Customers are the lifeblood of your business. Without customers -- people who buy your product or service -- you really don't have a business, do you? Duh!
Ask any business owner, and he'll tell you he wants more customers. Yet I say that you DON'T want more customers. What you want are more Evangelists.
What's an Evangelist? In this sense of the word, I mean someone who not only buys from you but tells everyone within earshot (and e-mailshot) how great you are.
There are three kinds of people who buy from you:
- Customer = someone who simply buys from you
- Referrer = someone who tells one or two people about you
- Evangelist = someone who tells everyone about you
By using The Ultimate Customer Formula:
Want + Trust = Customer
Want x Trust = Referrer
Want x Love = Evangelist
Let's start with why someone becomes a Customer in the first place.
First, a person has a Want -- something they desire. It could be to alleviate a PAIN or to increase their PLEASURE. That pretty much covers human Want.
Then they find out about you (through something called marketing). And something they read, hear, see, or experience in your marketing makes them Trust that you will deliver to them the fulfillment of their Want.
If you do what you said you would do -- help fulfill their Want -- they are satisfied with their purchase. They are now your Customer because they Trust you.
So what do you do now?
That's where most businesses fail. They go, "Whew, we got another one. Okay, where do we get the next one?"
But don't you get it? You can get your next Customer -- or dozen Customers -- from that first satisfied Customer!
How? Simple: Make them feel good about their purchase. Ask if there's anything else you can do. See what else they need or want -- that they may not even have thought of. Ask questions that no one else is asking.
Or just be so much better than the other guys that your Customers have no choice but to choose you to fulfill their Want.
Let me give you an example...
I love Southwest Airlines. Why? There are dozens of reasons, but the most important one for me is that when I need to change a flight, I simply call their toll-free number and an ACTUAL HUMAN BEING picks up the phone and says, "Southwest, how can I help you?"
Then I change the flight and there is NO service fee! What do you know? Southwest treats my money as MY money!
I've flown other airlines, and paid as much as $450 for CHANGE FEES. Ridiculous!
Do you see what I just did? I just told everyone who's reading this newsletter how awesome Southwest Airlines is. I went from Customer right to Evangelist.
If I felt so-so about Southwest, I might tell one or two friends. That would make me a Referrer.
But because I love Southwest, I tell everyone about them -- even when I'm flying on other airlines!
How did it happen? I have a Want -- affordable, reliable airline service to take me where I need to go, AND actual human beings who answer the phone, AND no fees when I need to change a flight.
From the very first time I flew Southwest, they not only delivered the fulfillment of my Want -- they OVER-delivered by thinking of ways I hadn't even thought of to make my travel better and easier, and by being a company of real live human beings.
So I emotionally moved from I Trust Southwest to I LOVE Southwest.
How fitting that their stock ticker symbol is LUV.
So here's The Ultimate Customer Formula again -- this time with the thoughts that go behind it:
Want + Trust = Customer
I want something and trust that you will deliver it to me.
Want x Trust = Referrer
I want something and trust that you will not only deliver it to me but that if I were to send a friend to you, you'd deliver it to them too.
Want x Love = Evangelist
I want something and not only trust that you will deliver it to me, you will over-deliver, take care of me in ways I hadn't even thought of, and you are a company of actual human beings.
That last part is particularly vital today. The word we see everywhere in marketing is transparency.
In the old days, you could hide behind a corporate shield and be immune to criticism. Those days are long gone.
People are amazed when I pick up the phone and call them to see if they're happy with their purchase, or personally respond to an e-mail they wrote me, or write back to them on my Facebook fan page.
My feeling is, why wouldn't I?
But the beauty is, very few of my competitors will ever pick up the phone and call people to connect with them.
Sure, it's more work for me. But it's work that I really enjoy doing. Plus, it cements me as the guy who actually CARES about how they're doing (which, as it happens, I do).
So, use The Ultimate Customer Formula and see what you can do today, this week, this month, and this year to move people from Customer to Referrer to Evangelist.
And isn't it amazing that the ultimate secret to success, yet again, is Love.
P.S. Noah St. John, Ph.D., is a lifestyle expert and #1 bestselling author of The Secret Code of Success: 7 Hidden Steps to More Wealth and Happiness. Stephen Covey says, "Noah's Secret Code of Success is about discovering within ourselves what we should have known all along -- we are truly powerful beings with unlimited potential." For a limited time, get the first 3 chapters of Noah's new bestseller, The Secret Code of Success, FREE at NoahStJohn.com (http://www.afformations.com/).
