Customer or Client? Current or New?

I was watching a video recently and the narrator/host asked, “What is the difference between a customer and a client?” The person he asked this to said, “not a thing, they are the same.” Well, the narrator/host then proceeded to instruct him that was indeed incorrect, as a customer is someone that buys something from you once or twice and a client is someone who purchases from you over a period of time more than once or twice. In other words, a client is someone that you have built a relationship with over time. After thinking about this, it seemed to make quite a bit of sense to me!

Now, with that being said; if I could show you how to increase your sales by 50% without increasing your marketing budget, would you be interested? Of course you would, what marketing or sales/service professional or business owner wouldn't be interested?

By the time you have finished this blog entry you will see what I am talking about and want to CONTACT ME about how I can help you with this!

Take a few moments and think of all the inactive customer files you have in your file cabinet. Business owners and sales professionals often make the costly mistake of servicing a customer once then assuming "they'll stay" as a customer or client without maintaining and growing that relationship.

A year later that business owner is wondering what happened to that customer and where they went. Why haven't they heard from them? Did they leave and if so, why?

There are many reasons a customer or client may leave you, but the ones you will hear most often are:

• They felt your pricing was too high or unfair.
• They had an unresolved complaint.
• They took a competitors offer.
• They left because they felt you didn't care.

When you consider that the last two make up the majority of why a client or customer will no longer use your service or buy your products - it can be a hard pill to swallow. After all it means they are an inactive client because they felt you didn't care about them and your competitor did.

This makes sense when you consider that customers often purchase your service or product because they either have started to develop a relationship with you, they owned another product or yours, or they were referred to you by a friend or associate.

When faced with the above facts why do businesses spend about 80% of their marketing dollars going after new customers and clients rather than nurturing, retaining, and maintaining the customer relationships they already have? Wouldn’t it make sense to show your current customers more appreciation? Make them become clients, someone you have a great relationship with!

Before you spend your time and money going after new customers and clients you do not currently have a relationship with consider the following statistics:

• Repeat customers spend 33% more than new customers.
• Referrals among repeat customers are 107% greater than non-customers.
• It costs six times more to sell something to a prospect than to sell that same thing to a customer.

As you can see your marketing dollars will go further if you use it to build, nurture, and develop your customer relationships. SHOW THEM APPRECIATION! This isn't as difficult as you may think. Building these relationships just means treating your customers and clients as if they truly are your strategic partners and showing them that you truly care about them, and making them feel special. It's important to try to satisfy them with the right products and services, supported by the right promotion and making it available at the right time and location. But, remember customers can easily detect indifference and insincerity and they simply will not tolerate it. Long-term client and customer loyalty is a long-term challenge that you must strive for every day and with every transaction no matter how big or small.

While a growing business needs to constantly capture new customers, the focus and priority should be on pleasing your existing customer base. Turn then into “Clients for Life” and companies that fail to nurture and retain their customer base ultimately fail. You will also spend twice as much to get new customers as you will in maintaining your existing customer base. Not to mention you will also be limited in your ability to attract new customers if you can't hold onto and satisfy your existing customers, turning them into clients.

The bottom line is that one of the key components in marketing and business growth is to spend the majority of your time and effort nurturing your customer relationships, so that you get business from existing clients and customers. This is a strategy that will move you forward in increasing your sales by 50% without increasing your budget.

CONTACT ME NOW for more on information on a great way to nurture those customers and make them keep coming back to you!!!

Smile - You Just Never Know

Are you always smiling? Are you always in a good mood? If not, why not? Be happy, feel happy and let others know you are happy just by being you! Let's face it the way you present yourself represents you and the way you are viewed by others, people’s impressions are formed by their views; who wants it to be a negative impression? Realize that every day brings you a new opportunity and you should be thankful for it, as you never know when you will come across someone that may present you with a great situation, business deal and/or etc.

Furthermore, people want to be around those that make them feel good and if you feel good and are happy, believe me, others will feel good and be happy. In other words, feeling good and being happy is "contagious" and it just makes for a better overall day!

