December Seminars

QuickBooks Introduction for Small Businesses workshop of Volunteer State Community College's www.tsbdc.org. $25 (payable at the workshop.)

Tennessee Small Business Development Center, 9-12 p.m. Tuesday, December 3, 1480 Nashville Pike,

Gallatin, TN in room 175 in the Ramer Administrative Building. Registration is required. Reserve online.

Starting a Small Business workshop of Volunteer State Community College's Tennessee Small Business Development Center, 4-6 p.m. Tuesday, December 10, 1480 Nashville Pike, Gallatin, TN in the Betty Gibson Hall, Gibson Conf Room 104. Registration is required. Reserve online. www.tsbdc.org. Free.

Getting Ready To Go To the Bank workshop of Volunteer State Community College's Tennessee Small Business Development Center, 10-11:30 a.m. Thursday, December 12, 1480 Nashville Pike, Gallatin, TN in the Betty Gibson Hall, Gibson Conf Room 104. Registration is required. Reserve online. www.tsbdc.org. Free.


Social Media Digital Marketing Course of Volunteer State Community College's Tennessee Small Business Development Center, 9-12 p.m. Friday, January 10 and 17 (this is a two part course), 1480 Nashville Pike, Gallatin, TN in room 175 in the Ramer Administrative Building. Registration is required. Reserve online. www.tsbdc.org. $99 (payable at the workshop.) 

4 Ways to Say Thank You to Your Customers

With three kids, ages 4 and under, I have been changing diapers for almost five years and have another couple of years ahead of me.  And by me, I mean me and my wife.  And my mother-in-law.  And anyone else with a pair of free hands.  So you could understand my eagerness to potty train our two-year old, Lilly.   

My lovely wife found a way to reward Lilly for “taking care of business” on the potty.  Every fourth time she uses the potty, she gets a new toy.   Not to mention that every time she goes, we cheer like we just watched the Music City Miracle for the first time.  This recognition has Lilly Bug on the fast track to leaving me with only one kiddo left in diapers and more money in my pocket.

  One of the biggest desires of human nature is to be loved and to receive recognition.   That’s why employees may respond more to a pat on the back, than they do a monetary reward.

 That is also why a customer will spend more with a business that has shown them appreciation, than they would with an unknown business that is offering a “great deal” to new customers.

 With Thanksgiving around the corner, here four ways to thank your customers:

1.  Create a customer loyalty program, by giving your existing customers a discount or reward for spending money with you.  In this fun digital age, it has become a lot easier to implement. 
Try one of these apps that replaces physical loyalty cards:

https://getbelly.com/

https://www.rewardme.com/

http://www.fivestars.com/businesses/

2.  Use Facebook, Twitter, or your social media of choice to openly thank your customer.  If you sell business-to-business, then this would also be a great opportunity to tell everyone why this customer is awesome at what they do.

3.  Tell them thank you! Simply send them an email or if you really want to get into this, pick up the phone or write a personal letter. ACTUALLY HAND-WRITE THE LETTER. There is a catch to this though.  I have received a record number of handwritten thank you notes in the past year, and while I appreciate them, most of them look like the author of the note is getting this off their to-do list, i.e., “I really appreciate what your business/I appreciate what you do/scribble, scribble, looks like a ransom note/please tell all of your friends about us.”  That may actually be worse than no note. You can be brief; however, you must be specific.

4.  Send cookies, gift cards, gift baskets, candy, or just anything small that is sincere.