How do we embark on this journey, taking people we don’t know to be raving fans of our business?
How do we get customers singing about how good our product or service is?
I want to introduce you to a concept we call the ladder of loyalty…think about your business as we go through each of the rungs of the ladder.
At the bottom of the ladder, we have the SUSPECT. Someone who is in your target market, they don’t know you, you don’t know them…but you suspect they may be the type of client or customer you would like. Hopefully through your excellent marketing plan – you’ll be doing a good job of either moving them away from their ‘pain’ points or towards their ‘pleasure’ points (see pain or pleasure for more) You need to be clear on your target market and talk to them in the right way and at the right time. If your marketing strategy doesn’t address this- or you don’t have one- that’s another conversation to have!
Once we identify our suspects, we need to move them to being PROSPECTS…we move them up a rung in the ladder. Due to your good marketing, they have shown interest in your product or service, by coming into your shop, downloading something from your website or whatever is relevant for you.
They want to know a bit more – at this point, they are a prospective client. On the basis that they like what they hear and see, (remember how important your social footprint is at this point…and the use of video) at that point if it all checks out, they might decide to buy and become a shopper.
A SHOPPER is someone who has bought once. The reality is they aren’t entirely sure yet, but they have seen enough that has convinced them to buy. Ideally at this stage you want to be over-delivering, and making that shopping experience really special. Spending time looking at your customer journey from THEIR lens is a good thing to do here. Make their buying experience a really good one!
Because if we do make their buying experience a really good one, then guess what? Yep, they are more likely to buy again. And at this point we would move them up another rung and call them a CUSTOMER. Someone who has bought a second time, things went great the 1st time, so much so they have bought again. But this time they are expecting a similar level of service…and you need to make sure you deliver on that.
From this point on is where we start to make real profit in your business and business starts to get easier. As we move people up the ladder, we want them to get an increasing sense of belonging. We want to add real value to them. So how can we make them feel like a MEMBER? How do we make them feel like they belong to something? This is where you and the team can get creative.
Have a brainstorming session. What could this mean to your business? Think about anything you are a member of, how do they make you feel special? Maybe it’s a VIP invite, access to exclusive webinars? Perhaps you introduce them to your Strategic Partners, or give them access to something that the customers don’t? Make them feel like part of the gang, or part of the club. You want to ensure you build trust with your members, so they can see themselves doing business with you ongoing. You are building a relationship by putting time, and potentially money, into it.
Once people feel they want to be part of what you are doing and in the club, we want to move them up another rung to ADVOCATE status. Not only do we want them to be a member, but an advocate.An advocate would be someone, when in conversation with other suppliers or their customers, would be talking about the level of service they are getting from you and suggesting it would be good for them to get the same. Customers will always sell you better than you sell yourself. Make sure you work on this with your social proof.
At the last rung on the ladder is when we have nudged the advocates up to become RAVING FANS. They know working with you is a good idea, as not only is your product/service excellent, but the customer care is too. They want to talk about how good it is, and will actively seek out people to tell. When you have clients like this through the hard work you’ve put in, make sure you continue to nurture it, as you have done to get them here.
What are the nice things to do, not because you have to, but because you want to? What are the touches that just make you stand out from a customer-care perspective? Spend time with them, have an enhanced marketing plan potentially for different stages of the ladder. Have a plan on how to move your client base from one rung to another.
Think about your customers currently. Where do they sit, and what are you doing to take them to the next level? To become those raving fans?
