Don’t You Even Miss Me?
Nonprofit groups are typically run by volunteers. Because of the inexperience of many in charge, the harsh reality is oftentimes forgotten that they are a business, selling memberships, services and swag.
Perhaps that explains this scenario I’ve found myself in.
For 15 years I was an active member of a local nonprofit group, dutifully paying my membership dues each September.
Three years ago, spurred by COVID and time constraints, I stopped attending regular meetings. One year later I stopped paying dues.
Nobody ever asked me why.
Considered from a business perspective, that is a massive oversight. I had been a steady customer of this organization, and nobody wondered why I stopped buying from them.
Don’t laugh: This probably also applies to your business.
Because regardless of what you sell, odds are excellent that you’ve had customers who’ve dropped off the cliff at some point, never to be seen again.
Hockey great Wayne Gretzky once observed, “You miss 100 percent of the shots you don’t take.”
This philosophy applies to those customers you’ve lost. Because if you don’t make some effort at reconnecting with them, you’ve resigned yourself to never getting them back.
Here’s an easy solution for you. Send out a promotional mailer telling them how much you miss them.
No, don’t just add them to your drip campaign without permission. That’s rude, has legal and financial implications for you, and won’t be terribly effective.
More efficient will be a three-part campaign to romance and entice them back. Treat them like a new sales prospect. Point them toward a landing page on your website, preferably with a special promotional offer to lure them back into the fold.
After all, they were your customer once, so they obviously liked what your company did for them. Meaning unless you left a really sour taste in their mouth, you’ve got a better than average chance of getting them to buy from you again.
Commit today to reviewing your customer list from the past several years. Isolate anyone who stopped talking to you and make an extra effort to reach out to them.
Then start doing this exercise every 12 months to increase chances of recapturing business from anyone you’ve lost over the previous three years.
You might be surprised by the results.
With that said, I wish you a week of profitable marketing.
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