Client Service: The Ultimate Marketing Weapon?

Want to see a customer service manual that's worth $1.2 billion and is updated every day? Just plug "Zappos review" into your favorite search engine, read, and emulate.

Here's just one example that I found online today ...

Your takeaway: You canNOT buy or create advertising any better than the testimonial above. When you deliver outrageous service that not only delights but delightfully surprises your clients, you've got a recipe for explosive growth.

Good news: You don't have to delight your clients with what you actually sell to delight your clients.

Read that sentence again. I'll wait.

You see, Zappos sells shoes. But the 5-star raving testimonial above (one of thousands like it you can find online) is not about shoes. It's about the delightful surprise this customer experienced when receiving a rapid, hassle-free refund.

And before you gripe about refunds, know that this one resulted in:

1. valuable free publicity (here and elsewhere)
2. a second purchase at full price
3. a customer for life

 Any business can do that. Including yours.

So, the only thing stopping you from delivering the same kind of billion-dollar service as Zappos is ... you.

And, yes, the way Zappos treats customers is worth $1.2 billion. Because it was legendary service like the example above that made Zappos worth the $1.2 billion that Amazon paid for it in 2009.

Meanwhile, if you want to smooth out the bumps in your cash flow, by getting more clients like your best clients, my free Client Cloning Kit can help. Grab your free copy now, while they last. 

The Instant Newsletter Solution

Last week I spoke to a gathering of local entrepreneurs.

After my talk, I handed out a survey and got back 25 of them. Their answers to my questions were insightful (I love surveys!), but one was especially interesting.

To my survey question, "Do you send a newsletter to your clients?" the answers were:

Translation: 40% of respondents send NO newsletter to their clients. Bad. Very bad.

Only 8% send a newsletter by U.S. Mail, while 32% send one by email, and 12% send a newsletter by U.S. Mail and email (the best option -- online + offline = synergy).

Why do you need a newsletter?

For every month that you don’t communicate with clients, their value drops about 10%, according to research by The Direct Mail Association.

Erik Van Vooren, of the Direct Marketing Know-How Institute in Belgium, puts it this way:

"Suppose your company lost 10% of your inventory last month? You would panic. You'd get together your staff, lock the doors and figure out exactly where that inventory went. However, the same company can lose 10% of their customers without even noticing."

So, think of a monthly newsletter as a systematic way to plug the leaks and lock the doors in your business, to keep your clients (and profits) from escaping.

If you’re not sending a newsletter of any kind to clients, try the following, in order:

1) Find one useful article online this week. Email it to one client, with a short summary of the article and a note, telling them why you think it’s helpful.

2) Do the same thing next week for another client.

3) Combine the two emails. Write a short introduction. Presto! Instant ezine issue #1 for your business.

4) Print the ezine and mail it. Presto! Instant printed newsletter issue #1.

By the way, I don’t write newsletters, so this is not a pitch for my services. It’s just me urging you to do the right thing. If you do need a newsletter done for you, the BEST in the business is Shaun Buck over at The Newsletter Pro.

Meanwhile, if you want to put an end to "feast or famine" syndrome in your business, my free Client Cloning Kit can help. It's not some cheapo download -- this is a real business-building kit you can hold in your hands. Grab your free copy now, while they last.

Thank-You Marketing: Get Real

Writing and mailing thank-you notes to your prospects and clients can help make your business 100% referral-driven. It's done that for my business, in less than 3 years.

In fact, I now refer to this simple, powerful concept as "Thank-You Marketing."

And yet, I still get asked the same question: Should I thank people by email or with a card in the mail?

Answer: How would you send your mother a birthday message, by email or paper mail? How about your spouse -- would you give him or her an anniversary card by email or on paper?

Treat your clients the same as any other VIP. Only a real thank-you note, on paper and mailed with a stamp, counts for anything.

In fact, mailing a real thank-you note to someone creates a lasting impression that's simply NOT possible with an email. And there's science to back this up.

Research by The UK's Royal Mail and Bangor University found that tangible materials, like a letter you can hold in your hands, "triggered greater emotional processing."

The study, Using Neuroscience to Understand the Role of Direct Mail, found that "tangible materials actually leave a deeper footprint in the brain."

To quote the study at length:

This research strongly suggests that greater emotional processing is facilitated by the physical material than by the virtual. The “real” experience that the physical media provides means it’s better at becoming part of memory.

It generates more emotion, which should help to develop more positive brand associations. The real experience is also internalized, which means the materials have a more personal effect, and therefore should aid motivation.

Bottom line: a thank-you note they can hold is literally more real and emotionally compelling to the recipient than an email they can only see onscreen.

(Of course, this idea goes well beyond thank-you notes. A printed sales letter is "more real" and more emotionally involving than the same sales message sent by email, text, or social media. But those are topics for another day.)

Now, do you still want to send that "thank you" by email?

Meanwhile, if you want to put an end to "feast or famine" syndrome in your business, my free Client Cloning Kit can help. It's not some cheapo download -- this is a real business-building kit you can hold in your hands. Grab your free copy now, while they last.

The Client Cloning Blueprint

 

What's this?  

The Client Cloning Blueprint.

It shows you how to get more clients like your best clients. Without advertising.

You'll be hearing a LOT more from me on this in the coming weeks ...

... but for now, if you want to put an end to "feast or famine" syndrome in your business, my free Client Cloning Kit can help. It's not some cheapo download -- this is a real business-building kit you can hold in your hands. Grab your free copy now, while they last.