In this post we’ll look at the simple little marketing mistake that cost one small business THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS in lost revenue… and unknowingly gave it all away to a competitor!

Hopefully you're not making this marketing mistake too!

I was going to go on a bit of a rant today but, well, it’s not really a rant. It’s a quick story about something that happened to a friend last week and it really annoyed me. At first, that is.

Then I remembered… not everyone knows as much about following up with SMS as I do. (And probably not as much as you, either, if you regularly listen to me or read what I share!) So I’m sharing it with you as a valuable lesson for you and your business.

What happened is this…

My friend was telling me about how she took her son to a local optometrist 4.5 years ago regarding an eye issue he was having. They requested her name and phone number when making the booking, which is fair enough. That's expected, right?

Unfortunately, the optometrist wasn’t able to help solve this issue. So my friend and her son looked elsewhere and found another optometrist. They ve never been back to that local optician. End of story. At least, you would THINK it was the end of the story.

Two weeks ago she received a marketing SMS from this first practice, announcing their sale which offered a 10% discount on all frames purchased during January. It took her a while to figure out who this message was from and why she had received it. 

She eventually looked them up online and realised it was the optometrist from 4.5 years earlier. And she promptly replied with “STOP” to opt out of receiving any more messages from them.

Here’s the thing…  

Following up with customers via SMS is vital for small businesses. 
BUT… it has to be done right.

So kudos to this practice for realising the importance of implementing SMS within their business. However this wasn’t the way to go about it. If you ignore a customer for ages, you can’t expect them to remember you or how good your business is if you haven’t kept in touch with them at all for years. Or even months.

I really wish they had come to me first to learn that there’s a simple SYSTEM they could have followed that would get them much better results. I suspect my friend isn’t the only one who opted out of receiving messages from them.

A little side-note here: The new optometrist that my friend took her son to after the local one mentioned above couldn’t help has been amazing.

In fact, they’ve been so good with their service, their customer service and their follow-up that this lady and her son have now spent literally thousands of dollars with them over the last 4.5 years - on eye treatments, glasses, prescription sunglasses and peripherals. Plus, they’ve referred numerous other new customers to them.

Oh, and apparently they’re a little on the pricey side too. But I’m told their customers are happy to pay because of the high quality and service they receive.

Regarding the initial issue that they went to the first optometrist for (and that he was unable to help with), the new optometrist stated that if they couldn't help, they would refer him to the right specialist(s) and monitor to make sure he got the help he needed.

Just imagine if the original optometrist had offered this option and then followed up? Although he couldn't help initially, he would still have profited in the long-term. Instead, he gave all that revenue to his competition.

Please make sure you don't make this same marketing mistake. If you'd like to know more about how to set up an effective follow-up system within your business, we'd love to help you.  

Simply book a free, no obligation call with us today.