struck me is that Julie's blog became a very personal thing, and whilst her readership was small at the beginning, the New York Times wrote an article about her and before she knew it, she was being offered publishing deals and had a worldwide following.

People related to her blog because she was letting them in to her life. Every success and failure was written about, and whilst the underlying theme was cooking, her readers felt that they had a friend to whom they could relate.

This got me thinking about my relationships with my customers. I realised that those customers with whom I have the best relationships are those whose lives I know a little more about. They're not merely marketing managers and sales executives - they are mothers, fathers, aspiring musicians, ballroom dancers, adrenalin junkies and so much more. I consider these people to be friends - they congratulate me on my personal successes and I theirs, and then every once in a while, we might actually do some business together too.

Now I am sure that if you thought about it, you'd probably say the same of your customers too. But what about the people that aren't your customers yet? What about those prospects that you're just dying to get on board? Well you've probably done your homework and learned as much as you can about the company, but surely all of your competitors have got access to that information too.

So here's the clever part. Why not present them with a gift that's just a little bit....random. Something useful yet at the same time, something that needs to be discussed. Let's face it - all you really need to do is start a conversation. After that, your own questioning skills can come into play and you can start learning all about that prospect in the hopes of turning them into a client.

With access to over 1 million products worldwide, you don't always have to send the items that you see in mainstream catalogues. Think about what you want to achieve when you give a gift and then let's work with you to find the perfect thing.

Now is the absolute best time to be thinking about this. People are gearing up for Christmas and our end of year Christmas gift catalogues are already being sent out to our clients. Don't be a slave to tradition though. Tradition dictates that you send out gifts to your clients to say thank you for the business that they have given you throughout the year. Why not send out gifts to your hottest prospects instead? Imagine the reaction when you call the office to make sure that your gift was received and you get your call put through. That's the time to set up that first important meeting and get your business set to grow in 2010.

Remember, we're not dealing in giveaways here - every gift that you send is an investment in your future. Spending £10 on a gift to land a client worth 100 times that really cannot sound like a bad idea. "But wait!" you cry "What if the gift doesn't get me that client?" OK Mr Optimism, think about it like this - if £10 yields you one client worth £1000, then you can send out 100 gifts, get a crappy 1% return on your investment and still break even. Not bad eh?

So let's slap on some festive merriment and get a little busy. Like I said, our catalogues are ready and rest assured, those people with whom we'd love to form a relationship next year will be getting a gift from us. Let us help you do the same. My links and contact details are there on the right - no, your right.

Happy Christmas