There is an odd phenomenon that I have noticed in the world of websites. There is a small, yet vocal, group of people that love crap! Time and time again, when I advise a client to improve their website or logo, I hear, “we get complimented on it all the time.”
That?
It brings up images of Charles De Mar from the movie Better off Dead saying, “I’ve been going to this high school for seven and a half years. I’m no dummy.”
The problem is, these websites are speaking to the minority that are already sold on you. Congratulations, the choir knows God loves them. Now how about tailoring your message for those that have yet to be convinced?
In online marketing, you have to reach past even the point of conversion. In the religious world, it’s called “discipleship”. In online marketing, they call it, “customer satisfaction.”
For many companies, they let the conversion process end at the point of sale. In the service industry, customer satisfaction obviously happens AFTER the sale. We get that. We don’t just take the money and run, we have to deliver. This is especially true if we want to earn their business a second (or third) time.
But, retail isn’t so different. You can’t wash your hands of the customer once you ship them their product. That may be the end of one sales process, but it’s also the beginning of another.
The Client is Yours to Lose
In the service industry, once you’ve got a client, he or she is yours to lose. That means that, unless you screw something up, they’ll often continue to be a client for as long as there is a need for your services. But, it’s your job to continue to sell them on the quality of what you provide by giving the best service possible, and making sure the results are more than merely satisfactory.
Providing quality services can net you far more than just an ongoing contract, it can generate great word-of-mouth, leading to scores of referrals, which is the most lucrative form of marketing. What you say about yourself is not nearly as important as what others are saying about you.
Cultivating your existing clients can result in a great source of new clients. But, that’s not just for service industries. Again, what happens after the sale in the retail industry matters too!
Anytime you sell a product, you have the buyer’s name and contact information, which can be used to cultivate them for additional sales down the road. You have the ability to send them product updates, sales information, warranty expiration notices, satisfaction guarantee information, related products, product updates, and more. The cost of communicating with a customer to keep them a customer is far less than the cost of acquiring a new customer!
Once a customer has bought from you, there is a good chance he or she will buy from you again, provided that the experience was a positive one… and they remember. Following up after the conversion ensures that you keep your “good name” before them, so the next time around, you are on their mind instead of Google. They’ll go directly to you – no additional “search” needed.
Sometimes, preaching to the converted is the exact thing that needs to be done. After all, there is no such thing as “once saved, always saved.” Or in this case, once converted, always converted!