Chances are, you've left a voicemail or an email for a business and never heard back or you received a response weeks later. What type of impression did you form of that business?
Or there's the business which WOW'd you on Day 1 and forgot your name the day you became a paying client.
Savvy business owners have a marketing plan which includes a well-defined communications plan.
A communications plan defines the different ways your business "speaks" to its clients and prospects:
- Email (Do you use an email signature?)
- Voicemail (You can hear mine at 508.946.0676)
- Email Newsletter (Is it sent out consistently and does it have a theme?)
- Print Newsletter
- Website (Does it focus on you or your visitors?)
- Brochure/Free Giveaway (such as my audio series)
The plan defines not only the "how", but also the "when" and the "what".
If you say your ezine is "weekly", it needs to go out weekly, not biweekly or monthly.
And once you've determined your marketing message - your "unique selling proposition" - that "thing" which makes you different from everyone else, you must consistently communicate it through the "hows" in your communications plan.
Your Coaching Challenge
Whether your new in business or been around for a while, look at all the ways your business (you, your virtual assistants, etc.) "touches" or speaks to clients and prospects.
The sum of all these touches equals your communications. Do you have a plan? Are you consistent? Or are your conversations and writings haphazard with one client's experience drastically different from another's?
Make a list of all the things which need attention and then ask your assistants if they see anything which could be improved up. And don't forget to ask your clients what you could be doing better.
The result will be a much smoother running business with more satisfied clients and larger conversions of prospects to clients. Always a good thing.
For the past 5 years, Sandra Martini has been showing self-employed business owners how to get more clients consistently by implementing processes and systems to put their marketing on autopilot. Visit Sandra at http://www.SandraMartini.com for details, compelling client testimonials and her free audio series “5 Simple and Easy Steps to Put Your Marketing on Autopilot”.
Having "been there, done that", Sandra is known for combining a unique blend of innovative, no-fluff strategies that really work.
Her generosity in freely sharing real implement-today tactics and strategies keeps her audiences literally spellbound as they take notes. Sandra's motto, "If I can do it, you can do it too!" and her ability to get people who’ve never had real success to take immediate action on a systematic basis have positioned her as a unique catalyst in small business. 
