Does Your Business Cultivate Customers, Clients, or Fans? Chapter 40/101 Marketing Secrets

In Business Customers Are Necessary, Clients Are Profitable, and Fans Rock the House

For nine chapters we've been spelling out the importance of word of mouth to increasing sales and profits in your business.   If you are just joining us now, you might want to go back and see what all the fuss is about starting in chapter 31.  In fact, you might even want to go back to chapter 1.

We made the case that 70% of all new business for almost all companies comes from referrals.  Therefore as much as we might spend money, fuss about, and concern ourselves with other important marketing strategies, word of mouth is the big kahuna.

If you've been reading along, you know that a recurring theme has been customer service.  Great customer service can take a customer who sees you as just a shop, a place, a method for filling a need or want, into a client.  A client is someone who sees your business as an ongoing resource for products and services, sure.  But also the go to for information, ideas, encouragement, engagement, insight, and possibly even a part of their social circle.

Clients don't shop around.  Clients are more likely to refer you.  Clients want to receive your email blasts, and sometimes even open them.  You can call a client and ask a favor or just to chat about something new in your business that would be of interest to him.  And a client is more likely to do an online review for you, and one that you will be happy about.

The word Fan is of the same root as the word Fanatic.  These folks are a different breed.  And they are worth cultivating.  They not only don't shop around, they actually want you to be successful.  They are less likely to quibble about the price, but expect you to be appreciative in figuring their cost.  They are excited to see an email from you.  Snail mail, too.  And if you run an add in the paper, they feel an attachment.

If you need almost any kind of reasonable favor, the fan is ready to help.  They consider you a friend and hope you feel likewise.  They've already done reviews of your business, but are ready and happy to do more.  They may or may not be influencers in the communities you care about in any traditional sense of the word.  However, they will tell anyone who listens that they should do business with you. 

Image via CrunchBase

How Do You Get More Fans?

When I say fan, what comes to mind?  Stars in sports, TV, music, and movies.  What is it about those folks that turns us into fans?  We might also be fans of certain products or brands.  Apple, Corvette, or Cheesecake Factory.  Why?

I think if I had to sum it up, the word that comes to mind is excellence.  You could say top-of-class or best-in-category.  Costco, In 'N Out, Mercedes.

We know in our knower what it takes to be the best.  Hard work.  Laser like focus.  Uncompromising attitude.  Risk taking.  Discipline.  Attention to detail.  Working the fundamentals.  Unflagging perseverance.

The good news is that all of this is graded on a curve.  You don't have to be Bret Favre to have fans if you are quarterback the Cleveland Browns or playing in High School.  You have to be the best in YOUR community.  That still means going for A's in all the subjects outlined above. 

If you build it, they will come.  If you build the kind of fan base that appreciates what you do enough, your chances for success has leapfrogged by a hefty multiple.

So we come to the end of the WOM section, and head into the "Going Big" section.  By going big, I don't necessarily mean even opening a second location or hiring more salespeople.  Going big means creating a marketing shot heard round the world . . . or at least your world. 

7 Ways to Thank Those Who Send You Business to Build WOM

Marketing Secret 39 Out of 101 - Thank, Reward, Cheer, Publicly Appreciate Influencers

Marriage Tip #1 - Don't ever take your spouse for granted!  Wonder how many marriages would still be in tact if that advice had been followed.  "But how many times do I have to tell you that your beautiful?"  Correct answer:  It is never enough.   "But how many times do I have to tell you how amazing you are at running your business?"  Same answer.

Business Tip #39 - Don't ever take your influencers for granted!  Wonder how many customers not only stopped spreading the word about you, but even stopped coming in because they didn't feel the love.  And just because it is tip #39, does not mean it isn't important.  After all, there are another 62 that follow this one, and I'm sure others could add another 101 to my 101.

Do you know who is currently singing your praises and bringing in new business?  Think about it.  Make a list.  Ask your staff for names.  Then start a proactive campaign to get more.  These can be from existing customers, friends, and associates, or starting with the next customer.   (See Chapter 38 - Find the Influencers in Your Community to Spread Word of Mouth).

How can you keep them working for your business?  Here are 7 ways to thank them.

1.  Keep them Informed - Those who like to influence others are generally information sponges.  They can only be an influencer if they are providing useful, timely information about a wide range of subjects.  Their motive may be many and varied, but generally they feel helpful, useful, or even powerful as a result of the role they take.

Help them out.  Give them the latest scoop.  Call, send emails (personal), and take them aside when they are at your business.  Provide them with inside information about new products or services.  Let them borrow samples of items to try.  Are you aware of trends or deals that you can share?

2.  Make them special - Personalize your own business relationship the Nordstrom's way.  You may or may not know that Nordstrom's sales people keep a book on many of their clients.  When new clothes arrive, they go through their client list to see who would be likely candidates for the latest greatest offerings.  Then they set up appointments for them to come and try on the new items.  When I ran a factory, the commercial lines insurance broker would call me every quarter to set a time to meet.  He would bring me up to date on changes in the commercial insurance markets. I have recommended him over and over.

3.  Praise in public - Publicly praise or thank your influencers.  When they come in the store, introduce them to any new employees, giving high praise for their importance to the store.  The client should see that they will have influence with anyone on your staff.  If there are seminars or dinners or clinics that your influencers participate in, find a reason to applaud them in that situation.

