RAVING FANS
Living in our current, in person contact-less business environment has presented new challenges for both client retention and generating new clients. The internet, everything from e-mail to social media to video contacts, has become the new norm.
There is a problem; businesses have flooded everyone on their email lists with corona-virus updates, tips on staying healthy and words of encouragement. Add to this the same messages on social media and you can understand why the recipients aren’t thrilled and why they stopped paying attention to many of the messages.
I borrowed the title for this blog from a book written in 1993 by Ken Blanchard (co-author of The One Minute Manager). Times and technology have changed in the last 27 years but we still have the same goal: to create followers (Raving Fans) who look forward to hearing from us, and who will support us by telling others about us.
- If your customers and prospects are not responding to your communication outreach, you are not providing something that they value. Do your customers need encouragement? Do they need to hear more about the uncertainty surrounding the COVID-19? Do they need to get your political opinion on what the future holds?
- Each of our individual customers and prospects have needs, both business and personal; they also have opinions on what is happening. Is your message making them feel worse? Are you offering them something that they don’t want at this time? Are you pushing something that they are not ready to accept?
Step back and think about your own situation. What makes you happy? Perhaps you have to show that you really care before you can offer advice or introduce a product or service. What would you say to someone to show them that you really cared? Perhaps you have to share your own story in these trying times.
John C. Maxwell wrote a book, Everyone Communicates, Few Connect. In it he states that “Connecting is the ability to identify with people and relate to them.” he also shares five connecting practices:
- Connectors Connect on Common Ground
- Connectors Do the Difficult Work of Keeping It Simple
- Connectors Create an Experience Everyone Enjoys
- Connectors Inspire People
- Connectors Live What They Communicate.
No, you don’t have to run out and buy the book. Just make a note of these five principles and use them every time you reach out to anyone.
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Tips & Advice by Nick Petra, CFP – Founder of Strategic Duck and BizQuack
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