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Some possibly alarming stats for your business

Why do your CLIENTS LEAVE YOU? It’s not what you think!
68% is PERCEIVED INDIFFERENCE – (they don’t think you care about them)

Studies show that the average person won’t take action until they’ve heard or seen your message at least 7 times. It is VITAL to your business to have a systematic way for keeping in touch.

95% of your customers will purchase from a competitor on an impulse even if you provide a great service.
This just shows the importance of staying Top-Of-Mind with them.

66% of your business within the next 12 months should come from your sphere of influence. How are you staying in touch with them?

The average company loses 52% of it’s customers every 5 years…Cost of replacing them can be 6-7 times more expensive. The #1 reason for leaving is that they forget about you, the #2 reason is that they feel you took their business for granted.

62% of your clients aren’t taking advantage of all of your products or services.

For every month that you don’t communicate with your client, you lost 10% of your influence….if 10 months go by without communication, you’ve lost 100% of your influence!

Don’t wait for perfection

“Perfection causes delays and procrastination. You will never deliver if you wait for perfection.” Dan Miller
What are you putting off doing till you have it perfect? Learn all the rules, info etc? Just do it and figure it out along the way.

If talking to people about your business, just talk….,you can’t say the wrong thing to the right person….and the more you talk n practice, the better you will get.

If it’s cleaning n decluttering your home, just do it, don’t look to perfect it (this is one of my struggles! Lol) I out in my calendar/schedule 15 months minutes every day, where I focus on just that….some days it’s more, but I find when I just do a little each time I get less overwhelmed)

If it’s writing your book (a same thing, I’m in the middle of my 2nd book) just writing n focusing 15 min a day, helps with not getting frustrated n overwhelmed….if you get ideas n can write more, great! Do it! But breaking up into smaller spurts helps).

If it’s personal development n reading a book, same thing, do some, every day! After a year it adds up!!!

Same goes for anything else! Just do it, and do it ‘some’ every day.

The Stuff Strong Relationships Are Made Of

The best way to get help is to give it. But there’s one other step that’s just as crucial to building strong working relationships.

Recently I wrote about the power of gratitude. But, as a number of readers pointed out, I only told half the story.

When you express your gratitude, in a sincere and heartfelt way, you make a powerful and lasting impact on the person you thank.

But what I left out is the powerful impact you make on yourself.

As Warren Shaeffer, founder and CEO of Thankaday.com, a tool that helps people record and share their gratitude in an easy and fun way, commented, “… sending someone a sincere and genuine thanks is very beneficial, both for the giver and the recipient… as William Ward said, ‘Feeling gratitude and not sharing it is like wrapping a present and not giving it.'”

All of us have a ton of gratitude presents, all wrapped up and ready to go, that for whatever reasons we haven’t ever given to the people in our lives that deserve them.

By hanging on to those gifts we don’t just deprive the recipients of thanks and appreciation. We miss out on the opportunity to feel a little better about ourselves and to rekindle or spark better personal connections.

So let’s remedy that. I’ll start.

I worked for R.R. Donnelley for 17 years. The graph of my career path, while far from a hockey stick, still showed a nice upward arc… until the day I got fired or I resigned or some combination of the two. (While seemingly contradictory, if it’s happened to you, you know exactly what I mean.)

I made calls. I talked to recruiters. I reached out to industry connections. Nothing. So I touched base with people I had helped in the past; certainly they would return the favor?

Nope.

Then Randy called. I had worked with Randy at Donnelley; he, being braver than me, had left a few years prior for a better opportunity. “Hey, I’ve got something for you,” he said. “You should work here. The plant was just purchased by an investment group and they’re looking for people to turn it around.”

So–in spite of the fact there wasn’t actually a job opening at the time–Randy got my résumé to the right people and pushed and prodded and cajoled until he, not I, landed me an interview.

Sure, I got the job because I was qualified. (It turns out they created a job for me.) But he got me in a door I couldn’t open.

