I am sitting at my desk on this dreary November day, humming Guns N’ Roses “November Rain” to myself, pondering the modern dilemma of how to say “Thank You” to my clients this Christmas. A time when it’s acceptable to give gifts without it being seen as anything other than a lovely thing to do.
But is it politically correct to say “Merry Christmas”? Should it be “Season’s Greetings”, is an electronic card as thoughtful as an actual card or does the environmental cost of using the paper in the cards and the envelopes outweigh that? What a minefield when I just want to say “Thank You for supporting me and being part of my journey this year” I feel quite exhausted!
Make end of November Data Check time
The one thing I am sure of, which makes me feel a whole lot better, is that I am going to make the most of this annual opportunity to have a good long look at all my data so that however I choose to thank my contacts for supporting me this year I know that I will communicate with the right person in the right company 🙂
My learning from last year is to start thinking about this before the end of November and to set aside time to have a good long hard look at the health of my data. Enhance it where I can, upgrade or downgrade contacts, re categorise them looking for an opportunity to touch base, personalising the messages (this time of year is a jolly good reason to find out how other people are and let them know you are around and thriving.)
Having a good CRM for small business that stores all this data and allows me to manipulate it efficiently, means this process is not time consuming or prone to error.
Get January 2016 off to a flying start
Given that a large portion of businesses start to hear the words “we’ll think about it in the New Year” in early December getting your data in order during this quieter time really helps finish the year on a positive, knowing that your business is all set up to start productive work come January.
So unless you have a product or service which is seasonal, then the month over Christmas is generally a lot quieter and as George Swift, BBB suggested recently …. it is a good time to invite people out for a mince pie and a coffee for a chat, to share ideas and for it to not be seen as a pre-sales meeting.
Who doesn’t want to hit the ground running when all the decorations have been taken down and things start to get back to normal?
So back to that Christmas greeting question. I want the contact I make with my clients, potential clients and suppliers to reflect my business and as a small business owner that means it reflects my personality, my mojo 🙂
I have been working with CapsuleCRM for over 5 years and helped many clients increase revenue; reduce costs; make the most of their contacts; manage their pipeline; and deliver great customer service.
I do this by designing and installing Capsule to meet the clients’ needs, offering a bespoke CRM to suit their business requirements. Capsule really is a great solution for the small business.
I now also carry out a limited number of Data Health Checks as a standalone service for clients – to give actionable insights into the health of your database.
To find out more please visit my website www.blakeconsultants.co.uk or email me on julia.blake@blakeconsultants.co.uk
A big thank you to Karen Bennett of Pepperpots Photography for the gorgeous photo