Good Relationship Marketing starts with HELLO.  

There has been a lot of buzz lately about building relationships, especially when it comes to marketing and with good reason. Economics and the wise use of our dollar being one of them, especially as some figures I saw recently suggest that it is 90% cheaper to keep a customer than it is to get a new one. Nevertheless, we need new customers to be able to keep hold of and like all of our relationships, it all starts with hello!

Strong, solid relationships also make it easier to interact with our customers and add to our own feeling of self-worth and contribution. This is by no means an undesirable result.

As a relationship marketing specialist, I am most certainly for the development and building of first rate relationships. But please do not lose track of the fact that all of your current relationships started with a ‘hello’.

When we meet a stranger we usually lead with hello. When we’re introduced, we usually respond with hello or some version of it. Most of us, when we answer the phone habitually say hello. From a stranger to our best friend we greet with hello.

Everything worthwhile starts with Hello

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Mower Man — How Much Is A Good Relationship Worth?

Bob was a mower man; he had worked for himself for many years and new his trade well. Bob worked hard, often six days a week and more often than not under a baking sun. He made it his business to keep up with the latest advancements. By doing so, he no longer needed to push around a hand mower and edger, these days he rode his mower and whipper snipped the edges. He liked what he did for a living and pretty much kept to himself.

At the end of the day he was usually dog tired. Far too exhausted to joyfully attend to invoices and getting them out so he could get paid. Rather than go broke, clever Bob employed an accountant and book keeper to look after this for him. In fact she was real good and made his life a whole lot easier. She got him to put some new systems in place. Part of his systems now, was to snap a photo with his smart phone of receipts when he purchased things and email them back to her. So he now had really good records. She also provided an app so he could fill out the invoice when he completed job. He emailed this back to her on his smart phone when he finished each job. This is then promptly, printed and despatched without him ever setting pen to paper. (more…)