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There are at least three phases to every successful customer acquisition. They have many names, but let’s just call them - 1) before the sale, 2) during the sale, and 3) after the sale. Note that I said successful acquisition.
Small business marketers seem to get the before and during parts, but so few get the after. Making the phone ring and closing the deal are important, but what you do once someone says, “yes, I want to be a customer” is often what sets one company apart from an entire industry.
You must view the transactional details of your business as a marketing function.
In my book, Duct Tape Marketing, I offer a description of something I call the New Customer Kit. This is simply a set of documents that you might give to a new customer to orient them to everything they might need to know now that they are “in the family.”
I received a very nice example of this from the Courtyard by Marriott in Newark, NJ. I believe this was an individual manager taking the initiative as I’ve not seen this done during any of my stays at Marriott. The day before my check-in I received an email with a travel packet attached. This packet gave me driving directions, airport shuttle details, travel between airports and into NYC details, visitor highlights and restaurant recommendations.
This packet was very easy to put together and not only did it make me as a user feel much better about my decision to stay in this hotel, it probably eases the normal customer service related phone calls to the hotel to ask for this type of information.
You don’t have to stop at simply providing details with this packet, add surprise gifts and special offers from strategic partners too - exceed your customer’s expectations at every turn and marketing will get pretty easy.
So, how could you turn your sales transactions and customer service functions into proactive marketing functions?
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 3rd, 2008 at Jun 03, 08 | 6:15 am and is filed under Lead Conversion, Strategic Partnering. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.
I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express in Chula Vista, CA. They gave me a whole basket full of goodies for my stay. An airline had left my luggage in Philadelphia, so they also gave me a care package. I know that it sounds basic, but these things made me want to be a repeat customer.
It is kinda like football. When you are being tackled you got to keep your feet moving all the way until you hit the ground. That way you always get an extra few yards.
To me it’s that whole “value added” element that separates one business from another.
One basic way to take care of buying customers in Internet marketing is to transfer buyers to another list.
I can’t count the times that I’ve bought a digital product and then received multiple emails trying to sell me that same product.
It’s not that difficult to use an “if, then” to transfer buyers to another list. Then use email follow-ups to help buyers to get the most from their purchase.
This is the sort of thing that gives your clients/customers a special feeling about dealing with you, gives them a little more faith in you and what you’re doing..
I’ll rat on the big Starbucks folks on this one - from a negative. The other evening I was out with a friend and *GASP* paid CASH for my frappacino (I brought with me a $5 bill and left my wallet and debit card in my truck). I got to the line and the cashier said, “$4.01, please.” I stared at her thinking surely she’ll offer “oh, I’ll take off that penny to make it even.” I then even *GASP* made the suggestion of such. She seemed dumbfounded and said, “I’d have to ask my manager and she’s out right now.” All of that over a penny.
Oh, sure, I’ll return to Starbucks. But it’s amazing how that you get so big and popular that you forget to enhance that “we have a new customer in the family” feeling. Or do things that entice people “to be a part of our family”. It’s easy to just go about the business in doing transaction after transaction after transaction.
Where’s “Need a Penny Take a Penny” when I needed it!
This is good advice. I just got a “welcome back” email from expedia after a short trip away. It made me feel wanted. On the email were of course links to book another trip but also to fill out my experiences so they could create a kind of tripadvisor rating system.
Good for me and good for them.
>>So, how could you turn your sales transactions and customer service functions into proactive marketing functions?<<
FWIW, I think a better term for step 2 is “closing the sale”. How to better market during step 3? I think the key is great customer service after the sale. Easy to say, hard to do. Anticipate what your customer needs and deliver it. This is the essence of your Marriott example. If you cannot deliver on some element customers commonly ask for, try to inform the customer during Step 1 or 2 of any limitations upon your customer service or product (i.e., manage customer expectations).
Great advice. We always follow up two weeks after we install our product.
Great tips for acquiring and keeping customers. Another hotel example: before my arrival to a hotel, I got an email asking if I needed directions, dinner reservations, a rental car, etc. Once I got to the hotel, all of my requests were taken care of. The minute I checked my email after checking out of the hotel, I received a personalized email thanking me for choosing their hotel. These three steps guaranteed this hotel my business whenever I return to that city. Personalization and going above and beyond definitely help customers feel appreciated and wanting to return to your business.