Top of mind awareness (TOMA) is: “When people think of you first to fulfill their product or service needs.”
Once you go through all the work and investment to build TOMA, it is just as important to maintain it with your existing customers.
We all have good clients that keep coming back, no matter what. We also have good clients that may wander off the path from time to time and buy from someone else. The key to keeping these clients is maintaining TOMA. And this can be done much cheaper than building TOMA from scratch.
Here are some suggestions you should consider to keep your company top of mind with your customer base.
- Develop a client contact management system to help keep you in regular contact with them.
- Keep clients updated with any changes in your business, including new products or services.
- Send out useful tips, articles, etc., that would be of value to your client.
- Set up social media sites and maintain them on a regular basis.
- Ask clients for referrals and to pass along your business card, website information, etc.
- Send hand written thank you notes to your clients.
- Be very accessible to your clients and deal with their needs quickly.
- Do it the old fashioned way, when possible, visit them on a regular basis.
The frequent contact must be carefully planned and timed and provide useful information or value to your client. You can do too much and become an annoyance. We all deal with people who do that.
The quality of your relationship with your clients is critical to the well-being of your business. Treat your clients as your friends and do what is necessary to stay in your client’s thoughts. That is, achieve TOMA with your clients.
You have invested precious energy and financial resources to win your clients and now it is up to you to keep them.