There is a lady I know that has been running her service based business for the past 8 years. She has never had to put a dime into advertising. She always has gotten new customers through word of mouth referrals. She always appeared to have more than enough business and an endless waiting list of prospects. Many years ago, I watched how she ran her business, how she treated people and what kind of results she provided. As my experience grew, I was shocked she was still in business due to the fact that she was providing her customers with an out-dated service. Yet, she still remained steady in her business. It bugged me at first, until I realized the reason why she got so many referrals and stayed so busy while providing something out-dated.
What I want to cover here is the secret to never running out of customers and clients again…. No, it’s not some cool system or the latest online tactic. It’s the secret to becoming contagiously referable.
The Big Secret
Are you ready? It’s your brand’s interaction with your customers & clients. Let me explain…
I have been blown away by how bad corporate and personal brands have treated people they have paid them money! It’s crazy!
We have all experienced or heard of customer service blowing up and be extremely rude to their customers. There doesn’t seem to be any standard.
We all have days when we have an insane amount of work to get done, deadlines are around the corner and there is a client or customer that continues to call or email you with non-important questions. At least, non-important to you. But the thing is, it is important to them. And how you respond to their annoying calls could make it or break it when it comes to any future sales or getting any referrals.
You see, your clients and customers don’t see the massive amount of emails you need to respond to, they only see how fast and with what attitude you respond to them. They don’t care about your amazing brand strategy, they only care about how their experience with you is. They don’t care that there was as glitch in your invoicing system, they only see the inaccurate amount you are trying to charge them.
Brands that don’t understand this are the brands that end up treating their customers and clients like garbage and eventually go out of business. They aren’t putting themselves in their audience’s shoes.
This is why I am saying the “Big Secret” is your Brand Interaction. With the lady I mentioned, when a customer or prospect walked through her door, she always made time for them. She would stop what she was doing and make their whole experience all about them. This is the start to implementing the Big Secret so you never run out of customers and clients again.
It all comes down to your people skills. If you don’t know how to treat people the way they want to be treated, you will run your brand into the ground.
Think about it, why do brain surgeons make a lot more money than normal medical doctors? Because the brain surgeon has acquired a very specific, fine tuned skill set. And because he has skills that very few have, they can charge a lot more.
Because of the day and age we live in, people skills are becoming rare. This is very good news for you! When you take the time to hone your people skills, you will stand out from the masses.
Here are 4 things you can do to hone your skills, improve your brand’s interaction, and get more referrals.
- Treat People The Way You Would Like To Be Treated. It’s the golden rule and it’s so simple, yet so rare to see. When to treat, Tweet, and market to people the way you want someone to do to you, it changes your whole approach. You don’t have to be pushy or annoying anymore!
- Honor your customers and clients. It seems weird, but when was the last time you honored them? This is where you show them respect and keep their best interest in mind. When you treat them like people and not just a number or another way to get money, you will automatically hold a higher position in their minds and they will tell people about you.
- Understand the different personality types. There are different personality tests out there. I try to use the ones that keep things simple and break personalities up into four main sections. When you do this, you will have a better understanding on how you approach and communicate with them. This has saved me so much time and frustration when it comes to communicating with clients as well as my team.
- Offer Value! – What if you made it your goal to always offer 10X in value for the price you charged? When you provide value to others, not only will they tell others about you, your wallet will grow too! When you make it your goal to truly offer your clients the most value you can and make their lives better, they will see you as valuable and an asset to their lives. They will also be very willing to pay you what you are worth.
There is a huge difference between providing just the value you said you would compared to over delivering what you said and giving them an experience they love. This is exactly what the lady did, she treated people with respect and gave them an overall experience that caused her clients to tell others about her.
If you make it a point to implement these 4 steps, you will see much more repeat business as well as new business. Who do you think your customers and clients will go with when they need what you offer.. you or your competitors?
A final thought…
Keeping the Social in Social Media. Aside from getting referrals, how different would others see you if you spent your time on Social Media posting less links and posting more Tweets and updates honoring others in your community? Would you stand out more? You might even get referrals too! Just a thought…
@PaulCooley
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Excellent point Paul, you are your brand. An old saying comes to mind, "people don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care"…I love your comment about how the women stopped and made time for each and every customer… awesome business concept..take care of the customer…
Thanks Gerry!
Yeah, it's so simple and true, but so easily missed. You are right, usually don't care until they know you care. It can make all the difference in the world.
Take care of the customer indeed. :)
This is dynamite, Paul, and so very true. I really liked your point about your customers" not seeing or even caring about the technical glitches your end, and only seeing that you have overcharged them" . At times I have found myself getting frustrated with clients and this coming across via my emails – it's something I try to be aware of.
Whilst I agree that treating your customers in the way you describe really is key to seeing more referrals, I also think you have to be just as dilligent about not taking on, or keeping on, clients who are a bad fit. This will give you more time and energy to offer great work and service to those that are.
Thank you Stacey! I totally agree with you about not taking on clients that are a bad fit. That has actually been a hot topic for me in some of my coaching groups. It is so important to know who your perfect clients are and who they are not.
Thanks again Stacey and keep up the great work! :)
I have found too, that if you simply ask for referrals you will get them in most cases.
Hi Ocha! I have found that to be true as well… But I have also found that the higher quality and value you provide, the better the referral you get.
Awesome, people skills are a rarity and a good reminder to treat people like people, a definite good business practice.
Thank you Art! In my opinion, people skills are a must! :)