Are your customers all PDF’d out?

Last week I had the pleasure of conducting a face-to-face consultation with a client of ours who has had some branding pieces done by us in the past, and currently has what I would describe as a mini-site. As a custom home builder her company faces the unique challenge of needing to show off what they have done, but their product is limiting in that once the house has been built and turned over to happy homeowner they can’t take people back into it to show off their work. The time has come for them to tap into modern technology and leverage various multi-media techniques for documenting the quality and end results of their work in a format that can be redistributed easily for many years to come.

Typically I go into these consultations with curious anticipation of what special nugget of information about the client I am going to come away with. This time, I came away with something that was of great value to my business, in addition to clarity as to how to proceed with her web project.

Because I knew we were meeting to discuss the project in person I didn’t send out my usual forms, I kept them to physically give to the client when she arrived so that we could look at them together before she took them away to work on. Much to my surprise, when I handed her these documents her reaction wasn’t one of “Oh really – I have to do this?!”

In fact she became very excited, and vocal as she looked through them and found that what I had given her contained not only the information gathering forms we use, but also a 15 page workbook of sorts that I have compiled specifically to help entrepreneurs walk through the process of understanding how to create key marketing message pieces that will then be very useful to them in bringing together their website content. She was excited and immediately very positive about the idea of being able to take these forms and an additional resource document away to play with. What a great reaction!

But what’s more, she made the suggestion that I really should use a folder with our company branding on it, and start physically mailing these packages out to our prospective clients as we start the information gathering phase. It was her opinion that it would make a lasting impression, and she actually went so far as to say she is the type of person that when given a folder by a business she will keep it and from that point forward put any other relevant project documentation in that folder. She will see it over and over…and during the project she will likely leave it out in her office where other people will see it. She even went so far as to say that she’s reused similar folders in the past, keeping them around for years. Talk about a brand building opportunity!

TIP: In a PDF rich world, we sometimes forget to use paper forms at critical stages – while we have our own reasons in our business for using forms that we have our new clients physically fill out we hadn’t really considered the impact that they might make if delivered as a comprehensive and physical package.

You bet I’m on the hunt for a folder that will suit our purposes!

My challenge to you: Consider how much you rely on PDF’s and how you might use print forms for greater impact at particular points in your business processes.

If you would like a FREE copy of our workbook titled “BUILDING A PROFITABLE BUSINESS WITH THE RIGHT WORDS, TOOLS & STRATEGIES”, come visit us at www.catchthis.ca where all you have to do is fill out a very simple request form by clicking the link , and we will deliver this useful guide directly to your email box.