I received an email from Jordan. He asked that I elaborate on the last part of my most recent post.
(If you didn’t read the last post, you can check it out here: Post: The Fastest Way To Gain Your Business Advantage)
I’m happy to do so Jordan. The reason why keeping your customers happy is so powerful is because your current customers, the ones that have already made a purchase from you, are many times more likely to purchase from you again.
Sometimes the smallest things make the biggest difference.
Today’s topic is very dear to me. In fact, I recently wrote a book that holds today’s subject at its core, Profitable Relations.
Communications, Expectations,
Relationships, And Profit
Business books, articles, seminars , and other products filled with promises to help you grow your business may teach you an array of ideas, theories, techniques and strategies…
…But even with all that, business owners often forget one
crucial ingredient.
Differentiating your business, whether big or small is critical to success. I’m not going to write more on that topic today…we’ll leave the importance of USP statements, vision planning and all that other good stuff for another day.
You see, even more important than your mission statement, your advantage, your selling strategy, distribution plan, or marketing materials…is one single concept so powerful and easy to use, yet it is often neglected and completely misunderstood or forgotten.
Friends, how are you?
Air Canada has come out with a new service to “ease travellers worries.” Called On My Way the service offers travelers that have had their trip interrupted protection.
Protection in what form and from what exactly? According to the Air Canada website if you’ve been affected by harsh weather conditions that cause delays, flight and plane issues that force cancellations or pretty much anything else that restricts you from getting off the ground…then On My Way will provide assistance.
When you’ve signed up for this service you receive a special number to call. Calling that number a “special customer service agent” will rebook you on the very next flight (so you get dibs on that) and arrange for complimentary accommodations and means (that’s right, they foot the bill).
In case you haven’t noticed more and more companies have been using ‘guarantees’ in their marketing.
The art and power of the guarantee is nothing new. Direct marketers and advertisers the world over have included guarantees in their offers for centuries.
While I surely wasn’t around back then…I’d wager that 200, 300, heck, probably even 500 years ago people tradesmen (yes, I’m sure there were tradeswomen as well, but allow me to keep this simple for now) were offering guarantees of satisfaction on the products and services they sold in one form or another.
No, I’m not implying they all did, likely there were only a few in each town that were brave enough to place a guarantee on that which they sold.
These days there are still only a few in each industry that incorporate a guarantee into their business models. But that is slowly changing.
On two occasions now, the president’s of two large companies have attacked me.
No silly, not by physical force. But they were genuinely concerned.
Turn on the TV, check the front few pages of any newspaper, listen to the radio and no doubt you’ll be bombarded with a chess match of mentally developed and not-so-understandably respected folks yelling at each other “recession-this” and “no-recession-that’”.
“A financial crisis here” says one lady, while the other ‘just-as-wise’ smiles her best smile, looks you in the eye and tells you “there is no financial crisis, this is a time of opportunity.” And just then, ten other well-greased analysts, and a couple of bow-tie clad economists declare there is no opportunity. Everyone must cust back and cushioned their rear-ends in preparation for the big loss.
What’s happening really isn’t anything new in my view. Sure, parts of this dramatic play “have never been seen before”. But the economy, since the beginning of time, as had its ups and downs, its sidesteps, trips, hops, jumps and falls…
