Well, wouldn't you think if you could get a billionaire to call you, that whatever method that took might also work on your customers and prospects?

But first, a little background...

One of the marketing tools I use is one of the systems that lets me send handwritten "Hallmark Quality" greeting cards and gifts in the postal mail from my computer.

You do not need to use a system to implement this strategy, but I've noticed that if I want to actually get anything done, the easier and more systematic it it is, the more likely it is that I'll actually do it.

So here's the story...

This guy sells a fractional jet ownership service to very rich people who don't want the hassles and expenses of buying and maintaining their own $10 or $20 million jet.

What his service does is sell a partial ownership to these very rich people so that if they want to go somewhere they can call up and have the jet take them wherever they want to go without the expense of full time jet ownership.

I don't know about you, but not a service I've ever used myself.....

Naturally, with most of his customers being billionaires, he has never talked to any of them in person or on the phone because he deals with their personal assistants or other staff.

Billionaires don't have the time or interest in making their own fight arrangements - even if it is by private jet...

So, here's what he did.

He sent each of his 20 billionaire clients a personal, handwritten greeting card along with a box of home-made brownies.

It's important to understand, and actually it critical to the success of this approach, that the message in the card was one of appreciation of them and their business.

There was no sales pitch involved, no "call to action" asking them to do anything, but just honest appreciation for their business.

So what happened?

3 of those billionaires called this guy personally to thank him for the brownies!

He had never talked to any of them before but the unexpected gift and sincere appreciation resulted in 3 calling him personally to thank him.

I can't stress enough that if you do this, you should be thinking of giving and showing appreciation, not of getting something back.

You are expressing sincere appreciation and giving a gift without the expectation of getting anything in return.

In reality, the good will you'll get - even if you don't get a call back, will more than pay back the cost many times.

Since, even a billionaire can be impressed by an unexpected, thoughtful gesture, don't you think if you start doing this in your business it might help you too?

When you show your customers that you really appreciate them personally by sending unexpected, personal cards or small gifts, you will build and solidify your relationship with them so they never leave you.