It is time to get off of the client treadmill!  

The treadmill is continually looking for someone who is ready to buy your product or service now.  It is always about the current sale without any fore thought to developing a strategy to develop potential customers.  The treadmill leaves business people exhausted because you are only as good as your last sale.

The better way is to develop a strategy where customers will be attracted and developed so when they are ready, you are already engaged and connected to them.  Yes, we know, this sounds so simple but it does take a strategy.

The first thing that needs to be understood is that all businesses are different.  This means that the strategies used may be different as well.  There is no “right way” or “wrong way” of doing things.  Instead of right and wrong, think of things as attracting or repelling.  Sincerely asking if an activity is attracting people or repelling them from your brand.

The second consideration is attracting the right people.  Who actually makes the buying decisions for your product or service?  You need to be able to name the primary, secondary, and tertiary audience for your brand.  All too often, business people are happy to have a large number of people who like them on social media or receive an email.  While numbers are not bad, if they are the wrong audience, you will be just spinning your wheels without gaining any traction.  You will find yourself busy with little return.

Once you know your audience(s), you can begin to work towards a plan.  The first tier we discuss at Operation Crusader is Community to Contact, or C1.  This takes into consideration when someone engages your brand to when they contact you.  They may touch your brand on social media, through a newsletter, or just a google search.  It really doesn’t matter how they connected, the real question is what will keep them connected.  Becoming very purposeful during this time is critical to keep people engaged.  One of the most powerful tools is to employ an educational component.  Give people a reason to stay engaged and connected.

Eventually, the goal is to have that potential customer actually make contact with you, Contact to Customer C2.  While some businesses have a very short C2 duration, many others have a longer, extended time depending on the product or service.  Either way, how you engage with that customer is important.  The customer experience will keep create something they can remember.  Your product or service will be tied to the emotion the customer felt while working with you.  

Finally, where most companies drop the ball, happens after the sales process.  For many companies, they hope the customer returns without really making any effort into retaining and developing that customer.  What typically happens is the attention is just focused on the next customer in line with little or no consideration to the customer who just made the purchase.  This is just bad thinking and is the reason so many business people live on the treadmill.

What happens after someone becomes a customer will determine if they will ever make a referral or a recommendation.  Focusing on Customer to Cheerleader, C3, brings about the reward of a continual referral source as well as keeping that customer engaged with your brand.  

A huge mistake many business people make is the assumption that since that person bought from you once, they will come back to you when they are ready to buy again.  Unless you give them reasons to do this, it just won’t happen.  Sure, you may get lucky with some returning but there is little brand loyalty.  This needs to be purposely developed.  Just hoping for the best is not a great strategy.

Creating specific strategies that are purposeful and intentional provide a freedom to small businesses that lack a huge marketing budget.  These strategies don’t need to be complicated or cumbersome.  They do need to be intentional.

At Operation Crusader, we can walk you though the process helping craft a plan that fits into your business.   We offer services that range from just helping craft a plan to developing the tools needed to accomplish that plan.  Let’s have a conversation about your business.