When was the last time you called a client just to say hello?

If you’re not doing that, you’re missing out on a simple but very effective marketing tool. In fact, it’s one of the best tools you have.

Calling clients and former clients without the meter running, with no business agenda whatsoever is, ironically, a great way to get new business. Why? In the long term, the stronger your client relationships, the more loyal your clients will be. When they need your services, or know someone who does, odds are you will be the one they call. In the short term, your call reminds them that you still exist, that you still provide the benefits they want, and it prompts them to think about their lives and the lives of the people they know in that context.

When they speak with you your clients will remember a question they’ve been meaning to ask you but “didn’t want to bother you” or didn’t want to get a bill. They’ll remember their cousin who just got into an accident or someone at work who is having marital issues. They’ll think about a friend of theirs whose business is having cash flow problems.

Surveys tell us that clients who could refer often don’t merely because they, “just didn’t think about it.” Your call makes them think about it.

The telephone is your most valuable marketing tool because it allows you to reach out and speak with the most important people in your (professional) life. These are the people who pay your mortgage and put your kids through school and they don’t know how much you appreciate them. Show them by calling, just to say hello.