Just because you got the first sale, doesn’t mean you are done with the customer. These customers are going to be with you (hopefully) for a long time – buying upgrades and add-on products, becoming your champions within companies, and giving you valuable feedback for future releases.
What's On This Page
- Call them to thank them for buying the product and ask them if they are having any difficulties.
- Send them a thank you not in the mail (or e-mail if you have their address).
- Publish a newsletter and/or Web page with a bulletin board to create a sense of community and to gather feedback.
- Keep a customer database, even if it is simple in a PC based product such as Access or Paradox.
- This database should have at least name, address, company, title, date of purchase, where they found your product, and some demographic information.
- Some of this information can be gotten from product registration cards/e-mail.
- When a customer calls, be sure to look them up on the database while you are on the phone to immediately have relative information. This will make the customer feel like you care about them.
- The database can be used to keep a history of the past contacts you have had with the customer.
- Use a record key of phone number or software registration number so you can ask them over the phone what it is and pull it up quickly.
©1997, 1998, 1999 Michele Determan