The Quality Of The Contacts You Keep

1/4/200810:23:29 PM Link |  | Add comment

Email Marketing

This time of year brings up a lot of memories. Memorable experiences from your past always return to you over the holidays along with thoughts of loved ones missed and old friends misplaced over the years.  We’ve been trained by retail America to spend money on cards to send our loved ones and old friends messages of wellbeing. I’ve always wondered why we send messages to our loved ones wishing them well and including the “Year in Review” addendum instead of maintaining personal contact throughout the year. In most cases this addendum is a one or two page overview of all that has happened throughout the present year and all that is hoped for in the next.

In some cases the communication Mecca that we live in has taken over and the traditional Holiday card is overlooked and pushed aside to make way for the Holiday email newsletter. Everything in society has become less personal. We can pay our bills online, we can deposit checks at the bank without any personal contact and we even prefer to speak to our close friends via typed words on cell phones than by using our god given spoken language. During this year’s holiday season let's change that. I’ve always made it my goal to personally converse with old friends over the holidays, people I may have lost touch with over the past year. Rebuilding or maintaining the relationship that you once had via a phone call or a conversation over dinner would mean more to an old friend than a holiday card lost among the masses. Make it your goal this holiday season to rebuild your personal network through solid warm-hearted conversations between old friends. Skip the card aisle this year, save money on stamps and put your free long distance to good use. Make it a point to call the people you care about and reach out to old friends. An unexpected phone call from you is guaranteed to put a bigger smile on the other end of the line than snowflakes and joyful tidings on a two dimensional card. As with most things in my life, I’m constantly working to build stronger and more robust relationships, personally and professionally.

Maintaining contact in your personal life with old friends, acquaintances and family members is comparable to the maintenance of a network in business.  There is a pretense when it comes to a business’ network that the more contacts you have the merrier.  Lets reverse this thinking. The more contacts in a network doesn’t automatically lend itself to achieving greater results in a business; but the quality of the contacts you keep in your network, the more apt your network is to support, maintain and grow your business.

Contacts in a network should be screened through a double opt-in feature to allow for a solidly built list. Think quality over quantity. An email marketing campaign will be more effective if the targeted list of network contacts are fully aware of their status. Through a screening process, the customer knows and accepts the marketing efforts because they are conscious and mindful of the relationship. This idea can be applied to maintaining those network relationships. The quality of maintenance efforts you put into a customer relationship communicates to the customers in your network that they are important.

What you gain from an experience depends on the effort you put it. You will receive positive impacts from maintaining quality relationships and contacts within your personal life and in your business. Make relationship maintenance and quality communications a viable resolution in all aspects to better yourself in your personal and professional life.

Jude Samson
President
Levelfield, Inc.