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Get Referrals – SendOutCards Review

Guest post by: Evan Carmichael

Article Overview: My Entrepreneur Tool of the Week this week is SendOutCards. SendOutCards is a powerful marketing service that can help you generate more referrals and keep better relationships with your customer. In under 60 seconds they allow you to send a printed greeting card with your customized message to your customers, prospects, and important contacts. They print it, stuff it, and mail it all for less than a greeting card at the store. I’ve found SendOutCards to be a great way to stay in touch with my contacts and build new referrals from them in a painless way. Some of the benefits that I’ll touch on in this article include: Getting more referrals, Building lasting relationships, Easily remembering to stay in touch, and Appreciation as the key to success.

Get Referrals – SendOutCards Review

My Entrepreneur Tool of the Week this week is SendOutCards. SendOutCards is a powerful marketing service that can help you generate more referrals and keep better relationships with your customer. In under 60 seconds they allow you to send a printed greeting card with your customized message to your customers, prospects, and important contacts. They print it, stuff it, and mail it all for less than a greeting card at the store. I've found SendOutCards to be a great way to stay in touch with my contacts and build new referrals from them in a painless way.

Some of the benefits that I'll touch on in this article include: Getting more referrals, Building lasting relationships, Easily remembering to stay in touch, and Appreciation as the key to success.

Get More Referrals

The easiest and most profitable way to grow a business is to get more referrals. Referred leads buy more, are more qualified, are easier to close, and don't require as much ongoing support. Most entrepreneurs don't get the referrals they need for their business not because they don't provide a great product or service but because they aren't staying top of mind with their customers. In other words, customers would be happy to refer you but your name isn't at the tip of their tongue when they are talking to colleagues so they forget about you. People are distracted and are busier than ever so you can't blame them - it's up to you to keep yourself in their minds and SendOutCards is a great way to do it.

In my business we have thousands of customers and we do the regular newsletters and follow up support emails but I found it difficult to get personal with customers and make a lasting impression. What we now do is find a new customer every week to "wow" through SendOutCards. We look for customers who share personal stories in their emails and then send them a card to recognize them. It could be something positive like having just launched a new website or having a son who just got married. It could also be something to cheer someone up after an illness or the loss of a family member.

SendOutCards not only allows you to send cards, they let you add bonus gifts alongside. I love their gourmet treats and usually attach some brownies, chocolate chip cookies, or chocolate covered pretzels with each card. Talk about a way to make an impression! When was the last time you received a get well soon card with a couple of delicious brownies from one of your suppliers when you were down and out with the flue? Using SendOutCards can help you make these lasting impressions and not only will you earn a customer for life, they'll tell their friends and colleagues about the surprise gesture! The best part is that the entire process takes under a minute of my time to complete!

Build Lasting Relationships

Another challenge I faced with my business was finding ways to stay in touch with people who could be important to your business. You might meet someone at a networking event or touch base with a speaker at a conference who you really learned something from. Maybe it's a member of the media who has written about your market or an influential person in your industry who could send you client referrals. The point is we all have these centres of influence that we need to stay in touch with - but how can we do it?

What I like to do is create a Google News Alert for the person's name and company so I get updated whenever they make the media, issue a press release, or get featured on a website. I take that opportunity to then send them a congratulations card and gift. It's been a great way to stay in touch and gives me a reason to contact them. It also keeps them thinking about me for new opportunities that might be relevant to my business.

Easy Tools to Help You Remember

Want to send a card to celebrate a client's birthday? How about the anniversary date of when they first became your customer? If you only have a handful of clients then it's an easy task but what about if you have thousands of them? With SendOutCards, you will receive the following to make it easier for you:

• Online Contact Manager where you can store names, addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and other key information about everyone you know.
• Online Calendar and Reminder system that will never let you forget birthdays or other special occasions that your people have.
• Online Greeting Card Catalog with over 2000 greeting cards to choose from. You select and write your message; SendOutCards prints, stuffs and sends in the mail for you.

Appreciation Is the Key to Success

William James once said: "The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated." Notice the strong language he used. He said the CRAVING to be appreciated. When was the last time you told your employee that they did a great job, or your wife or husband that you love them, or your friend that you appreciate your friendship, or your customer that you appreciate their business? Remember, we as human beings crave appreciation. When we show it, people will respond to us in the most positive ways possible.

Everyone has promptings to do these things but we seldom act on those promptings... The difference between success and failure in your life will depend on your ability to act on the promptings of sharing kind words or deeds and showing your appreciation.

There have been numerous studies in human development that suggest it is easier to express ourselves in writing versus in words. SendOutCards gives you the tool to respond to your promptings instantly by expressing your appreciation in writing. And the best part, you can do it in seconds.

With today's technology, you can implement simple rules that will make a significant impact in your personal and professional life. You will be able to make a big difference for good in the lives of everyone you associate with. You will be remembered as someone who remembers and can create and maintain lasting relationships, personally and professionally.

Would you like to send out a card for free using SendOutCards?

Just drop a quick email to Andy D'Silva at adsilva@evancarmichael.com and he'll set it up for you. Be sure to include your name and phone number.

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  Getting Referrals

Article Tags: better relationships, entrepreneur, greeting card, lasting relationships, marketing service, painless way, prospects, referrals, sendoutcards



Related Forum Posts
Re: 3 Ways to Grow Your Business in 2011 - Hi Alan - great idea! I have sent simple things like Amazon gift certificates but I had to follow up as they ended up in the person's junk folder - it's hard to do surprises by email as it can be seen as fake / spam. What about saying that you've put in a new CRM system and were hoping to get her address so you can fill in the information properly for her? I've sent some great gifts via SendOutCards (the brownies are especially delicious) - people never expect to get something physical from a web based company. Good luck!
Re: Significance of Review Sites - Exactly! Review sites are very helpful for providing better understanding to a product or service.
Re: E-mail vs. real mail - There is a nice marketing message behind that cartoon. When I bought into a very cheap lifetime OTO upgrade offer on Jon Olson's ILoveHits traffic exchange I was surprised to receive a card in the post with a hand-written message from Jon thanking me for my business. The picture on the postcard is a large version of the ILoveHits logo. Okay, so it was sent by SendOutCards.com on his behalf, but I appreciated and admired the gesture. I still have the card on my shelf to remind me what a good example it is of personal branding and the impact that 1-1 marketing through the mail can have today.
Re: How do you get your clients? - I think staying away from gathering clients strictly online when first starting out is probably a good idea. Your first few clients could maybe be people you know, or know through somebody that may require some of your services. Another good way of gaining new clientel is offering your first few clients completely free service in exchange for placing your business card or promotional material in their business if you're doing b2b sales. Referrals are the lifeblood of many small businesses.
UPDATES: Rules & Guidelines for Review My... - HI everyone, Just before the weekend approaches, wanted to let everyone know that the rules and guidelines for the new forum Review My... are up! The forum is meant for our members to ask for some constructive and honest critiques on their products, services or websites. Since it's a new addition, if you have any suggestions feel free to speak up. Have a great weekend everybody! Cheers, Ringo


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