Putting the RELATIONSHIP in Relationship Marketing Part 1

Connie Brubaker, an accomplished sales trainer, motivational speaker and good friend of mine, understands what it takes to develop and maintain a relationship with her client. She can do it even when she isn't directly in front of them!

Connie and many other smart business people are employing relationship marketing as a means of staying "top of mind" with clients and prospects. In Connie's case, she utilizing a newsletter that she developed called SOLUTIONS as a way to stay connected and relevant to those she meets and services in business.

Relationship marketing is nothing new but it amazes me just how many companies fail to utilize it to their advantage. In my work, I see companies that either go overboard and contact their clients and prospects too often or do the absolute opposite and do nothing. Either way, companies on both sides of the spectrum always seem to be shocked when they actually lose the business or the client altogether.

Relationship marketing implies just what it means; building the relationship. With a newsletter, you can communicate important information, facts, figures, new product announcements and the like to your clients. They can receive your information in a non-threatening manner and peruse it at their leisure. Many times, newsletters can spark interest in a particular subject area that a sales call simply will not.

In Connie's case, she utilizes the newsletter not as a primary platform to "pitch" her services but rather an information resource. In my opinion this is a smart strategy and one that I think people appreciate the most. She focuses on delivering valuable information that most business professionals would love to know about and she does it without the pressure of having to buy something or have a face to face sit down. Through this form of value I suspect she opens up many new conversations of opportunity as to how she can help implement this strategy or that strategy.

With my office equipment company, we created an online (sort of) newsletter called The Customer Focus. I tended to utilize this strategy differently from a general newsletter in that I generally included articles, book reviews, snip-its of information that I felt my clients and prospects would find valuable. The key component was we never said a word about our core business which was office equipment. We would cover everything from articles on the latest computer virus and spyware to how to deal with a difficult co-worker and everything in between. The response from clients and prospects alike was overwhelmingly positive and I know if strengthened the relationships we had with so many of our clients and prospects over the years.

Relationship marketing is not complicated but it does take dedication and work on your part to implement and maintain a strategy. The worst thing you can do is start something and not follow through. In addition, if you implement a strategy such as a newsletter, make sure you have it developed, produced and distributed by a professional. There is nothing worse than a making the wrong impression!

More on relationship marketing from our featured Guest Blogger and RELATIONSHIP MARKETING GURU MARC SCHWARTZ with Think Write Communications later this week!

Ripple On My Friends!!!