The annual check in that costs an hour and produces work

4 days ago
3 min read

Updated: 3 days ago

Introduction

Once a year, contacting everybody you have worked with and everybody who enquired seriously is an hour or two of work. It produces a reliable amount of business, and almost nobody does it. The reason is not that people think it would not work; it is that it never becomes anybody's job and there is no deadline attached to it.

Its effectiveness comes from timing rather than persuasion. Across a hundred contacts, some proportion will be in a situation where they need something, and a message arriving in that week converts. The rest cost you nothing beyond the sending, and being remembered annually is itself worth having.

1. The annual check in works because of coverage, not persuasion

The mechanism.

You are not convincing anybody. You are arriving in the same week as a need somebody already had, and across enough contacts that happens reliably. The larger the list, the more dependable the result, which is why it improves every year you keep it up.

2. Include past customers and serious enquirers

The list.

Both groups. Enquirers who did not proceed are frequently the more productive half, because their need may still exist and nobody else has been in touch either. Deferred enquiries from two years ago belong on the list as well.

3. Make it personal rather than a mailing

The format that distinguishes it.

A short individual message referring to what you did or discussed. A visible mass mailing is discarded, and the personal version is what produces replies. Even one specific detail is enough to make it read as personal.

4. Give it a reason

The framing.

The anniversary of the work, a seasonal point, a change worth knowing about. A reason makes the contact natural rather than obviously a canvass. The anniversary of a job is the easiest and works in almost every trade.

5. Offer something small and useful

The content.

A reminder about maintenance, a check they should do, a change in requirements. Something that helps whether or not they buy is what makes the message welcome. It also gives them a reason to reply even when they need nothing.

6. Do not lead with a request

The restraint.

Ask how things are and whether anything needs attention, rather than announcing availability. The work comes from the reply rather than the offer. A question is also easier to answer than an announcement.

7. Put it in the calendar and give it an owner

The reason it will happen.

A fixed week each year, a named person, and a list. Activity that depends on somebody feeling like doing it does not take place two years running.

8. Spread it over a fortnight

The practical pacing.

Sending a hundred personal messages in one afternoon is unsustainable and produces poor ones. Ten a day for two weeks is manageable and the quality holds.

9. Record the outcomes

The evidence for doing it again.

Replies, work produced, and anything learned. The figure is usually sufficient to guarantee the exercise happens the following year without discussion.

Be careful with contacts who have not heard from you in a long time. Rules on marketing contact and consent apply to past customers as well as prospects, they differ by jurisdiction, and a genuinely personal message about work you did for somebody is a different thing from a bulk mailing.

Conclusion

Put an hour in the calendar once a year and work the list.

Include serious enquirers as well as past customers, write individual messages rather than a mailing, give each one a natural reason such as an anniversary or a seasonal point, offer something useful regardless of whether they buy, ask how things are instead of announcing availability, assign an owner and a fixed week, spread the sending over a fortnight to keep the quality up, and record what it produced.