Increasing Touch Points Increases Revenues

Are we bent on getting single impressions with as many people as possible, or do we focus on achieving enough interaction through multiple touch points to help convert prospects into clients, and clients into loyal advocates?

Here’s a quick illustration of two scenarios I see over and over:

Business person #1 has enough money to make 10,000 impressions, so he makes a single impression with 10,000 people. His conversion rate is 0.5%, so he gets 50 new buyers.

Business person #2 also has enough money to make 10,000 impressions. She chooses to make five impressions each with 2,000 people using the same budget. She achieves a 5% conversion rate, yielding 100 new clients—twice the number for the same money.

As impressive as that is, here’s where the real difference comes into play…

Business person #1 does the same thing again to get the revenues he needs for next month. Sure, some of the people who have bought from him in the past make additional purchases, but he doesn’t do much to foster a long-term relationship with them. His focus is always on bringing new people through the doors (literally or virtually).

Business person #2 knows if she keeps a large percentage of her clients active, that’s good for her business in the long run, so she reallocates half her marketing budget for client retention activities. This means she’s only bringing in 50 new clients a month now through her initial acquisition activities, but well over half the clients she brings into her fold stay and keep buying from her because of her proactive relationship-building efforts. Furthermore, they become her ambassadors, bringing new clients into the fold with simple incentives that add to their positive experience with #2 and her company.

Over the course of just a few months, #2’s client base is multiple times that of #1’s. Over the course of years, you can image the difference.

Simple? Yes. Easy? Apparently not, since business person #2 represents an extremely small percentage of the business owner population.

In the end, #2 isn’t #2 at all. She’s #1 in the minds of her clients. She’s their #1 choice for what she provides. And her company is #1 in client acquisition, client retention, revenues, and profits.

Here’s to our being #1!

Bryan Waldon Pope

Legendary Customer Service

I recently enjoyed dinner with my wife, one of our sons, and my mother at a well-known restaurant. I hadn’t been there before, even though the chain has opened a number of locations in our area. I enjoyed the experience. The people were great, as was the food.

During our meal, one of the managers dropped by our table to see how things were going and left a quarter-page sheet for me to complete to let them know how they did in serving us, as well as providing me with an opportunity to sign up on their email list. I completed both portions.

On each of the service and product questions, I was able to choose from a number of levels as my response including the highest level, “Legendary.” I have to admit, as much as I liked the experience, none of it fell into the “legendary” category for me; but it got me thinking…what constitutes legendary service?

I was reminded of a story I’ve heard on numerous occasions about a man who returned some used automobile tires to a Nordstrom store and promptly got a refund, even though Nordstrom does not sell tires--illustrating the store’s commitment to an unmatched client experience. The story comes in a variety of flavors with the details shifting to meet the storyteller’s style, but the basic premise is always the same.

Being one who is careful to identify potential legends as such, I checked out Snopes before writing this, and sure enough, there’s a lengthy entry on this story. No surprise there. If you’d like to read it, you can see it here. I won’t tell you what it has to say. You’ll probably be as surprised as I was to discover the story surrounding the story if you choose to read it.

My point today isn’t whether that story is true, but that it has gained legendary status. There are plenty of other such stories out there about other companies as well. And, perhaps on much smaller scales, there may be stories about us and our companies floating around our marketplaces.

Everyone loves a memorable story of superior client service. We hear them. We usually believe them because they paint a picture of something we would all like to experience. Then we turn around and tell them again to a new audience. This process repeats just as it did many times before we heard the story, and just as it will many more times after we’ve passed it on. Whether it is true or not, the hero in the story still wins.

I’m not suggesting making up stories to tell about our businesses in an effort to attempt to become legendary. That clearly won’t work. What I am suggesting, however, is that when we strive legitimately to be everything we should be for our audiences, stories--factual and embellished--have the opportunity to be formed, shared, and retold by our audiences.

What do we do that is, or could be, legendary in serving our audiences? Are we sincere about it? Does it bring value to those who follow us? You’re smiling just thinking about the possibilities. I know you are.

Get your team together and share your vision. Get their input. Then become infectious with your pursuit of the unmatched client experience. And if you feel so inclined, please share your experiences and knowledge in this arena with us below. Thank you.

Here’s to your legendary success!

Bryan Waldon Pope

Winning Customers and Clients by Owning Our Mistakes and Shortcomings

I recently returned from being out of town with a couple of clients. Over the course of two days, we were in a number of meetings, large and small, with clients, prospects, and joint-venture partners. After a group meeting the first morning, one of my clients went to lunch with a large group, while I and my other client went to lunch privately. (I just have to throw in here that we found an amazing little Thai restaurant just west of downtown L.A. It was nothing to look at, but the food…Wow! And the proprietor was the neatest lady you’d ever want to meet.)

When we rejoined the others after our heavenly meal, we discovered their lunch experience hadn’t been the pleasurable one in which we had basked. They had gone to a well-known, semi-pricey place near the Staples Center downtown. They ordered their food, then visited for 90 minutes before their lunches began coming out. By this time, they needed to leave to get to their scheduled appointments.