Therefore, wake up and set the stage for your AWESOME day every day by telling yourself; "I believe this is going to be a wonderful day. I believe I can successfully handle all problems that will arise today. I feel good physically, mentally, emotionally, it is wonderful to be alive. I am grateful for all that I have had, for all that I now have and for all that I shall have. Things are not going to fall apart. God is here and he is with me and he will see me through. I thank god for every good thing!"

REMEMBER YOU JUST NEVER KNOW!

There's an old saying that "first impressions stick," which simply means that the impression you make on a person when you first meet them will stay with them for a long time and it is hard to change. So when you first meet a person you only have one chance to make an impression. If you make a great impression, you can have a fan and advocate for life.

On the flip side, imagine if you will; you are making a telephone call and because things aren't or didn't go your way earlier in the day you come across as all “bummed” out and a little depressed, who is going to want to talk with you let alone possibly buy something from you. Wouldn’t it be better to make that call with a smile on your face, feeling good about yourself and being happy? Folks, your attitude or lack thereof WILL carry through that telephone line to the other person!

That's why the first 60 days after obtaining a new customer or client is so critical. You have a small window of time and after 60 days your client has already formed a lasting opinion of you that's hard to overcome. So they better have a good opinion of you because if they don't, it will be hard to change as time goes on and if for some reason if they have a not so “good” first impression it can be changed, if done properly!

With that being said, the good news is that you can proactively do a few things that will make such a deep positive impression on your new customers or clients that they not only will never forget you, but they will want to help you grow your business by bragging about you to their friends and business associates.

Knowing this, I came across a program I call the "Drive and Hammer" Referral Program. The "Drive and Hammer" Referral Program is designed to make such a positive impression on your new client or customer that they will happily and willingly give you high quality referrals when asked and for that matter without being asked.

CONTACT ME NOW for more on the "Drive and Hammer" Referral Program!

Customer Love

Would you do business with you? Sure you would. Or would you? Have you ever really thought about it? We can all name people we love doing business with and we can all name people we will never do business with again. The only difference between the two is the way they made us feel. Do your customers "feel the LOVE"?

What if every customer became a client? A customer is transactional. They buy something, and then they may or may not return. A client is someone who started as a customer, but now they feel an emotional connection to you and your company because you've developed a relationship with them.

What if everyone who did business with your company felt a personal connection to you, your colleagues and your company? Imagine what would happen. They would be clients forever. Think about people you love to do business with. What qualities do they have? They're passionate, responsive, respectful, attentive and enthusiastic. They always take the high road, they are quick to accept responsibility for their mistakes and they appreciate your business. Bottom line, they make you feel special. You love their overall attitude.

Now, think about people you will never do business with again. Write down what happened and make sure you never do anything on the list.

Do you make it easy for people to use your phone system? Do they "feel the LOVE" when they call? When you answer the phone, does the tone in your voice sound as though you absolutely love your job? When someone calls your company, can they speak to a live person? We've all been frustrated when we call a company and can't get through to a live person.

Do you make it easy for clients to do business with you via e-mail? Is your e-mail address as easy to find as your phone number or physical address? Your clients also need to "feel the LOVE" in your e-mails. When you send an e-mail, slow down long enough to re-read it before you hit the send button. Will your client "feel the LOVE" or will they feel as though you were rushing to take care of another client?

Do you make it easy for people to do business with you when they visit your website? Have you ever tried to find something on your Web site? Probably not, you work their. Try it sometime. Was it easy to navigate through your site? Do you make it easy to find a phone number? Have you noticed most Web sites make it almost impossible to find a phone number? It makes me wonder if they want their customers and clients to call.

When you're meeting with a client, it's not about you and the product or service you are selling, it's all about them. You listen to your clients' needs, challenges, passions, and then you get to talk. You make them feel like a million bucks, even if they are the smallest client you have. If your clients feel a personal connection to you and your colleagues, magical things will happen. There will be times when the personal connection can help you overcome a potentially challenging situation.

