Monday, August 22nd, 2011
Imagine this … one of your customers is speaking with a friend, and suddenly notices that the friend should also be your customer. After witnessing this opportunity, what does he do? Recommend you, or let the opportunity pass by?
Check out today’s newsletter, Will your customers be witnesses for you?
Please share your comments … are your customers witnesses for you? Do you ever serve as a witness for others, noticing business opportunities for them?
Posted in Conversation, Customer Encounters, We relationships | 2 Comments »
Tuesday, July 5th, 2011
What’s my answer when somebody asks me for 3 Tips for Better Customer Conversations?
- Don’t talk about yourself.
- Leave things in your pocket.
- Use callbacks.
You don’t want to miss these tips… they can help you improve your conversations today.
Read the newsletter: “3 Tips for Better Customer Conversations“
Posted in Conversation, Customer Encounters, Ditch the Pitch, Sales - Ditch the Pitch | 3 Comments »
Tuesday, June 14th, 2011
The direction of marketing has changed 180 degrees.
While marketers are trying to “get the word out,” customers are more focused on what words they let in.
I’d like to invite you to let the words of today’s newsletter in.
Read the newsletter: Letting the word in vs. Getting the word out
Posted in Brand Harmony, Technology +/- | No Comments »
Tuesday, May 18th, 2010
Today’s newsletter, Do Differentiation Differently, turns the tables on differentiation: If it’s so difficult to get customers to see why you’re different, why not focus on what your customer thinks is different: Himself.
I explore this concept in great detail and have some innovative exercises for you and your team, so go read the newsletter: Do Differentiation Differently!
Posted in Customer Encounters, Loyalty, Marketing | 5 Comments »
Sunday, April 25th, 2010
When people talk about earning their customers’ trust, they are usually thinking about persuading a customer to believe in their integrity and honesty.
Ok … integrity and honesty are important, but they are not differentiating. Most of your competitors are not dishonest.
So, when you think about earning your customers’ trust, I recommend you aim higher.
Does your customer trust that you understand his business?
Does your customer trust that you really hear everything he has to say?
Does your customer trust that he will be better off if he is in a relationship with you?
Posted in We relationships | No Comments »
Friday, April 2nd, 2010
Here’s a link to my last newsletter, The Way We Connect.
In a world where products and services are, in the minds of customers, largely interchangeable, the character of your interactions with customers is one of the most important ingredients of effective marketing communication. So, how well do companies interact with you? How does your company compare?
Posted in Marketing, We relationships | No Comments »
Tuesday, March 9th, 2010
Last Thursday, I was watching Whose Line Is It Anyway?, as Wayne Brady invented a song, on the spot, like no one else can. Drew Carey would throw out a musical style, the audience would yell out topics, and Wayne would instantly compose and sing a song, with perfect rhymes, double entendres, wit and humor.
That got me thinking a lot about improvisation, which has been a big part of my life since I started playing guitar at age 12. Improvisation became a theme a few more times throughout the weekend, inspiring this week’s newsletter, Improvise your success.
Improvise your success connects, chimpanzees, bonobos, The Second City, jazz and my second book together to create this message: Improvise!
There is a place in business for policy and programming, and there are many places for improvising. So what do you think? Is improv important to your business success?
Newsletter link: Improvise your success
Posted in Conversation, Creativity, We relationships | 7 Comments »
Sunday, February 21st, 2010
Sales and marketing are not about telling stories. Sales and marketing are about helping your customer create a story, in his mind, in which you figure as a prominent, clear, vibrant character. If your customer tells himself a meaningful, motivating story that includes you, he will be much more likely to get more involved with you, and take actions that improve your business results.
Stop telling stories about yourself. Instead, figure out how to make yourself part of your customer’s story.
Posted in Customer Encounters, Marketing | 1 Comment »
Friday, December 11th, 2009
Yesterday, I ran into a 24-year old young man who is the son of close family friends. I’ve known “Jake” since he was a little kid, so I’ve seen for years that he has a magnetic, charismatic personality, and has always been able to attract friends.
About a year ago Jake started working for a local firm selling life insurance and investments – a very difficult career for anyone to start at a young age, with its long sales cycles and the need to get people to trust you with their money. He and I work out at the same club, so I see him on a regular basis and have a chance to hear updates on his progress. Some days I’d see him, elated, after a promising meeting with a prospect. Sometimes he was discouraged he wasn’t closing more sales yet.
My comments to him: You have started a career path where long-term relationships create riches. If you have enough great meetings with prospects now, you will start to build relationships with some of them. When you are 40, some of the relationships you start this month may be paying your mortgage. Meetings you have next month will start relationships that will help send your kids to college. If anybody can make it in this business, you can. The only question: Can you wait?
In most businesses, customer relationships are your most valuable asset. Jake has chosen a business where this is especially true, with great rewards for those who can create and nurture long-term relationships. But we’re all like Jake to an extent: Can we be patient and invest now, one relationship-building encounter at a time, in building those relationships that will help us prosper in the future?
Certainly, Jake could use his exceptional relationship-building skills for more short-term financial gains. He could be a waiter in a fine-dining restaurant, creating 45-minute relationships that, I’m sure, would earn him the largest tips of all the servers. But, beyond the few repeat customers who ask for him, these relationships wouldn’t create lasting value for Jake. If his insurance job is like that of a christmas tree farmer, being a waiter would be more like that of a migrant worker, earning wages for today but starting over tomorrow.
I’m rooting for Jake, and for his firm. If he and they can be patient, all will benefit, including Jake’s future clients, since We relationships create strong benefits for both buyers and sellers.
It’s easy to look at Jake’s situation and think, “I’m glad that’s not me. I could never sell insurance.” And yes, specifically, I could never sell insurance. I’d go nuts. But Jake’s job really isn’t selling insurance. It’s building relationships that differentiate him from other providers in the minds of his clients. And when we recognize that we again remind ourselves that Jake’s challenge is our challenge: Do we want to be the migrant worker or the christmas tree farmer? Do we want to build our business around short-term transactions that produce their yields now, or do we want to invest in a rich, bountiful future harvest?
Posted in We relationships | 1 Comment »
Sunday, November 15th, 2009
“Attract and retain customers”
I hear this phrase all the time, as if it were an indivisible, and comprehensive, unit. It assumes that once you acquire a customer the only thing left is to retain that customer.
A newsletter I wrote last year, The Apple Farmer, shows why retention is rarely ever enough. When asked what percent of their customers are giving them all of the business they reasonably could, most companies report a very low number to me. They haven’t lost the customers, but they surely haven’t developed all they can from the relationships.
So be cautious of strategies designed to “retain” customers. These strategies may succeed, and, if they do, you may miss the chance to go beyond the success of retention and develop more profitable, mutually-beneficial, continually-developing We relationships.
Posted in We relationships | No Comments »
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