Loyalty Makes Your Lead Generation Count
Generating new leads is one of the more
important tasks a business has to take care of, especially if that business is
involved in marketing and SEO Service. However, all businesses can benefit from
turning leads (or new customers in general) into loyal, longtime customers who
keep coming back for more. This is the bread and butter of your operation and
the better you get at customer retention, the stronger your business is and the
longer it is likely to survive and prosper.
At the heart of it, lead generation must be done with an eye towards instilling loyalty. It is important that this goal is sighted in the beginning of the process – or even before you begin – so that your approach to generating leads reflects the goal you have in mind. Believe it or not, many people can feel that in a marketer’s approach and will respond differently depending upon whether they feel they are being pursued for a sale or because the company is planning on doing what it takes to make them happy and keep them around.
We often turn to seasoned experts when we need insight into marketing issues, but it is important to note that fresh and valued perspectives can come from younger marketer’s, too. Often, these younger people have a perspective that is not about upholding years’ worth of defending ideas they have invested in that tie directly to their egos and they have a certain kind of clear sight about things not tainted by past letdowns. They know the markets right now and understand business from a perspective that we may be able to gain from. With that in mind, we reference an insightful post by The Young Entrepreneur Council that appeared on Small Business Trends not long ago. Quoted in the article are a number of inspiring young business leaders who are in the thick of marketing today with their own red-hot companies. Let’s take a look at a selection of core concepts they have mentioned that we feel are well worth taking note of.
Remember: You Profit When Your Customers Do
Small businesses have some major opportunities for coming out ahead of corporations when it comes to customer service. Instead of being hindered by endless policies, they can make it their mission to take care of each customer and turn a lead into a loyal, long-term customer. Many of those from the YEC that spoke up focused on customer service being an essential ingredient to a business today. This makes sense because most of these entrepreneurs are relatively early in their businesses and the smaller size can be used to their advantage. Matt Mickiewicz related a portion of a customer e-mail his company received that read like this:
This kind of feedback is exactly the kind of response most companies should be looking for, but all too often they are not. From the very first interaction with your team, your customers should be getting better interaction than the competition will ever give them. Toss out those routine scripts, focus on educating those in customer service and tech support to handle situations with intelligence and give them access to management when they need back up for solving customer issues. This is common sense thinking, but all too often it can be overlooked in favor of wowing the customer with the product or aspects of the service. Handle the needs they come to you with directly first and foremost, then go for things they did not specifically request.
Vanessa Nomberg noted:
This is the heart of things. We all experience automated sales calls, auto-response emails and all sorts of robotic responses in everyday life. Don’t let your company become handicapped by relying too heavily on automation in the area of customer service. Make sure your employees are well-educated, empathetic people who are going to make others feel good and solve their problems at the same time. This will generate a tidal wave of loyalty over time.
Business is Relationships – Loyalty is a 2 Way Street
Building upon the point above, it is very important in today’s world to remember that loyalty comes when your customers feel they are involved in a relationship with the business. Like any relationship, some interactions will be better than others, but long-term commitment is what you want from them so that is what you have to give them, first. From your earliest marketing efforts to get leads, to the initial interactions and all through the life of that relationship, it is the job of your team to make sure customers enjoy and benefit from all interaction with the company.
He
further suggested going so far as to forward useful articles to clients and do
other small favors in advance as a courtesy. Perhaps this won’t work for every
business model, but the concept is a sound one. When you put the customers
first and they are very clear on this, they are bound to respond positively. It
is also a way of showing them that you are not just after their money. This is
an incredibly powerful and personal way to create value in the business to
customer relationship.
Communicate Clearly & Keep Customers Well Informed
If your loyal cores of customers are not buying as much as you want them to, think about why this could be. The best customers, as we have covered here on TMS in the past, are those customers who are well-informed because they understand why they should buy what you have to offer. Make sure they are kept up to date on how other customers are using the products and services you offer. Often, an example can clarify and make it easy for a customer to see why they, too, should be taking advantage of something you sell.
The
value clients receive when they know they are doing business with someone who
is exactly what they say they are and who pours all they have into what they do
is immeasurable. These types of leaders in business can inspire people and
drive forward more businesses than only their own. That is the kind of business
person that ends up a raging success and is certainly a goal worth aspiring
towards. Clear, sincere communication is the first step.
Surprise Your Best Customers with Rewards
Don’t fall into the trap of emulating
corporations that are busy making gestures of goodwill instead of doing what
real, ground level entrepreneurs can do: create earth-shaking impact. Let the
sluggish giants of your industry wobble along and, instead, go out there and
find a way to win their customers right out from under them. That’s what the
members of the YEC would have you do and these are, after all, the future
leaders of the market.
Now to Carry This Youthful Inspiration Forward
Also, if you have any questions, we invite you
to leave a comment, as well. We are here to help as that is the basis of this
blog and we will get back to you just as quickly as we can.
At the heart of it, lead generation must be done with an eye towards instilling loyalty. It is important that this goal is sighted in the beginning of the process – or even before you begin – so that your approach to generating leads reflects the goal you have in mind. Believe it or not, many people can feel that in a marketer’s approach and will respond differently depending upon whether they feel they are being pursued for a sale or because the company is planning on doing what it takes to make them happy and keep them around.
We often turn to seasoned experts when we need insight into marketing issues, but it is important to note that fresh and valued perspectives can come from younger marketer’s, too. Often, these younger people have a perspective that is not about upholding years’ worth of defending ideas they have invested in that tie directly to their egos and they have a certain kind of clear sight about things not tainted by past letdowns. They know the markets right now and understand business from a perspective that we may be able to gain from. With that in mind, we reference an insightful post by The Young Entrepreneur Council that appeared on Small Business Trends not long ago. Quoted in the article are a number of inspiring young business leaders who are in the thick of marketing today with their own red-hot companies. Let’s take a look at a selection of core concepts they have mentioned that we feel are well worth taking note of.
