If I showed you a way to make a dollar, would you give me back a quarter?

I got the store owner to give me the names of 3 of his most influential clients. The first one I contacted was a lawyer and I explained to him that his friend in the jewellery store wanted to offer his clients a great gift. I then showed the lawyer a letter that I had written to 'his' clients that expressed his 'Thanks' for their past patronage. The letter further went on to say that the lawyer was expressing his 'Thanks' with a special $50.00 gift certificate at ABC Jewels.

The lawyer wins because he is actually thanking his clients by sending out the gift certificates. The jeweller wins because he gets an endorsement from an influential third party and gets access to many new customers.

Given the large markup in the jewellery business, the jeweller was only spending between $15 and $20 to acquire a new customer and the majority of the purchases were considerably larger than $50 - often resulting in a profitable sale! The jeweller understands the 'lifetime value of a customer' concept and he knows that these new clients will spend thousands of dollars in his store in the next few years. He is building his mailing list and plans on selling to these customers again and again.

This first promotion was just a test and it was very sucessful. We are working with the jewellers accountant now.

Jim