Are you Wowing or Wooing Prospects?

by Coachcubas

March 11, 2019

Here is my bold statement:

“Too much revenue is exhausted on wooing clients and not enough revenue is used to retain existing customers.”

With the various media outlets—social media, broadcast, print, banners, you name it—marketers have bought into the fear of being left behind (FOLB) or missing something. If not managed effectively, this process fragments marketing efforts, wastes resources, and creates waste.

When I coach with clients, we must begin with a plan. Call it what you want—business plan, marketing plan, overview map—this is a blueprint for outreach and strategy to move it forward into reality.

The reactionary wants to lure new customers with bright shiny objects (think lure in fishing)! Once on the hook, how is the customer or guest treated from this point. Experience shows that the newly lured customer is lucky to receive a thank you or acknowledgement that is beyond an auto responder. Or, they are subsequently bombarded with emails and offers without getting to know them first.

Let’s turn our attention to retention! This is a worthwhile investment.

As recently as today, stated that loyalty programs don’t work. What did they find?

Also, Here are the findings of another study on loyalty programs.

Rather than encouraging the existing folks to be an energy force, they are often neglected. Here are a few reasons these wowing programs don’t work:

They appear insincere. There is no “face” to the process, just digital log in.
The programs can be cumbersome and make the prospect work too hard to join in.
They can create “bad habits”, especially with coupons–the consumer learns to wait for a coupon to act!
My personal favorite is the company that has perpetual sales, every week. That tells me they’re overpriced to begin with if they have to keep marking things down. Continual sales cheapen a product. Perception rules and it looks like the items weren’t wanted.

See how this relates to what you’re doing.

It is simple, perhaps not easy, to show customers, guests, and clients that you appreciate them:

Tell them! Communicate with a personal message with a voice. Email is impersonal unless you add a personal touch. A simple audio clip is worth the time to produce.
Allow them special access to events and new products, not available to the general public.
Give them a special price, and turn that into value to continue to return for more.
Make referrals matter to existing customers. Translate what they enjoy, love, or need so much from you that everyone in their spheres of influence will hear about it!

Keep the wooing going! Like all relationships, people want to feel appreciated and cared about. Daniel Golman had it right—he contends emotional intelligence begins with offering people comfort and safety! How would you rate your scale of comfort and safety?

Coachcubas

As a credentialed business coach and analyst, one of my primary functions is to work with individuals and company managers to clarify where they are presently, where they would like to advance, and what tools they have and need to achieve their desired outcome.

I use a variety of tools to assess perceptions including Platinum Rule instruments, my experience and training in assessing behavior. My preferred tool is the EQ-i®, emotional intelligence inventory. I have specialized training on the EQ-i® and DISC Inventories and access to multiple other sources including a company culture index. I prefer the EQ-i® because it is the least judgmental instrument I have found. It focuses on strengths and areas of development related to the goals set by the individual. For example, people are more likely to apply the EQ-i®’s information rather than label themselves by the Myers-Briggs categories.

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