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More on Loyal Customers Daniel Wadleigh |
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When
there is an interaction with a customer, they feel a bond and it opens up
some interesting possibilities. But to take maximum advantage of this
condition, you need to accomplish two things. 1)
You need to allow him to teach you what he wants and you have to provide
the opportunity for this to happen. The best salespeople will sit and ask
questions to let the potential customer tell them what it is that they
really want. Once they know the hot buttons, they can gear the
presentation accordingly. It is the same approach for any selling
opportunity. As discussed in "What is Your Market?" you need to
ask them and allow them to tell you what they are really after, what is
the basic human desire that they want fulfilled. 2)
Once you have determined the basic desires of what they want, you need to
shift gears and become the teacher of all that they need to know to make
your product/service fulfill their desires. If they are buying a
refrigerator, you need to be the point of learning about how to best use a
refrigerator to reduce spoilage, save on the electric bill, etc. The more
you can teach them things that are actually useful to them, and keep
teaching them (perhaps with a newsletter), the more loyal a customer they
will be to you. It's because of your "added value" of being
useful to them that breeds loyalty, not because of your prices. Prices can
be matched or eventually beaten. The
more incentive you are able to deliver for loyalty, the more margin you
then can obtain on each sale. As we will discuss later, it's desire that
determines value and price! Competition for price and service are becoming
of a higher level than ever before. Therefore, interaction with customers
becomes the most effective way to maintain a loyal relationship with both
customers and profits! If they believe that you will satisfy them, it
becomes a comfort and a convenience value to them, and price becomes a
minor or non-issue! Honesty becomes mandatory to maintain a loyal customer
base, along with doing what's in their best interests. Next
time: "Marketing for your Needs and Wants." Remember, there are
two markets! Daniel
Wadleigh is Marketing Director of Profit Experts of Austin, TX. Excerpts
are from "Profit Controlled Marketing" located online at
www.appropriatemarketing.com. Profit Experts offers a turnkey Web package
for ISOs including a CD to use when selling merchant accounts. Mr.
Wadleigh can be reached at (888) 379-0659.
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