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Welcome Mat Marketing with Mike Capuzzi

by | In the Magazine, Mike Capuzzi | 0 comments

Much like a welcome mat greets visitors to your home, all forward-thinking business coaches should have something I call welcome mat marketing in place to make all new clients realize you’re different than your competition – and to make them feel special.

In this age where every new client is extremely valuable and important for your business, nobody can afford to be complacent when it comes to marketing, and specifically when it comes to extending a “welcome mat” to your new clients.

There’s a saying that most coaches get a client to make a sale, but the astute coach makes a sale to get a client. The latter understands the lifetime value of a client, in terms of retention, incremental sales, and referrals. Your welcome mat marketing is the beginning of this important process.

A welcome mat marketing campaign is a focused MULTI-STEP, NEW CLIENT campaign designed with very specific goals in mind and should consist of both online and offline communications for maximum results. In my experience, I would estimate that 95% of business owners never consider a formal welcoming process for their clients. Implementing one can give you and your business a HUGE competitive advantage.

Recently, I’ve experienced a welcome mat campaign that I would consider worthy of mention. It happened when my wife purchased a new Acura. Long gone are the days where all you had to worry about was a speedometer, gas gauge and push button radio. Today’s new cars seem to require a PhD to figure out how to use all the bells and whistles, and the Acura MDX is no different.

Acura realized few new customers ever read the owner’s manual, so they created a 30 day campaign where my wife received a short written tutorial – right on her navigation system that appeared when she turned the car on. She could either take 20 seconds to read it right then, or save it for future reading. This is smart for several reasons. Acura took the most important features for new car owners, chunked them into short concise tutorials and “fed” them to her over 30 days where they knew she would be 100% sure to see them (the driver’s seat).

Business coaching is no different, and I would challenge you to develop a well thought out welcome mat for your new clients. The goal is to make them feel welcomed and appreciated; to address any new client questions they may have as they get started and to show them that your business is different than all other competitors. It leaves no doubt that you care 100% about helping them with your policies and business services.

Two big benefits when using a welcome mat campaign is consistency and compliance. When you set up a system like the one described in detail below, you don’t have to worry about whether you told Mr. Jones the same thing you told Mrs. Smith because the system remains consistent with every new client. And if the need ever arose, you have hard evidence of what information was shared with the client.

As you begin to craft your campaign, keep these important steps in mind:

Step 1: Your first goal is to figure out why you want to create this campaign. What do you want to convey? What do you want to have happen? What information is important for a new client to have?

Step 2: The second goal is to reduce any type of buyer’s remorse and to create clients-for-life. You can go a long way by creating a well-thought out welcome mat campaign that reassures and validates their investment in you and your abilities to bring about transformation.

Step 3: Create a specific time-frame where new clients will hear from you on a scheduled basis over the set period of time. I suggest you consider a 30-day campaign with multiple online and offline touchpoints.

Step 4: Figure out the number of touchpoints and what media you will use during the welcome mat campaign. I suggest you consider this welcome mat architecture for your coaching business:

  • Day 0 – New client start.
  • Day 1 – Personalized thank you email with photo of you and your staff holding up a thank you sign or possible link to a generic video from you thanking them for their business. Introduce the rest of your staff and how they can serve the client.
  • Day 2 – Personalized, handwritten thank you card to the new client. Consider including “how to refer” information in this mailing.
  • Day 5 – Personalized email outlining important business processes, e.g. how to make payments, ask questions, request a meeting, etc.
  • Day 10 – Personalized “just checking in” email. Consider including other product and service information and benefits.
  • Day 15 – Personalized direct mail with unexpected gift (visit website for promotional gift ideas). Thank them again for their business and remind them about the importance of referrals for your business.
  • Day 20 – Personalized email – “Hope you like the gift I sent.”
  • Day 25 – Personalized email – “Do you have any questions I can answer for you?
  • Day 30 – Personal “just checking in” phone call from you.

Step 5: Set up your campaign using some type of automated marketing platform. For optimum hassle-free results, your welcome mat marketing should be systematized and automated which gives you the peace-of-mind knowing everything is happening 100% of the time when you acquire a new client.

Step 6: Set it and forget it (for the time being). I’m never a fan of simply forgetting about a campaign after it has been loaded into your automated marketing platform. All owners should revisit ALL their marketing from time to time to see if tweaks are necessary.

If this was my business, I would have an even more complex, behavioral-based campaign in place that works based on an individual’s interaction with your campaign, but if all this is new to you, the above framework is a great start. The best thing to do is map out the campaign based on achieving a specific goal at each contact point. I like to graphically lay out the campaign on paper or some type of layout program so I can see everything I want to do and need to create.

Here are a few touchpoint ideas you can include in your welcome mat campaign:

  • Thank them for becoming a client and reaffirm their wise decision to become a client.
  • Spell out ways they can contact you with questions/concerns/support issues.
  • Let them know the various ways you accept program payments.
  • Introduce your staff and their areas of specialty.
  • Offer other product/service opportunities and give them a “new client reason” to take action now.
  • Share client success stories (and invite them to be your next one).
  • Discuss your referral program and how they can benefit from it.
  • If you send a client newsletter, send them the first issue.
  • Give them an unexpected gift from you.
  • Allow them to self-identify as a client wanting more from you (e.g. other products, higher levels of service, etc.).

If all the above has made you go cross-eyed, don’t fret because you can still reap the benefits of welcome mat marketing by sending out a few personalized direct mail letters and then getting on the phone. The point is to treat every new client in your business like they’re a beloved grandmother. Thank them, appreciate them, help them, wow them and watch your business soar!

 About Mike Capuzzi

Mike Capuzzi is a consultant and coach for business owners and sharp entrepreneurs looking to get to the next level in their business. He is also the inventor of the world-famous CopyDoodles®. Throughout his 23 years in marketing, he has helped thousands around the world increase their marketing results and profitability with his unique take on high-impact direct-response marketing and copywriting. To get Mike’s tips, visit www.MikeCapuzzi.com

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