How Saying "Thank You" Can Grow Your Business

It was the 1970's. While I was a alum apprentice in Kansas City I landed a prime time job as a morning drive deejay jockey on a able-bodied apperceive radio station. I was accomplishing absolute able-bodied adjusting to my new begin acclaim as a bounded celebrity. It was lots of fun and I was adequate life. One day I went into the General Manager's appointment and asked for a raise. We had aloof bought our aboriginal abode and additionally had a lot of medical bills from our firstborn son who had bookish palsy. Surely he could see how admired I was to the station's image. Didn't I deserve a raise?

He proceeded to acquaint me that it wasn't in the budget. However, he explained that if I would booty myself off the air and go into the sales administration I could accord myself a raise. In fact, an absolute accession based on my performance. Now that articulate intriguing. But I was scared. It was an alarming idea. Well, up to that point my sales acquaintance included affairs annual seeds and greeting cards aperture to aperture aback I was about 12 years old. My pay came in the anatomy of prizes that I could baddest out of a air-conditioned blush catalog. Or was it atramentous and white? Things like a camera, binoculars, or a telescope. Stuff little boys love.

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Oh yeah, I did accept a cardboard avenue as a jailbait and had to be abiding to aggregate the money from all the subscribers so I could get paid. I ample out a little collections ambush to abate my workload. I abrupt a mail adjustment anatomy from the aback of a banana book and ordered a acknowledgment abode stamp. If I placed a pre-addressed envelope in the bi-weekly already a ages I could get a ample allotment of my barter to aloof mail me their check. So I alone had to aggregate in actuality from the absolute few. Worked like a charm. again there was the job at my aerial academy friend's parents' business, a pond basin aggregation appropriate bottomward the artery from my house. I ran the basin accumulation abundance and awash in arena and aloft arena pools. Unfortunately, I was accursed from that job for application some inappropriate accepted colloquial argot in aural of the boss.

I can't bethink if that was afore or afterwards I was accursed from the bounded IGA grocery store. The administrator alleged me in to his appointment one day to acquaint me that I aloof wasn't cut out for the grocery abundance business. I din't anticipate a 15 year old was attractive for a continued appellation career stocking shelves. Now I never did acquisition out if I was accursed for alarming up cans of pork and beans in the boiler in the banal room, (Before abuse controls and all-around warming), or whether they didn't like me benumbed the aback of grocery carts out to the little old lady's cars to advice them amount up. So you can see my sales acquaintance and training was on the abbreviate ancillary aback I approached the GM at the radio station.

Right about that time a retired preacher gave me an old book called, The Success System That Never Fails by W. Clement Stone, the Chicago allowance millionaire. Clem Stone had been the administrator of Napoleon Hill, columnist of anticipate And Grow Rich. Between anniversary affiliate there was a able adage beneath the title, "Little Hinges That Swing Big Doors." That book gave me the adventuresomeness to adapt a abundant presentation to my General administrator analogue absolutely how I would go about affairs radio announcement and ability specific goals. He said it was the best presentation he had anytime seen. Quite honestly, I don't apperceive how abounding added presentations he had reviewed.

He gave me the blooming ablaze to move into the sales appointment and absorb my own desk. My new sales job additionally launched me on a lifetime of sales, business and announcement as able-bodied as introducing me to the greatest sales trainers in the apple via alive seminars and books. Lots and lots of books. A few years ago I was accustomed to accept my account taken with Mark Victor Hansen, columnist of Chicken Soup for the Soul. Mark presented me with an announcement accolade for a television bartering I had created. One of the after-effects of Accepting the sales job was that I won several sales awards at that radio base and still accept a distinctively advised accolade affidavit blind on the bank of my appointment afterwards 30 years!

One of the absolute aboriginal things I abstruse way aback Aback was to duke abode a acknowledge You agenda to anniversary of my announcement customers. aback again there was no internet, no claimed computers, no email, no Twitter or Facebook. It was all chiral labor. Go to the abundance and buy the greeting cards, go the Post appointment and buy the stamps, abode the addendum (by hand), brand the envelope, abode the envelope, go to the mailbox, drop the card.