Do you make it easy for people to do business with you when you're out in the community? Do people "feel the LOVE" when they meet you? The people you meet may never need your services, but they may know someone who does. Who are they going to recommend? They'll recommend you, because they were impressed when they met you. What stories are your clients sharing with their friends? What can you do to make your clients say WOW? The possibilities are endless. It doesn't have to be anything big. A greeting card every now and then (maybe on their birthday, anniversary or just to stay in touch) with a personalized note and a gift card, gift and/or with something to eat and you will be bonded for life. Never underestimate the power of gifts and/or food. CONTACT ME I can help you with this!!!

Imagine creating an environment where everyone wants to do business with you because you always make it easy and they always "feel the LOVE". Imagine developing relationships with your clients that are so strong they wouldn't consider doing business with anyone else. Imagine having clients who love you and your colleagues so much that they become one of the best PR tools you have. Imagine having your entire team share the same vision-a vision of making the client experience a memorable one. This can happen. Ask yourself two key questions with every move you make. Did we make it easy? Did they "feel the LOVE"?

You'll be amazed by how many little things you can improve when you ask these questions over and over again. You'll also be amazed how the changes you make will add up to big success for you and your company.

"To have more than you've got------Become more than you are. Unless you change how you are you'll always have what you've got".

Success - Why the View of YOU is Critical?

You know, in order for you to get good at anything, you need belief and confidence that you can actually do whatever it is you are looking to do. Success in life starts with a positive view of YOU...It's simple! If you don't buy you and/or believe in you, no one will. Having belief and confidence in you is critical, some of you already have it, and some need to develop it. That's OK, as we all start from different places.

In the end, where you go in your business is all about YOU, the decisions you make and your patterns of belief. Whether you're rich or broke, happy or sad, fit or unfit, is entirely up to you. It is much easier to make decisions that create a better life for you when you believe in you and feel good about you.

Learn to like yourself and have a positive view of you…self is important. In order for you to impact others in a positive way, you must first believe in you.

Therefore, having a good, strong and healthy ego is GOOD! Am I saying you must have a BIG ego? Actually, yes and no, now I've heard that having a big ego is bad but, I it all depends on your definitions. So, let's not get semantics in the way here. Folks, let's get our definitions of ego correct here; Ego means self-esteem and self-esteem means to think highly of, therefore, having a big ego simply means that you have big, healthy self-esteem. Now...who doesn't want that? Call it what you will...but, having a strong, healthy ego is very, very good for you.

Now, there's a distinct difference between a Big Ego and being Egotistical or self-conceited which are not good character traits to display. It's good to have a strong, healthy ego, just don't let it get in the way of your success.

Self-traits you should have:

• Self-assertive: determined to assert oneself or claims
• Self-confidence: having confidence in ones abilities
• Self-control: control of oneself or one's behavior
• Self-defense: defense of oneself or one's reputation
• Self-determination: to have free will
• Self-employed: this is self-explanatory
• Self-esteem: good opinion of oneself
• Self-made: having risen from obscurity from one's own efforts
• Self-preservation: keeping oneself from death or harm
• Self-reliant: reliant on one's own abilities
• Self-respect: proper regard for one's dignity or standard of conduct
• Self-sacrifice: sacrifice of one's interests and desires to those of others
• Self-sufficient: capable of supplying one's own needs

The Bottom Line: If you don't believe in you, if you don't buy you, people won't believe that you have the abilities to lead them where they want to go or provide what they need. In fact, you want even have a chance to lead them anywhere, because they probably won't buy your products or join you in the first place.

You must also have both Belief and Faith in the following:

• Your industry
• Your company
• Your products and/or services

Belief means to have trust and confidence in and Faith means having a belief in that which is not yet seen. How can you possibly expect to succeed if you are lacking faith and belief in your industry, your company, or your products and/or services?