Red Zone Marketing's Blog

Unconditional Fans

Win or lose, true fans don’t stop cheering for their team. Unconditional fans cheer for their favorite team to win again and again, to move closer and closer to their goals (beating a rival, clinching a series, winning a championship, etc). When our team is losing, we figure out ways to cheer for them some more (rally caps on!). And when they pull through, we share in their success, feeling like winners ourselves because we had our allegiance in the right spot.
 
It is the same for true fans of your business. A fan of yours WANTS you to win. They cheer you on, want to help you, and are proactive in their support. We all have fans that we are grateful for, but the question is -- how can we get more fans? I’d venture to say that all of us could use a few more no matter how many unconditional fans we have.
 
Why does someone become a fan? Being a true fan is more about a feeling than about the tangible products we sell. Observation of successful firms has shown that perhaps the best way to get this loyalty may be through the little things, not the extravagant ones. Listening more than talking, more face-to-face with our best clients, and truly making them feel important. Intangibles.

Measure it! How are you doing? How many clients do you have that are loyal? How many unconditional fans? Maybe 2011 could be the year of the fan – your fans!
 
I have been a Packer fan forever. I’ve seen them in terrible years (remember the 1970’s and early 80’s?) but I never stopped cheering. I’m a fan and would be even if they lost last Sunday to the rival Bears. And it’s a sure bet that I’ll be cheering like wild on February 6 in Dallas. Now if I only had tickets…

Why is it so darn easy to say NO?

Oftentimes, there is more risk in customer service when the answer to our concerns is “yes.” Can you help me? Will you make an exception and do this for me just this once? Could you look into this issue I’m having? Being helpful comes with a price, and the price is more work. But what if the tables were turned and the risk was actually in saying “no.” How much better would our interactions with companies become?

Last week I called my cell phone provider to modify the service, cancel a line, add a data line, etc.  I wasn’t getting the answers I wanted from the one person I was talking with - he kept saying “no” - so I politely ended the call. I immediately dialed back reaching a new customer service person that liked saying “yes” much more than the first person.

Ultimately, there is a lot less work for the employee who says “no” (think compliance departments). If the person says “yes” they may have to do something and then take a risk for doing it. And frankly, it seems that some service people don’t feel like they are being paid to say “yes.” It’s too much hard work.

What if service people were given incentives for the “yes” answers they gave to customers and were docked pay for their “no” answers? I guarantee they’d find ways to say “yes” more often.

“Yes, I can change that for you.” “Yes, I can do that for you over the phone right now.” “Yes, I can add that to your order.” Yes, I will talk to my manager and see if we can do that for you.” How about, “YES, I can do some hard work for you even though it would be easier for me to just say no.” The result? Happy clients that go wild about you because of the surprising way you serve their needs.

Networking Tips for the Holiday Season

The holiday season offers many networking opportunities for you to take advantage of. Maribeth shares 8 networking tips on Fox News Detroit to make the most of your next holiday party.

Mud on my face on Election Day

 

 

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing 

Check out the video interview I did with a reporter at Politico.com (this site gets 3 million hits per day!) where we are literally throwing mud at each other discussing dirty politics. Sensitive types and clean freaks – this is NOT for you! Everyone else, please take a look if you want to see some “dirty” fun! 

In the video interview, Washington reporter Patrick Gavin of Politico.com and I are discussing how politicians have failed at connecting with their constituents. We’re talking about the ugly side of politics and the real life effects of mudslinging!

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Be a Viral Video Star

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing

I think we’d all agree that meeting with customers face-to-face is vital to earning more referrals and winning more business. But it can often be a difficult task given busy schedules, long distances, and the sheer number of clients you serve. An innovative solution to this challenge is to deliver short messages to prospects and clients via video. There are services that allow you to quickly and easily create and deliver personalized, emotional, and relevant video content to clients—and then send it through email (check out www.AdvisorTLC.com for one example). And they will help you pass your video through compliance for approval before transmitting. Another resource is to record a video and post it on your own YouTube channel (see mine for reference: www.YouTube.com/redzonemarketing). For control, you can turn off the ability for others to comment on your videos and even keep your videos private so only those you have invited will have access.

You can use video for a number of things—to deliver market updates, provide education, give referral introductions, transmit thank you messages, announce special events, product information, and updates. But keep your video under 3 minutes – it seems to be a palatable length for busy people. Video even allows you to automate the ability to receive more highly qualified referrals. The biggest benefit to using video—beyond crafting a more personalized message—is the ability to go viral. For example, one entrepreneur videotaped himself and his staff singing a quick ‘Happy Birthday’—a video that each of his clients receive via email on their respective birthday. He has already counted fourteen referrals from clients who have passed it along to their family and friends! It works because it is a little unique – and it is you. 

Check out the new book, …And The Clients Went Wild! for more helpful tips for growing your business.

