The Top *10* Highly Profitable, Proven, Time-Tested Secrets to Create the Ultimate First and Last Impression with Your Clients, Secrets #4 & #5

Secret #4

R: Relationships, Revival,
Restoration, and Responses

Business is all about relationships. One great way to build those relationships is to pick up the phone and call your clients. Talk to them. Ask them how they’re doing and tell them how you can assist them in solving a problem that they’re currently experi-encing in business. Letters are great, too. People like getting letters that are written to them personal-ly. I’m not talking about form letters. I’m talking about letters that show you care. Those letters should mention specific things that you remember about your client.In this day and age of e-mail and social networks, letter writing is practically a lost art. But you should revive the art of letter writing and use personal letters to build and deepen your business relationships.
When was the last time you received a heartfelt letter that was personally signed by someone? It’s probably been a long time. But, when you opened the envelope and read the message, didn’t the letter restore your faith and enhance your belief in that person or business? When someone takes the time to send me a handwritten letter, it restores my faith in humanity. If the letter is from a business, it restores my faith in business. That’s important because we live in an era when frauds and scams are ruining people’s lives. Nowadays, there’s an abundance of unethical businessmen. Be
ie Madoff is a prime example. He ran a hedge fund that turned out to be a giant Ponzi scheme. He fleeced investors of their hard-ea
ed money. Due to people like Madoff, you must put in extra effort to show that you have integrity. You must restore the faith of potential clients by building business rela-tionships on a consistent, daily basis. The act of restoring faith can also be physical. For example, you can update your of-fice to change the experience your customers have when they arrive. Paint the walls if the paint is fading or chipping. Replace broken-down, dirty furniture. Make your place of business look fresh and inviting. That will make a great impression on people. When my wife, Christie, and I invested in real estate in North Carolina and Florida, we invested money in restoration. We knew that in order to rent the properties to tenants, everything had to be clean, organized, and inviting. So, we installed upgrades such as high-end carpeting, ceiling fans, drapes, and other things that make a house into a home. We also repainted the walls with high-quality paint so that scuff marks could easily be removed. As a result of our diligent restoration efforts, we’ve been able to successfully rent our properties. People love the interiors. Everything looks brand new. So, people have responded by renting from us. You can get the same positive response from clients by reviving the time-tested aspects of customer service. My grandfather, Papa D, taught me the most important principles of customer ser-vice.
He ran the family art gallery business, and he told me: “You never ever let a wom-an, a mother, a wife carry a piece of art out of the gallery. You have her pull her car up in front, and you open the car door and you put the art in the car.” Now, that’s extreme customer service!

Secret #5

E: Experience, Engage, and
Experiment

My grandfather’s type of customer service is an experience, the very experience that leaves a great last impression. The last impression is the very last thing a client re-members about you before departing from your place of business. One of the keys to leaving a great last impression is to engage in a heartfelt con-versation with your client. And one way to start that conversation is to wear a name tag that displays the name of your home town.
My home town is Yonkers, New York. So, when a client from New York meets me and sees that state listed on my name tag, he will respond positively. He’ll usually talk to me about all the great people and places from New York.
And we have such an awesome time talking to each other that I thank him profuse-ly.I say, “Thank you for coming to the Closing and Marketing University Boot Camp. Thank you for traveling from New York to see me. Have a safe trip home. I can’t wait to see you again soon.” You see, when you develop great rapport with a client, you’ve successfully started the process of building a solid long-term business relationship. That type of relation-ship is the foundation of multi-billion dollar businesses like the Ritz-Carlton.
But you should experiment with different techniques for developing rapport. Find different things that you have in common with your clients. You’ll learn that when you use those commonalities as conversation starters, you’ll appreciate your clients. You’ll be grateful to be around such interesting people. Find different ways to appreciate the fact that your clients enrich your life.
Tell yourself, “My clients are assisting me to live the life I want. They’re empower-ing me to live a lifestyle of freedom.” I love my millionaire champion students. They’ve given me the perfect lifestyle. That’s one of the reasons why my business club is called the Lifestyle Freedom Club.