‘m guessing most of you will call into coffee shops from time to time. You know the procedure: queue up, order your drink, pay, wait again whilst the barrista makes your coffee.
The drink’ll be thrust onto the end of the counter: “Venti decaf skinny capp”. You look at those around you – is that mine, or did someone in front of me in line order the same thing? And, the moment of minor stress duly over, you pick up the cup and wander off to enjoy your caffeine injection.
Now, picture the coffee shop at the APMP conference hotel a couple of months back. Same process – queue, order, pay – with one addition: the cashier asked for my first name. On to wait for the drink, which was then served with the phrase “large decaf cappuccino for Jon”.
Now, which do you prefer? The personalised approach certainly worked for me – and I saw an obvious parallel in writing proposals. Forget the standard, product-based approach – the more personalised the communication, the more
appealing it’ll be to the buyer.