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“Free” can get your clients going wild! But what’s in it for you?

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing

If you create a surprising offer, people will pay attention. If you offer something of real value for free, people will listen (and oftentimes share with others). In fact, “free” can convert price shoppers into loyal clients. This is the model that online print company Vistaprint used to generate over $500 million in revenue in 2009. The “free” offer the company makes has a certain appeal to their target market: small businesses. While these companies need printing, they’re often very cost-conscious customers. So Vistaprint offers 250 business cards for free, with a nominal $5.67 shipping and processing charge. Today, 66 percent of Vistaprint’s business comes from returning customers. In the first quarter of FY 2010, they acquired 1.4 million new customers—many who started with a free order. Yet most printers would never make an offer like this. It is giving it away!

What could you offer for free that is of value that people want and also would introduce them to your firm?  What would make you stand out in their minds? I know a financial advisor who gives away an investment organizer to everyone who attends his educational presentations. It costs him $7.00 a piece for the folder organizer and then he emails the accompanying organizer document to fill out. He says it has been the key to getting clients to remember him over other advisors and he ends up doing business with more than 55% of those who have his organizer. That results in an insane return on investment and a business with gross sales over $1,000,000. Not bad for free!

Check out the new book, …And The Clients Went Wild! for more helpful tips for growing your business.

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Killing Your Competition with (Client) Kindness

Blog from Maribeth Kuzmeski of Red Zone Marketing

Five Core Principles for Turning Clients and Prospects into Raving Fans

Once upon a time customer service meant more than pressing 2 to wait (and wait and wait) for “the next available representative.” Companies valued those who bought their goods and services and went the proverbial extra mile to make them happy. Today we’re more likely to hear about a company that’s ripped off its customers.

Failing to make your customers happy is more than a shame. It’s slow-motion corporate suicide. If you want to make it in today’s crowded, recession-wracked market, you absolutely must create clients and customers who rave about your company the way they would their favorite sports team.

Obviously, making raving fans out of your clients is easier said than done. If it were easy, then corporate giants that have plenty of money to throw at such a concept would be overrun with happy customers.

In my new book, …And the Clients Went Wild! How Savvy Professionals Win All the Business They Want (Wiley, 2010, www.AndTheClientsWentWild.com), I lay out a blueprint for cultivating loyal clients and generating growing sales through a collection of principles and tactics that have proven successful for others in business.  These businesses have effectively created a loyal following of passionate vocal clients, and with the execution of these principles, you can too.

1st Principle: What Are YOU Doing That No One Else Is Doing? In order to gain exposure, it helps to be or to offer something unique—or do something that no one else dares. It’s true that standing out from the crowd is probably the riskiest of the five principles. However, it may be equally risky to run a conservative, “under‐the‐radar” firm these days—you risk becoming an anachronism. While successful firms stick to their values, they also find ways to be so exciting that people don’t have a choice but to pay attention…and buy.

2nd Principle: Focus Your Marketing on Benefits, Results, and a Call to Action. Another way to gain success is to ensure you are answering the question, What’s really in it for me? for your clients. Too many businesses accentuate the features of their products or services rather than the benefits—what your clients really care about. “Open 24 Hours” is a feature. Benefits are value statements about the features of a product or service, with an emphasis on what the customer gets. For example, a benefit might be that a product makes you look slimmer or saves lots of money on gas. Too many companies leave it up to their prospects to figure out the benefits of their products or services.

3rd Principle: Go Viral! A viral message is an idea, notion, or practice that’s transmitted from person to person through speech, gestures, the internet, email, or other media. It ignites and motivates people to move the message. Most viral marketing programs give away valuable products or services to attract attention—free benefits, information, software programs, or downloads. It’s essential that you do everything possible to make it easier for people to access information or material that may go viral.

4th Principle: Leverage Your Business Network for Incremental Growth. It takes a plan, but using your network—business and otherwise—can be the miracle alternative to the typical grind of cold calls and prospecting. A productive business network is filled with respected, well-connected, influential people—called “Centers of Influence”—that share your target market and have a complementary rather than a competing service or product. You can capitalize on these connections by creating strategic alliances or by simply sharing your networks and making referrals.

5th Principle: The Ability to Execute Is Critically Important to Your Game Plan. In today’s fast‐moving, completely networked world, superior execution is clearly driving success for business. Small business owners are great at adopting many new marketing ideas. What they are not so great at is finishing. The best marketing strategy is the one you can pull off completely.

Perhaps more than ever before people want to do business with those they feel they can trust. They are attracted to businesses they feel will go out of their way to provide them the absolute best products or services available. And the absolute best way to elicit that trust in prospects is by having clients who cheer you on at every turn. So, don’t waste another second waiting to develop a marketing plan that will influence your clients to go wild for you.

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