Remember: You Profit When Your Customers Do
Most aspects of business are fairly
logical and the generating of leads with a focus on loyalty is no exception. If
you want people to stick around, you have to make sure they have an incentive
to stick around. The best incentive that your customers can have for sticking around
is that when they are your customers, they profit. Yes, simplicity strikes
again.
It is important to make sure that you
are doing what you can to make life better for your customers than before they
began purchasing products or services from you. The concept remains the same,
and equally important, even if you are not running an Internet Marketing firm
that helps your customers earn profits. Profit might be saving them money, it
might be saving them time, it could be providing them with any number of benefits.
That said, once you have established in their minds that they profit steadily
by doing business with you, your own company will flourish. It’s the perfect
marriage because both parties benefit and that’s the goal. If you think about
it, this is exactly what has made Mike & Troy’s coaching program so
successful.
In fact, you might say that this very
principle is one of the foundations of the Mike & Troy brand itself. It is
interesting to note that even though we, as the founders of Top Marketing Strategies
are coming from a place of experience, the vision is shared by up and coming
entrepreneurs like Elizabeth Saunders, who wrote:
The truth, evidently, is timeless and
able to be expressed in different ways. If you have clients who want to buy
your services and you know it will be a waste of their money, why not simply
inform them of that risk? This is thinking long-term because even if it turns
out that you are right and they proceed in buying from you anyway, they will
remember that you warned them in advance. You were looking out for their
profits and that matters. It could be that later on down the line, their
telling someone else that experience is what generates another lead for you,
this one being more long-term in nature. After all, clients can still be loyal
towards your business even if doing business with you directly is not something
they do. Positive word of mouth is still helpful.
Avoid Scripts, Customer Service Must Be Sincere
Small businesses have some major opportunities for coming out ahead of corporations when it comes to customer service. Instead of being hindered by endless policies, they can make it their mission to take care of each customer and turn a lead into a loyal, long-term customer. Many of those from the YEC that spoke up focused on customer service being an essential ingredient to a business today. This makes sense because most of these entrepreneurs are relatively early in their businesses and the smaller size can be used to their advantage. Matt Mickiewicz related a portion of a customer e-mail his company received that read like this:
This kind of feedback is exactly the kind of response most companies should be looking for, but all too often they are not. From the very first interaction with your team, your customers should be getting better interaction than the competition will ever give them. Toss out those routine scripts, focus on educating those in customer service and tech support to handle situations with intelligence and give them access to management when they need back up for solving customer issues. This is common sense thinking, but all too often it can be overlooked in favor of wowing the customer with the product or aspects of the service. Handle the needs they come to you with directly first and foremost, then go for things they did not specifically request.
Vanessa Nomberg noted:
This is the heart of things. We all experience automated sales calls, auto-response emails and all sorts of robotic responses in everyday life. Don’t let your company become handicapped by relying too heavily on automation in the area of customer service. Make sure your employees are well-educated, empathetic people who are going to make others feel good and solve their problems at the same time. This will generate a tidal wave of loyalty over time.
Business is Relationships – Loyalty is a 2 Way Street
Building upon the point above, it is very important in today’s world to remember that loyalty comes when your customers feel they are involved in a relationship with the business. Like any relationship, some interactions will be better than others, but long-term commitment is what you want from them so that is what you have to give them, first. From your earliest marketing efforts to get leads, to the initial interactions and all through the life of that relationship, it is the job of your team to make sure customers enjoy and benefit from all interaction with the company.
Entrepreneur Thursday Bram pointed
out:
Communicate Clearly & Keep Customers Well Informed
If your loyal cores of customers are not buying as much as you want them to, think about why this could be. The best customers, as we have covered here on TMS in the past, are those customers who are well-informed because they understand why they should buy what you have to offer. Make sure they are kept up to date on how other customers are using the products and services you offer. Often, an example can clarify and make it easy for a customer to see why they, too, should be taking advantage of something you sell.
Customers respond to leadership and that
seems to be something many of these young entrepreneurs understand innately.
They realize the power of being someone worth believing in and the power of
trust, too. Entrepreneur Steven Le Vine expressed the fact that while honesty
is valuable, it is a given and that sincerity is even more valuable. As he put
it:
Surprise Your Best Customers with Rewards
There are
very few people who do not love a positive surprise. It is important to
differentiate between a ‘surprise‘ and an ‘incentive‘. Using a gift or reward
as a lure is not the same as unexpectedly giving someone a thank you they could
never have guessed they would get. The more personal you can make those gifts
and rewards, the better.
For anyone
who has ever signed up to the ‘birthday clubs‘ that many major fast food chains
have these days will be familiar with what weak and essentially pointless
‘gifts‘ these restaurants offer their customers. You might get a free small fry
with the purchase of a meal or a small-sized free ice cream. While that might
be ‘nice’ it is definitely not creating any real loyalty because the cost was
so minimal. We can make excuses for those companies by saying with such large
customer bases it would be expensive for them to give everyone a free meal on
their birthday, but that is simply an excuse.
Now to Carry This Youthful Inspiration Forward
Hearing from
young entrepreneurs who are already tasting success due to hard work and
forward thinking is certainly rewarding. Still, what it comes down to is how
well you apply these ideas to your own operations. In your experience, have the
kinds of approaches mentioned above served your enterprise well? Do you use or
not use any of those approaches day-to-day? We’d love to hear from you so do
leave a comment below and let us know what you think.
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