Post by leunas on Dec 13, 2006 23:13:54 GMT -5
Scenario: “Dude, it’s all in the pitching. It’s how you present yourself. Wear sexy suits. You’ll keep them, forever. F-o-r-e-v-e-r. Yay!”
Oh-no-izzle.
To keep customers forever, just do this:
Provide them value.
That’s it.
Sweet, simple, and much sexier.
How Most Companies Go Wrong with Customers
Yes, customer retention rocks because it provides a much greater bang for your buck.
Yet, when companies from sea-to-shining-sea try to retain their customers, what do they do?
- “Let’s pitch this product!”
- “Dude, you gotta buy this shizzle!”
- “You cannot live properly without purchasing!”
- “Even your mama wants it!”
Look well-intentioned-but-misguided-freaks:
People don’t care about you, your business, or your mama.
The #1 person in Johnny’s world is Johnny.
He’d much prefer a story about his high-school-football-playing glory years than your billion-dollar invention.
He’d much rather you fetch him his coat than picking up your million-dollar check.
With every interaction with you, he’s thinking:
“Why should my bad@$$ talk to you? How are you helping me, sucka?”
So if you’re trying to keep him as a customer for life, know how to influence him — personally.
That is, provide him value — repeatedly.
How to Provide Johnny Value
Say Johnny runs a potato warehouse.
You’re selling his company your sweet-mutha-good-gosh tea.
Your company’s purpose: to make the world freakishly healthy.
So, if some incompetent CEO ran your business, what would he/she do?
1. Sell tea.
2. End transaction.
But since you’re the bigger bad@$$ who’s driven to make the world healthy, what do you do?
1. Sell tea.
2. Give him yoga/meditation/health books.
3. Provide him deliciously healthy recipes.
4. Send articles about keeping his employees healthy.
5. Look for other ways to provide more value.
Remember: if you’re providing real value that helps Johnny’s business or his personal life in some way, he’ll want you to stick around.
You’re tapping Johnny’s #1 interest: Johnny.
How Providing Value Rocks
Give first. Receive second.
That’s how the human interaction cycle fundamentally works — and according to famed psychologist Robert Cialdini, makes relationships beneficial.
Cialdini calls it the “reciprocity” factor.
Unless your mama dropped you on your head when you were a baby:
We as freakishly awesome humans want to repay acts of kindness.
So, if you’re providing amazingly awesome value to their lives, they’ll provide amazingly awesome value to yours.
“It seems time-consuming! So, I just provide value to every single customer?!”
Give first. Receive second.
That’s how the human interaction cycle fundamentally works — and according to famed psychologist Robert Cialdini, makes relationships beneficial.
Cialdini calls it the “reciprocity” factor.
Unless your mama dropped you on your head when you were a baby:
We as freakishly awesome humans want to repay acts of kindness.
So, if you’re providing amazingly awesome value to their lives, they’ll provide amazingly awesome value to yours.
“It seems time-consuming! So, I just provide value to every single customer?!”
Not quite. Here’s what we’d do:
Take your top 20% most profitable customers, then focus squarely on them.
Now, “profitable” could mean past transactions — but, we’d rather focus on future profit potential.
Now, “profit potential” could mean:
1. They have a vast network of personal/business connections.
2. They’re aiming for freakishly gigantic goals.
3. They have a filthy big budget.
4. They’re around people who absolutely, irresistibly love them.
Of course, the other 80% could provide tremendous value to your business as well.
Biggest secret tip we could offer you: Send them your email newsletter that’s filled with weekly juicy-good tips.
The next time you’re looking for a sweet, simple, and sexy way to keep your customers, remember:
Provide freakishly good-and-juicy value.
www.trizle.com/how-to-keep-customers-forever/