Without Randy I never would have been interviewed, much less hired. Randy changed my life–not because I asked, not because he somehow felt obligated to, but simply because he wanted to.

Now it’s your turn. Pick a person who has helped you. Pick a person who has made a difference in your life. Pick someone you haven’t thanked or haven’t thanked properly.

Then make gratitude a verb. Share it. Deliver that already wrapped present. Express your appreciation, sincerely and openly.

Everyone loves getting presents. Everyone loves giving presents. Don’t just feel gratitude–show it.

It only takes a few seconds, yet the people who deserve your thanks will love it–and so will you.

Jeff Haden
http://www.inc.com/jeff-haden/networking-tips-how-to-strengthen-relationships.html

General Facts About Greeting Cards

U.S. consumers purchase approximately 7 billion greeting cards each year, generating nearly $7.5 billion in retail sales.
More than 90 percent of all U.S. households buy greeting cards, with the average household purchasing 30 individual cards in a year.
The average person receives more than 20 cards per year, about one-third of which are birthday cards.

Greeting cards range in price from 50 cents to $10, although counter cards typically cost between $2 and $4. Cards featuring special techniques, intricate designs and new technologies are at the top of the price scale.

The exchange of greeting cards is one of the most widely accepted customs in the U.S. There are cards for virtually any occasion or relationship, and they are widely available. Approximately 100,000 retail outlets around the country carry greeting cards.

Women purchase more than 80 percent of all greeting cards.
Although women are more likely than men to buy several cards at once, men generally spend more on a single card than women.

There are two categories of greeting cards — Seasonal and Everyday. Total card sales are split approximately 50-50 between the two types.
The most popular Everyday cards are Birthday (60%), Anniversary (8%), Get Well (7%), Friendship (6%), and Sympathy cards (6%).
The most popular Seasonal cards are Christmas (60%), Valentine’s Day (25%), Mother’s Day (4%), Easter (3%), and Father’s Day (3%) cards.

There are an estimated 3,000 greeting card publishers in the U.S., ranging from small family-run organizations to major corporations. GCA-member publisher companies account for approximately 95 percent of industry sales.

Nine out of 10 Americans say they look forward to receiving personal letters and greeting cards because cards allow them to keep in touch with friends and family and make them feel they are important to someone else.

Although e-mail, text messaging and phone calls are valued by Americans for helping them communicate with family and friends, the majority of Americans say they prefer the old-fashioned handwritten card or letter to make someone feel truly special.

Studies show that people normally buy 10 greeting cards a year, but have a NEED for 70 greeting cards a year –
Why don’t they buy those? It’s more expensive, it’s inconvenient, it’s time consuming, and they forget – We have a fix for all the above – contact me today~

Shhhh! I know the secret recipe for converting business contacts & casual customers into loyal clients

Has This Ever Happened To You????

Scene #1:
You meet someone at a business luncheon (or by chance in a long line at the hardware store). After a brief discussion, your new acquaintance suggests that he might swing a little business your way. You exchange business cards. Will your new business contact become your new customer?

Scene #2:
Not all customers (or clients) are created equal. Some are (how shall I put this politely) just customers. They drift in, then drift out of your life. However, a smaller percentage of customers power your business forward. Perhaps they are regulars or they refer their friends. Sometimes they are just good folks and they always brighten your day. Will they remain your clients, customers or patients?

In scene #1, rather than rely on chance, why not make certain that you convert your new business contact into a new client?
In scene #2, why not make sure that those special customers know how much you appreciate their business, in a way they will remember?

Success in both of these scenarios is simple to achieve and the costs are negligible compared to the returns.
Is this a new or revolutionary business system?
Hardly. In fact, it is more than 600 years old, yet, remains the world’s favorite form of written communication.

However, today’s technology has changed the playing field. What took hours of effort a year ago, takes little more than a few clicks of your computer mouse, today.
(And yes, if you have an Internet connection, your current computer and software will do the job just fine.)

This works ~ beyond your expectations.

Ask me how, or visit my site at www.ILoveCards.net for more information on how to keep in touch with your clients.