There are many businesses offering products and services which are the same, or which are sufficiently similar that they may meet the needs of the same customers. Why, then, should someone buy from your business rather than someone else’s? One of the major deciding factors - perhaps more so than price - is the quality of customer service.
The quality of service offered to customers may be seen in everything, from promotional material to premises, from staff to stationery. Service matters in all customer - or potential customer - contact. Service becomes crucial, however, when things go wrong
An introduction to e-commerce
When it comes to exporting, small firms have some important advantages over their big business counterparts. There is a general tendency for smaller firms to be more creative, more responsive to their customers, and certainly more adaptable than large firms. Faster decision making, greater flexibility and direct personal contact with top management are factors that can be very attractive to overseas customers. So as you can see, small firms can, and do, succeed in exporting given the right product or service, a positive attitude and structured approach.
Perhaps the most important aspect of running your business is selling. A marketing plan may help you to think about your overall approach to marketing and may focus your mind by setting targets. But to achieve sales:
you need to know what is the message that you wish to communicate to potential customers;
you need to communicate it effectively; and,
in most cases, you need to complete the sale through personal contact.
You will need a sales letter when using direct mail; for example, to send brochures to buyers and to send mailshots to potential customers in an area.
The response rate of direct mail is low so the better your letter, the better the response rate you stand to achieve. There are a number of basic guidelines to writing a good sales letter: