My wife and I don’t have children. We have some pot plants, though, and raising them must be pretty similar to raising kids, right? We have one particularly prickly plant called Boris, and though he is at times a real joy, he is going through the sullen teenage stage of not communicating. We only really find out what is going on in his life when he needs us to feed or water him. So we understand somewhat of the frustrations you parents face when your teenage progeny only conversates when they want something.
I do wonder how many businesses are run by teenagers. I have found that too many businesses make the effort of being interesting enough to earn my email address, only to ghost me totally. From what I thought had the potential to be a nice little relationship to absolute empty nothingness. Eventually, I stop caring, often after my therapist has assured me it was them, not me. And often as not, months later, out of the blue, I get an email saying, ‘hey, I know it has been a while, but we want some money…… ‘ My first response is too little, too late. Where were you when I was going through some stuff? Why should we only be in touch when you need something?! So, with the help of my email abuse support group, I unsubscribe and move on.
It may be all right for large corporate brands to act in such a petulant way. They can get away with sending through too much sales piffle or nothing at all except the government-mandated communication after a data breach. They can because they have the marketing clout and name recognition to get away with it.
But solopreneurs like us don’t have that same clout. And I get annoyed by small business owners who have fought hard to get leads and fans and email addresses only to throw all that effort way by not communicating at all. Those contacts turn from interested to cold, and possibly indifferent.
How much should you be communicating with your clients? Well, that depends on your market, your services and your style, but you should probably be making an effort to communicate more. I know this is something I need to continue to work on for myself, and this missive is an effort in that direction. And don’t make it all a one-way communication. Don’t just be communicating about discounts or sales or new products. Don’t make it just about you. Give back a little.
This blog post was brought to you without the request for you buy something for me. So why not use the time you would normally spend putting in your credit card details and reach out to some clients or prospects who haven’t heard from you for a while. I am sure they would love to hear from you.