How to Make "Farming for Business"
A Part of Your Internet Strategy

By J.D. Solomon
JDS Strategic Communications

Everyone knows (but usually ignores) the old rule about it being easier and cheaper to keep an existing customer than to find a new one. It’s the farming strategy of marketing – cultivating your customer base to yield repeat and referral sales.

Besides a good product or service, there are only three things you need for successful farming: strong communication, common courtesy and exemplary customer service. Unfortunately, these old-fashioned values are often missing in many companies’ Internet strategies. Take the following test to see how good a farmer you are.

1. When someone responds to info@yourcompany.com, how soon do you answer with a personal e-mail (not an automated response)?

• Same business day, 3 points

• Next business day, 2 points

• Anything longer, 0 points

Like it or not, people expect a response to their e-mail inquiries immediately. If you don’t have an answer at hand, respond by telling them you’re on the case and you’ll get back to them by a specified date. (And do.)

2. How do you address your customers in your e-mails?

• Not at all (“The price is…”), 0 points

• Informally (“Dear Bob”), 1 point

• Generically (“Greetings”), 2 points

• Formally (“Dear Ms. Smith”), 3 points

Not including any salutation is downright cold. Using a first name, while acceptable to some customers, risks turning off others who don’t like the presumed familiarity from strangers. A safe middle ground, especially if you don’t know the gender of the recipient, is a simple “Greetings.” Most people, though, prefer a traditional greeting like “Dear Mr. Jones,” with which you risk offending no one.

3. How do you sign your e-mails to customers?

• Anonymously (Acme Widget Customer Care Department), 1 point

• With a real person’s name, 2 points

• With a real person’s name and a toll-free phone number, 3 points

People don’t want to do business with AcmeWidgets.com, they want to do business with Sally Roberts at AcmeWidgets.com. When you give someone a name and phone number, you are establishing a human relationship, and that’s what business is all about.

4. What percent of your company’s e-mails to customers and prospects are cleaned of spelling, punctuation and capitalization errors before they’re sent?

• 100 percent, 3 points

• Anything less, 0 points

People take sloppy writing as a sign of stupidity, and no one wants to do business with stupid people.

5. The last time you updated a page on your Web site was:

• This week, 3 points

• Last month, 1 point

• Anything longer, 0 points

If you’re not posting and updating dynamic information on your Web site (i.e., press releases, staff directories, event listings, business tips, newsletters, and trade show and seminar schedules) you’re not giving customers reasons to return to your site.

6. Where does your company’s address and phone number appear on your Web site?

• On the home page and a contact page, 3 points

• Just on a contact page, 2 points

• It doesn’t, 0 points

I am always amazed at how many companies don’t include basic contact information on their Web site. Apparently the thinking must be that they don’t want to be bothered by phone calls. Some thinking.

7. If you require Web visitors to fill out a form to get information, how many fields must they fill out?

• Four or fewer (name, organization, position, e-mail), 3 points

• Five or six (also phone number and address), 1 point

• Anything more, 0 points

Time and privacy are the two most-valued commodities among Web surfers. The more you ask your Web visitors to part with them, the more you risk losing them as potential customers.

8. How much visual noise is on your site? Give yourself 3 points if you have none of the following, 2 points for one, 0 points for anything more.

• Links to affiliate programs that have no relationship to your business

• Banner ads

• Site awards

• News, stock or weather tickers

• Hit counter

• Non-stop music or animation

• Cute decorative images

• Links to browser downloads

• Lots of independent text blocks

Many people, especially less-experienced Web surfers, find it intimidating – even paralyzing – to land on a home page that’s overloaded with miscellaneous icons, images and sidebars. “I feel like I have to examine everything on a page,” a close friend has told me. “What if there’s something important among all that stuff?” Clear the clutter; it gets in the way of action.

9. How soon after a sale do you send customers an e-mail thanking them for their business and asking them if they were satisfied with the experience? (Add a point if the e-mail includes a contact name and toll-free phone number.)

• Within one week, 3 points

• Within two weeks, 2 points

• Within one month, 1 point

• Anything else, 0 points

Hey, thanking someone for their business. What a thought!

10. Do you maintain an opt-in e-mail alert program to inform customers and contacts about new developments in your industry, and if so, how often do you issue an e-mail alert?

• Yes, about once every month or two, 3 points

• Yes, about once or twice a year, 2 points

• Yes, about two or three times a month, 1 point

• No, 0 points

Giving people valuable and informative news about your industry helps build customer loyalty; sending alerts about limited-time sales opportunities is also appreciated when not overdone. But if you send e-mail alerts more than once a month you risk being perceived as a pest.

11. Do any of your standard customer e-mail messages end with the line, “Please do not respond to this email.”?

• No, 0 points

• Yes, minus 3 points

Might as well say, “Please don’t bother us with your stupid question!”