Give Your Customers a "Kiss"

By Bill Histed

One advantage a small business has over the corporate elephants is that you may know your customer much more intimately. You often are located closer to the customer, maybe know what street he lives on or where his or her children attend school. Take advantage of this closeness and as a phone company once advertised, "Reach out and touch someone."

• Stop by personally, even if on a combined trip, and ask your customer how things are going and if you can do anything to be of help to their business. Just showing up on your customer's doorstep is a reminder that you are there. And if your customer has some item you can buy while you are there, show yourself spending a little money with your customer.
  
  
• Offer free delivery. This is a wedge a small business may still have over a large, out-of-area corporation. You can often make a side trip on the way to the bank, post office or restaurant. Free local delivery can show your customer you can "deliver the goods," not only more efficiently, but more dependably.
  
  
• One of my suppliers won my heart when the company would send a few Hershey kisses in the package when they delivered it. One time they ran out of kisses and sent small Tootsie Rolls. It was a little treat, but it was a way to say, "thank you." I actually got to expecting a few "kisses" or Tootsie Rolls as I waited for their delivery.
  
  
• In your own business, set out a dish of wrapped candy. In my business, we have always had such a dish on the counter. Even the letter carrier helps himself. It's a way of being friendly, of causing someone else to pause for a moment of enjoyment. It sure doesn't hurt goodwill.

How many huge corporations do you know that toss a few wrapped chocolate kisses in with your order? It doesn't cost much to "kiss" your customers. It may not be candy kisses—a local insurance agent has a "customer appreciation dinner" every year. This year, he had 145 of his policyholders show up for a free feed in a local slightly upper-level restaurant. I figured he paid about $7 a meal, meaning he paid around $1,000 to make 145 of his customers happy. I'm sure the meal was tax deductible for him. An event like this one really builds great business friendships!

Here are some AMA seminars of interest to small business owners:

• Value-added Selling
  
• Effective Purchasing Negotiations Workshop: Techniques and Tools for Today's Competitive Environment
  
• AMA's Course on Supply Chain Management
  

Author Bio: Bill Histed is owner of Mulberry Press and is a columnist in 330 newspapers. He can be reached at 863-425-3411 or mulberrypress@juno.com. This article originally appeared in Small Business Marketing Idea-Letter. To subscribe: 877-700-1322 or idealetter@aol.com