3 Steps to Making Your Mailing List Work Positively for You

Do you wonder why your mass emails receive little to no response? Frankly, you are wasting your time if your marketing strategy involves buying a list from a third party and sending massive sales emails to recipients. Your emails can be perceived as Spam and annoying because the recipient just doesn’t know you, or your business. And you may feel a little bummed about not receiving the kind of response you had initially anticipated.

How do you receive a response and a positive one at that from your mailing list? The answer is in the art of developing “Personal Relationships”. You can form and nurture genuine relationships through various forms of communication – facebook, myspace or through a phone call.

You want to be interested in your “customers” as much as you want them to be interested in your product. If you are caring and genuine to one customer, as the saying goes, their network becomes your network and “referrals” become your bloodline.

Here are three steps to making your mailing list work positively for you and in building positive relationships:

Step 1: One of the best ways to begin your relationship building with your current and prospective customers is “Free consultations”. They give you and your business an opportunity to develop a personal and genuine relationship. This sets the stage for your customers because they, without having to make a purchase, have an opportunity to learn more about you. Wouldn’t you want this type of service from another business?

You can conduct a free consultation by having prospective customers fill out assessment forms on your website. Or you can host a free webinar or a live seminar online. You can follow up with individuals after such seminars to provide one-on-one feedback and to answer any individual questions.

One of the interesting marketing aspects implemented by Internet Marketing University is “online/virtual office hours” for individuals who have the opportunity to directly touch base with the owner Brian Campbell, an Internet marketing guru.

Step 2: Get on the Phone! A phone call to your prospective customer (s), especially a follow up to those who completed an assessment form could make the deal! What you are showing here is a genuine interest in them.

Regardless of where your customers are physically, today they are literally a phone call or computer call away with the availability and development of VOIP technology Skype has pioneered the concept of Internet calls and offers free computer-to-computer calls.

Make certain that your Skype information and another phone, including toll-free numbers are visible and accessible on your website. Check out Skype for additional services which are both affordable and convenient.

Step 3: If you haven’t figured this out yet – Follow Up, Follow Up, Follow Up…with individuals individually! Mass group emails are impersonal and a big turn off. Follow up with your customers via email and/or via a phone call. But it must be done!

If you have a blog or a site that allows for visitor comments, ensure you follow up with the individuals acknowledging and thanking them for their comments. Make it a point to follow up on any questions or on comments they might have left for you.

A 2-way Relationship That Starts with You

Building personal relationship is a 2-way stream. As a business you have to initiate that relationship by providing opportunities for customers to learn more about you – whether it be on your social networking site or providing office hours, etc. Following up to your initial communication is as vital. Creativity and innovation is also important in the relationship-building process. Consider introducing podcasts, webcasts and/or videos if you haven’t already to enhance the quality of your service/product to your customer.

In a highly competitive world, where every customer is essential to a business, companies have fast realized the importance of genuine personal relationships. In essence, they invite customers to events and luncheons and have begun customer-recognition events to demonstrate their appreciation.

As a small business, you can keep it simple and develop very important relationships with your customers without having to spend a lot of money. Start your relationship-building today by implementing creative strategies and ensure you follow up at all cost!