But my efforts paid off. The abutting time I'd airing into a audience abundance or business it was like I was a continued absent friend. "Hi Dave!" was the agog acceptable I got best often. It gave me a huge bend over the competition. There were times aback my adversary would leave an announcement angle and my audience would ask me to analysis it and accord my opinion! Imagine that...

The assurance and accord I becoming came as a aftereffect of
1. assuming up on time for appointments,
2. consistently accomplishing what I said I would do, and
3. consistently actuality beholden for the business.

A greeting agenda was the adhesive on the relationship. And not aloof one acknowledge you card. I'd apprentice their spouse's name, their children's names, their dog's name. And I'd acquisition out aback their altogether was. So there were assorted affidavit to accumulate in touch. Tom Hopkins tells the adventure of architecture a multi-million dollar absolute acreage business from sending cards. Relationships can't be bought. Relationships can't be faked. You are either 18-carat and aboveboard or not.

Now comes the problem. Or should I say challenge? Sending a acknowledge you agenda is a absent art form. We either don't accept the time or don't booty the time. abounding are victims of the "fast sale" mentality. Get them to assurance on the dotted band and move on to the abutting sale. Statistics appearance it is far easier to get echo sales from annoyed barter than it is to accomplish new clients. Here is the agitative news. Are you sitting down? Are you accessible for this? About two years ago my business adviser alien me to an online greeting agenda program. No, I don't beggarly e-cards. I'm talking about a absolute concrete acknowledge you agenda or altogether agenda that you can accelerate from your desktop or Laptop or alike your Blackberry.

The aggregation I apparent offers a alternative of over 13,000 cards of every class imaginable. Hundreds of business owners, managers and sales bodies are absorption to this business apparatus like crazy. It is so simple and fast that I accept claimed beatific out over 1200 cards aloof over the accomplished year! I baddest a card, blazon in my message, auto-fill the abode from a congenital in acquaintance administrator and bang SEND. The agenda is printed, blimp in a absolute envelope, formed with a absolute brand and mailed by apex the abutting day.

If that weren't enough, it does it all in my absolute autography AND my absolute signature. Not alone that, but I can acquaint the software to add a allowance agenda like Starbucks or American Express. Oh there's so abundant added but you'll accept to analysis it out for yourself. Now, based on what I aloof described, I accept you are cerebration that this charge be appealing expensive. Yes, it is absolute busy software. able-bodied here's accession surprise. I can accelerate out a absolute chic attractive bright agenda for 61 cents! Plus postage. So with a 44 cent brand we're talking .06. A agenda like this from Walmart would calmly amount .50.

Once you assurance up, you get a chargeless website and in accession to greeting cards you can accelerate postcards and newsletter admeasurement cards the aforementioned way. I've acclimated it to advance events, like my Chamber of Commerce award cutting. I beatific out 212 postcard invitations and had over 80 bodies appearance up! That's over a 30% acknowledgment rate. Fantastic! Concerned about cost? This aggregation allows you to accept resale rights through what they alarm their "Entrepreneur Package," and will accelerate you a analysis for 0 for every barometer that gets a broad package. See the website for details.

You can apparently acquaint that I'm appealing aflame about this. So let me blanket things up by adage you can try it for chargeless by sending a agenda for yourself at Thirty Second Cards. Be abiding to about-face up your speakers because the buyer of the aggregation will airing you through the absolute action in beneath than 5 minutes. If you're acquaintance is annihilation like mine, I'll bet you accelerate me a acknowledge you card.

My acquaintance has been absolute absolute in architecture abundant relationships with my audience (and ancestors and friends). And I've gotten affluence of referrals as a result. I will be sending out cards for the blow of my life.

How Saying "Thank You" Can Grow Your Business