Staying Busy As A Bee with Loyal Customers

For more than 75 years, the Busy Bee clothing store in Springfield, Mo., has helped its
customers find the perfect fit in fashion. The store caters to a wide variety of clientele,
including seniors, and outfits people of every age in the biggest names in jeans.

Busy Bee's dedication to customer service and building personal relationships with
customers forms the bedrock of its success. This has helped Busy Bee keep its doors open,
even in the face of stiff competition from much larger, national clothing store chains.

"Our customer is a very loyal customer," said Brenda Gardner, sales manager of Busy
Bee. "We're within two miles of basically every national competitor you can think of, but
we still offer service to our customers, and that's why we've stayed in business."

Busy Bee employees accommodate each customer's needs in-store, over the phone or
online. As a result, they've created special connections with their customers. A little
more than a year ago, Busy Bee implemented a business greeting card program from
Hallmark Business Expressions to help strengthen the bonds employees built with
customers. This was a new undertaking for the store, which, until then, had only
contacted customers about upcoming sales. As employees rang up sales under each
customer's name, they began recording customers' birth months in the database. Soon,
they had enough birth months to implement the card program.

Gardner and her team looked at the total sales each customer brought in annually, then
decided to send a birthday card to their top 25-30% of customers.

In January 2006, Busy Bee employees began signing and sending a Hallmark Business
Expressions birthday card to each customer on the first or second day of their birthday
month. Tucked into the card was a personalized insert from the Busy Bee good for $10
off the customer's next purchase of $10 or more.

Gardner and her team weren't sure what to expect, but hoped customers would
appreciate the card and visit the store to redeem the offer.

"We weren't trying to make money with this," Gardner said, "but just to break even and
strengthen the relationships with our customers."

Within the program's first month, Busy Bee saw a 42% response rate from the Hallmark
Business Expressions birthday cards. The program's success has continued, averaging a
36% response rate for 2006, and Busy Bee saw a myriad of positive results.

The store's overall sales for the year went up 6.5%. And though the offer only required a
$10 purchase, the average purchase with the birthday card offer was more than $42,
post-coupon.

"This program gives us a consistent flow of customers in the door," Gardner said. "It
gives the business a steady, more predictable customer cash flow " and that's a nice
thing! I didn't anticipate that before we started the program."

And perhaps even more importantly, Gardner has noticed a profound effect on the
customers who redeem their birthday offer.

"Some of our older customers come in and tell me this was the only birthday card they
received " or the nicest and prettiest card. They even bring friends in, saying, 'I brought
my friend in because you're so nice to me,'" she said.

Customers go out of their way to thank Busy Bee for the cards, more than just saying
thanks. Some write notes of appreciation, and most express gratitude for the genuine
good birthday wishes.

"I think we all get offers in the mail" our customers are no different. But they see this as
an expression of gratitude for their business, as an extension of our personal
relationship. They don't treat this like a coupon at all," Gardner said.

In the end, Gardner credits the program's success to a few key elements. "We know our
customers," she says. "This kind of program has to be followed up with a commitment
to the personal relationship with customers.

Gardner also recognizes the personal message and the quality of the Hallmark Business
Expression cards play a role in the program's success. "We hand-sign the cards and our
insert says, 'Happy Birthday from your friends at Busy Bee,'" she said. "And I think
when they flip the card over and see the Hallmark Business Expressions logo, that
means something. I wouldn't replace it with a generic card for anything. It's a unique
combination of a quality brand name on one side and a personalized message on the
other that make this program work so well."

Send us your success story!
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good at more than 350 retailers, restaurants, and travel and entertainment venues. Just
email us at hberesponse@hallmark.com and be sure to include your name and phone
number so we can get in touch if your story is selected!

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