Time for some R&R to Help Your Technology Business

R&R: What does it stand for? In most circles it means Rest & Relaxation or something of that sort.

Today it means Reactivation & Referrals

These are 2 things that should be done regularly and come in especially handy during a rough economic cycle as they cost little to no money to execute, but can pack a pretty nice punch.

Let's start with Reactivation first. What exactly does this mean? Well, just about every business that's been around for a bit will have clients that they did work for and were satisfied but are no longer current paying clients.

Maybe you did a quick job for them in the past or a bigger one-shot project. Either way, you got paid and as far as you know there is no bad blood just a lack of follow up as you continued to get new clients and develop new business offerings.

Do you think you can send them a direct marketing piece or an email or better yet give them a buzz and "reactivate" them? A nice 2 step reactivation campaign like direct mail pushing them to a special web page or a follow up call to make an appointment is easier than you think. And it's pretty low cost with a good chance of a nice ROI.

I'd say it's more than worth a try. And I would also suggest making this an annual or semi-annual ritual as well in any economy.

Now for Referrals. We all know about them and some of us utilize this technique on a regular basis, but it has a special edge to it in this rough economy.

When money gets tight, business and people in general still have to spend it on things they need and are willing to pay for since they also want it. They will gladly pay those that they trust to give it to them. If you know you fall into that category and especially if you work a particular vertical market, now is the time to pick out your best and/or favorite clients and enter them into a formal referral program.

By formal I mean you offer them rewards and/or payments for their endorsements and kind words that put money in your coffers.

Another form of a referral program is a joint venture. And this is a great time to do it. This is a way to leverage the trust that non-competitors who serve the same market have built with a win-win for you, them, and their clients. And you can also return the favor for your endorsement of them to clients of yours that would benefit from the JV partner's offerings.

If you're looking for a fairly quick, low cost boost in your marketing efforts to help your technology business move forward, you can't beat a little R&R so get to it.


To Your Business Success-

George Sierchio
The Consultant's Coach