Not only had my client’s lunch showed up extremely late, it was ice (literally) cold. It appeared the “grilled” chicken had come directly out of a freezer and not even been warmed. Everyone got their lunches packed in to-go boxes and left…not at all pleased with their experience.

The two gentlemen who had organized this lunch group felt terrible and offered to pay for everyone’s lunch--a bill of somewhere around $650. They then went to the manager to explain the situation to see if the establishment wanted to own up to its shortcomings and give them a discount. When they finished sharing their story, the manager apologized sincerely and told them lunch was on him. The entire bill was covered.

The gentlemen were shocked!

What had developed into an unpleasant, uncomfortable situation for the people in that party (most of whom were very upset and swore they would never set foot into the establishment again), was immediately reversed as all were pleasantly surprised at this gesture of genuinely going the extra mile to make things right. While there were some conversations that afternoon about the less-than-acceptable dining experience, the bigger point was everyone’s disbelief that the manager so readily owned up to his staff’s mistakes and did the only thing he could at that point to try to make amends.

There are two morals to this story: 1.) We all stand prepared to receive much-deserved complements when we perform well for our clients. We should be equally prepared to take the heat when we fall short. 2.) A mom-and-pop Thai restaurant is almost always a good bet.

Here’s to your client satisfaction success!

Bryan Waldon Pope

I Hate To Say Goodbye...

I hate to say goodbye to any client. I know you do, too.

We work so hard to find them. Then we put massive effort into nurturing them as prospects and converting them into clients. It’s often a long process in which we’ve invested much in financial and other resources. So when they leave us, it’s not an easy thing to take.

A CHALLENGE FOR 2011

With increasing competition and noise in the marketplace, focusing on capturing our audiences’ attention, attracting them, converting them into clients, then retaining them long-term is more important than ever. That last element--retaining--is the one that seems to get too little attention.

My challenge for you in 2011 is to understand and act on, more than ever, your awareness of the value of an existing client. What measures can we each take to ensure our client bases will increase in the coming year--not just through new client acquisition, but because of aggressive client retention activities as well?

I will propose one possible direction to get your mind going on this subject:

Imagine offering your existing clients better deals than you give prospects to get them to become first-time clients. This is backwards from most companies’ approach. In the scenario I’m proposing, your absolute best deals would be available to your longest-term clients.

Can you take this concept and create a culture among your clients in which it becomes something of a competition to be an ongoing client who gets the premier deals from your company?

Of course, this is just one of many possible directions. Pull your team together and share this message with them. Then dig deep and find the best way(s) for you and your people to keep your clients actively engaging with you this coming year.

Here’s to your client loyalty success!

Bryan Waldon Pope

The Butterfly Effect in Marketing

The Butterfly Effect suggests that small variations in the initial condition of a dynamic system may result in vastly differing outcomes over time. I won’t go into the history of the coining of the term, but suffice it to say that one notion of The Butterfly Effect is that when a butterfly flaps its wings in one part of the world, it affects the behavior of weather far away in another part of the world.

This principle can be applied in just about any facet of life. It is very applicable when we talk about marketing. Today I’d like to share just three ways The Butterfly Effect may apply to our marketing efforts:

1. Small amounts of time and effort spent consistently can produce dramatic results. Many business owners with whom I work are the marketing decision-maker for their businesses. They don’t have a full-time marketing director, manager, or even assistant. Especially in such cases we see the most significant proof of this concept. Spending 30-60 minutes a day or a half-day a week consistently on marketing efforts can pay off in a big way.

One such example was a two-person business who, after listening to me speak, decided to distribute flyers for one-half day each week. They began immediately, and within a few weeks they were in the best financial position they had been since opening their doors.

2. The smallest act of kindness toward a client can bring back a tidal wave of business. Sometimes going the extra mile with a client increases the loyalty of that client, but doesn’t go any further (which isn’t a bad thing – we’ve still won in that case). But occasionally, a particularly satisfied client becomes an avid promoter for the business that went above and beyond.

In today’s digital society, good news can travel faster than ever. It’s easy for people to share their positive experiences with others, including businesses. Making these “acts of kindness” part of our companies’ cultures and daily operations can have a monumental effect on our success. Think “Zappos.”

3. A seemingly insignificant oversight or error can come back to bury your company. I’ve noted two positive ways The Butterfly Effect can bring greater success to your company through relatively small marketing efforts. Here’s one on the other side of the fence.

I once worked with a company that had a customer complaint come back to them about how they had been served. The complaint was unfounded by any reasonable person’s judgment. The company told the customer nothing would be done to rectify the situation. And, based on my understanding of the situation, they had no reason to. The customer was dead wrong. Unfortunately, the customer took legal action and the judge saw things differently. The event resulted in the company’s demise. They filed bankruptcy and closed their doors. The saddest part of the story is this: for a day’s time on the part of one of the principals and two or three thousand dollars, the whole situation could have been averted. A significant investment, you say? It seemed so on the front end. After all, the customer was wrong. Period. But in the end, it would have been a very inexpensive fix. Hind sight is 20/20.

What other Butterfly Effect scenarios do you potentially see in your marketing? What small efforts can result in significantly different outcomes for you and your business? Please share your thoughts.

Here’s to your marketing success!

Bryan Waldon Pope