4.  Update them on the referral - If you get a specific client or contract or opportunity as a result of a recommendation from an influencer, make sure that you let them know the status of that opportunity.  Did you call?  Did you connect?  What is the current status?  Did you land the deal?  This is important on so many levels.  From the point of view of the influencer:

• I'm not going to give you more referrals if you don't take advantage of the ones I bring you.
• I can get extra feel goods by knowing the outcome
• I can call my friend and get the benefit of having been part of the effort
• I may be able to help push the deal forward, and broker any missteps  

5.  Send a gift - Obvious right?  Do you do it?  Cash is the least appreciated.  Discounts on future purchases seems like what they should get anyway.  A free item or service?  That's better.

Like any gift, the best gift will be something that shows you know them and care about them.  Tickets to their favorite sports or entertainment event.  Dinner out on you.  A really, really nice wine.  If the new client turns out to be worth a lot to you, you may even want to send another thank you later.

6.  Return the favor - Is there some way for you to refer business, ideas, or suppliers to the influencer?  This won't cost you out of pocket, but it will take a serious effort in time to think about where you can be of help.  

7.  Create a VIP club - This club never has to meet, but I'd suggest that it does meet at least once a year for a tribute dinner.  It can be made up of best customers, influencers, suppliers, etc.  They are the folks who are making the biggest contribution to your success.  They should certainly have some kind of platinum card that gives them specific benefits.  There should potentially be a special email several times a year.  There can be special hours when they can shop or visit that are not available to the rest of your customers.

So by now your word of mouth should be making you tons of friends and money.  We cap off the word of mouth section of this book with chapter 40:  "Do you Cultivate Customers, Clients, or Fans?"

Have you read the other 38 chapters that proceeded this one?  They are all on this blog.  At least for now.  If you subscribe, you will be alerted as I keep adding to the list.  Why don't you let your friends online and offline know about this blog.  After all, you could be my influencer.

One Marketing Secret that Drives Over 50% of New Traffic to Your Business 31/101

Word of Mouth Marketing - Marketing Secret 31

Referrals Beat Every Other Method as a Source for New Clients, and Excellent Quality Clients at That

I make my living helping small businesses figure out the best way to increase sales.   My services are much more necessary for helping with print, trade shows, packaging, new product development, blog, websites, videos, social media, and email than they are for the most effective tool in marketing for generating new business.  WOM - Word of Mouth.

However, I spend huge amounts of time convincing my clients to do the very things that will increase referrals.  You can read about them throughout this post and throughout this blog.

In fact you can read the first 30 successful marketing elements in a small business here.  With #31 in the series we now move to building on that foundation with specific approaches to delivering phone calls, foot traffic, and online activity.  The goal will be to go from the most effective for the most businesses to the least effective.  Effectiveness would be defined as those things which provide the highest return on investment of time, energy, and cold, hard cash. 

There are certainly times when you will want to undertake marketing methods that have a low ROI, but still create absolutely certain results at appropriate times.  Sometimes the ROI is not easily identified, but can only be seen over a very long term.  For our purposes, we will look only at high, immediate, ROI as the criteria.

With that introduction, we return to the number one source of new business for almost any new business.  All the statistics show that at or above 50% of new customers are showing up at small businesses because of this factor.  My own conversations with 1000's of companies would show the same results.  Anywhere from 50% to almost 100% of new customers are derived from word of mouth (WOM).

The interesting thing about WOM is that most of the cost of traditional WOM is free.  WOM is most commonly driven by things like quality, customer service, and overall experience.  Achieving those three elements in a business may require the hiring of better people, training investment, use of better materials, and spending on fixtures and systems.  Almost anyone who has studied these kinds of business costs has come to the conclusion that the savings from scrap, obsolescence, rework, and lost customers alone pay for these expenses and more.  That they are also responsible for increasing sales and profits through WOM is basically icing on the cake.


    32.    Creating Effective Word of Mouth (WOM) About Your Customer Service Edge
    33.    Experiential Marketing
    34.    Amazing Products and Services?  Grade Yours!    
    35.    Amazing Follow Up.  Are Your Customers Out of Sight, Out of Mind?
    36.    Stay in Touch to Create Maximum Word of Mouth
    37.    Equipping Your Clients to Recommend You Can Increase Word of Mouth
    38.    Find the Influencers in Your Community to Spread Word of Mouth
    39.    7 Ways to Thank Those Who Send You Business to Build WOM
    40.    Do you Cultivate Customers, Clients, or Fans?

Virtually every company I have ever discussed marketing with will tell me one minute that WOM is the number one source of new clients, but then assume that the future will depend on the internet or some other factor.  My first thought is always, "how do we capitalize on what is already working."

Obviously, Word of Mouth is no longer only the traditional case of one person telling another in a face-to-face or telephone conversation.  There is now an entire industry based on internet reviews and social media that has pushed WOM into something quite different.  I will go out on a limb however, and even offer you the chance to tell me I'm all wet.  Traditional WOM can provide all the potential that it always has.  And if the company is doing what it should to create traditional WOM, the online version will do quite well, thank you very much.  Online WOM or WOMM will be discussed in future chapters.