Benefits:

• Re-establish connections with your most profitable sources of stable business: past clients
• Remind your past clients of your business philosophy as a consultant
• Set expectations with your client base for future communication

Steps to Success:

1. Compile a list of names, addresses and telephone numbers of past clients. We strongly suggest you have at least fifty (50) names on your list.


2. Download the Reconnect Letter Template.


3. Customize the template. Merge the letter with the names and addresses in your database.


4. Print the letter on personal stationery.


5. Hand-address each envelope. A handwritten envelope will be opened every time. A preprinted envelope that they weren’t expecting may get thrown away as junk mail. Sign each letter by hand.


6. Follow up your letters with a telephone call using the "Great Opportunity" Script or the "I Have Time..." Script.


7. Schedule Remodel Time to set up at least one monthly After Unit mailing (Evidence of Success postcard, Client Newsletter, Letter From The Heart) so you can follow through on your commitment to keep in touch.


8. Recommendation: If you are sending this letter to an acquaintance, eliminate the words "my client" from the first paragraph and eliminate the entire "I'm sorry" paragraph.

Learn:

John Tuvell, with Red Stone Realty in Las Vegas, mailed a Reconnect Letter to everyone in his database. His letter received 24 responses from people who said they were glad to hear from him, but most importantly, six of those callers turned into clients!

If you’re like most new By Referral Only members, you have a database full of past clients who haven’t heard from you since they closed their transactions. This database is the most lucrative source of business you can tap into. Past clients are people who already know you, like you and trust you. Wouldn’t you rather work with them and their referrals than with distrustful and even abusive strangers coming from unreferred sources? Think of the time, money and aggravation you could save by nurturing lifetime relationships with past clients.

The first step in nurturing relationships is to reconnect with your past clients and open the door to future, ongoing communication with a Reconnect Letter. Members like John are amazed at the responses they get after sending the letter! You'll be surprised, too, at how open your past clients are to re-establishing a relationship with you.

For some of you, it's been a long time since your clients have heard from you. If this is true for you, be sure to include the optional second paragraph where you sincerely apologize for losing contact.

Even more important than the initial reaction you'll receive from sending the Reconnect Letter is the expectation you set regarding future communication. Notice in the letter how you open the door for both immediate and ongoing contact. Just remember that once you make the promise, you must follow through! You will lose all credibility if they don’t hear from you again for six months.

The easiest way to follow up on the Reconnect Letter is by using the Letter From The Heart and Evidence of Success strategies found every month in your Results in Action kit.

The most effective way to obtain referrals from the Reconnect Letter is to call the client personally. Notice the optional sentence in the last paragraph of the letter, indicating you will call. You can use one of the following scripts to make your follow-up phone call a little easier:

• We have found the use of the “Great Opportunity” Script very effective because the script leads with a value-added conversation. When you use this script, you call people you care about to “let them know about a great offer.” This great offer can be anything – a cute grandma house that could be fixed up, a great piece of land at a low price, a new government loan program for low-income residents, a grant for certain kinds of remodeling, etc. The key to this script’s effectiveness is the formation of a win-win situation. You are not asking for anything in return – just that you are giving your client a chance to help spread the word about something valuable and helping them be a hero.
• The “I Have Time...” Script is a quick, to-the-point call to ask for referrals.
  

Suggested addition: If this letter is going to acquaintances, remove "my client" from the first paragraph and eliminate the entire "I’m sorry" paragraph.