“It can be
done,” I said.
“Not easily,”
said Gail. “It takes to much technology if you ask me!”
“Would
somebody please send a cab to 1980, pick up Gail and bring her here?” asked
Rick.
Chris came
to her defense saying, “Hold on. I do more on line work than most of you and I
have to say that it’s difficult to keep up to date.”
Rob said, “I’m
with you theah partner. I got one of those new tablets and my pointin’ finger
is fagged out.
Kathy leaned
in and said, ”So what is this personalization stuff?”
“We were
talking about digital body language and how folks think the way to respond to
it and max out sales. You guys weren’t here and…”
Kathy cut me
off mid-sentence saying, “I know about that fantasy and Gail is right. It takes
too much technology or too much time for small operators!”
Rob handed
her one of his home made pralines and said, “Munch on that while I redirect
your insensitivity.”
She snorted,
looked over her glasses at him and bit into the goodie.
He
continued, “That will slow y’all down. You’ve got to remember that if you have
the right tools and the sense that the good lord gave a goose you can make it
work for you.
The most basic
personalization is to use somebody’s name. I don’t mean their formal name but the
one they respond to—like Fletch calls me Bubba and a couple of you are
pickin’ that up.
Y’all have
to remember that it is context based. I was over at Kathy’s home for dinner
once and the phone rang as we were opening some wine in the kitchen and she was
nervously checking the oven. She hit speaker cause her hands were full. It was
some telephone sales type that asked her for her first name. She slammed the
oven door and said, ‘Missus.’ Then she hung up on him.
So use their
name, the first if it makes sense, a pet name if they are okay with you doin’
that and Mister or Missus with their last name if that is appropriate.
It’s like
one of my darlins use to say, ‘Don’t y’all go gettin’ familiar until we are!’ Y’all
might want to think of that as Bubba’s personalization rule.”
Chris said, “there’s
a lot more data commonly used but most of it is really subject to Bubba’s rule.
What cautions
would you add?
Bubba, and
the rest of the Marketing lunch bunch are reported on weekly when Fletch can find
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Jerry
Fletcher is a Trust-based Marketing Consultant that knows how to build
businesses. He specializes in Professional Practices, Solopreneurs and
Start-ups. You can learn more at: www.JerryFletcher.com
Fletch is an
international professional speaker. His best known keynote is The
Trust Goldmine. Learn more at www.NetworkingNinja.com