Nothing helps a business more than a personal touch. Customers are more likely to use positive word-of-mouth advertising when telling other potential customers about excellent services. Customers remember and return to businesses where the staff has historically been helpful and where repeat business is recognized.

Personal contact with customers is more than what happens “in the shop.” It is taking that small business and making it human on all possible levels.

Sharing Your Story

An excellent, yet under-utilized, marketing tool is using the personal story of the small business owners. Every owner has a start up story and a history of his or her business. People enjoy hearing these stories. They make the small business owner a real person, and a good story makes the small business owner, along with the business, more memorable.

Getting to Know the Customer Base

Customers enjoy personal contact. For the small business owner, getting to know clients on a personal level can only improve the business-customer relationship and is an excellent marketing tool.

One way to make personal contact is greeting customers when they come to the business establishment. Yes, small business owners are busy people, but it is a smart business practice to come out and meet customers, ask a few questions and learn the names of the regular clients.

Attending events provides the small business owner the opportunity to meet current and potential customers. Whenever possible, representatives from small business should attend functions and professional meetings. Membership to the local Chamber of Commerce is a must.

Personalizing direct mail or any type of correspondence gets the customer’s attention and makes more of an impact than mail sent to a “Resident” or “Business Owner” or some other generic greeting. Personalizing mail has become much easier with computer programs and mail merge applications. A savvy small business owner will have a database of regular customers. If one is not available in the office, it is possible to buy a database of potential customers for marketing purposes.

Having informal social gatherings at the place of business, with invitations sent to regular customers as well as potential customers, is another way to create personal contacts. Even making coffee and cookies available to customers when they are visiting the business gives the impression that the small business is reaching out to its clients.

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