As we hit the home stretch of 2023, if you aren’t running wide open yet, I’m sure it’s just a matter of time before life hits overdrive. And no, unfortunately, I’m not specifically talking about business. Decorating, hosting family, traveling, and shopping can turn the months of November and December into a whirlwind for your normal homeowner. And we must keep their struggle in mind if we’re ever going to understand the best use of our time during this season.

With all the noise and busyness, it can be tough to make the extra impact to finish your year out strong. A hectic and distracted customer base normally means it’s much easier to waste money marketing this time of year than it is to get a good return on your usual investments. But, while we hope everyone’s focus during this season is on thankfulness, family, and blessing instead of consumerism, that’s likely your best tactic as well.

The message that will resound more than any other this time of year is a heartfelt, “Thank you.”

If you’ve been connected with Hudson,Ink for any amount of time, you’ve likely heard our passion and belief in building genuine relationships with the homeowners in your database and how much that will pay off monetarily in the long run. By the numbers, most customers who stop doing business with you leave because they don’t feel like you value their relationship enough. Do you think that’s an incorrect assumption? What are you doing to convince them otherwise? When’s the last time you told them, or better yet, showed them how much you appreciate them keeping you afloat?

We talk about touches, clicks, impressions, mailings, and so on when measuring how much you’re interacting with prospects, but the term quality contact isn’t discussed nearly enough. What makes a contact a QUALITY contact? In your eyes it may be whatever effort leads to generating business and earning a phone call, but for your homeowners that’s probably not high on their list of importance. And while interacting just to make sure your customers see and hear from you consistently might help with TOMA (top of mind awareness), it does not necessarily give the impression of genuine concern for their well-being or community.

According to the Better Business Bureau, healthy business-to-prospect communication should be TEN plus quality contacts to every ONE hard-hitting sales solicitation. That’s a 10:1 ratio. And when that ratio gets out of whack, the homeowner can quickly begin to feel they’re being preyed upon instead of served. Quality contacts include: wellness checks, home tips, money saving ideas, any communication that adds value to having a relationship with you without asking for a sale, and most importantly, constant messages of appreciation.

Too often we start to get a hero complex in service industries that can really do a lot of damage. You get a call from a frantic homeowner who’s in a comfort emergency, and you come running to save the day. They pay their bill and thank you enthusiastically (not all of them, but the ones that don’t thank you serve my point here…), and you leave thinking you’ve earned their business for life. But statistically that’s just not the case. You can show up, do exactly what’s asked of you at a fair price, have no complaints, and still never hear from that customer again. This is where a mutually beneficial and mutually APPRECIATIVE relationship should start. Yes, you came to their need and fixed their problem. You are deserving of a “thank you” for your quality work, but don’t forget the only reason you’re able to afford the trucks, equipment, training, employees, and warehouse to do what you do is because of homeowners like them. In fact, the only reason you’ll have Christmas presents under the tree, can afford to send the kids to college, and one day hopefully retire well is because homeowners have needs, and you’re good at fixing them. You’re not calling them desperately begging for an appointment, but you will always need them as much as they need you. It’s important we never forget that if we fail to show our customers appreciation, they’ll soon be someone else’s customers.

And before I sound too preachy or this sounds like I’m just wagging a finger, I want to be careful to take my own medicine. We at Hudson,Ink are extremely thankful for every one of you as well. Some of you reading this have worked with us hand-in-hand for many years and others haven’t partnered up with us just yet, but just enjoy receiving the content and tips. Whatever part we’ve played in helping you be successful, we want to remind you that the only reason we exist and are able to work in a field we’re passionate about is because of you! So, from the bottom of our hearts, THANK YOU for being a part of the Hudson,Ink family, and we hope that our relationship with you is always as beneficial to you as it is to us.

“Thank you” might just be the two most powerful words in marketing.

If you’d like some ideas on how to build a strong, mutually beneficial relationship between you and your homeowners click here for a free customer retention information kit.

If you’d like to send your customers a THANK YOU message during the holidays to assure them you appreciate their business and would like it to continue for years to come, click here to browse some easy templates and options.