When Aaron Rodgers walked out onto the field at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas yesterday, he had already won. The movie in his mind just played out on the field. Simple. But what goes into a rock-solid performance like that?
And, more to the point, how do top marketers in your industry score consistently, day after day, week after relentless week, on their way to another exciting finish to the year?
Even after they become known as ‘the obvious expert’ to a large pool of prospective clients, great marketers continue to analyze their performance in every piece they produce. You can know your products inside out, and show it all off beautifully. But that’s not enough.
Remember, people buy from people they know, like and trust. What can you do to improve your game in this crucial area?
One way is to record and track your customer longevity. Customers who come and go obviously have no sense of relationship with you. Your copy and all your marketing must layer in emotion, bonding with you, like no one else.
This is a big topic, but one hint I’ll drop is this. You do it with story. Telling a story from a personal point of view to illustrate your point is not only hypnotic, it builds connection that can be sustained as long as you nurture the relationship.
For several years, I had a very specialized contracting business for home builders. When times changed and the need for that particular service evaporated, I just walked away.
What I missed was that the business was about the customers. I wasted a very valuable list.
But you don’t need to make this mistake. Nurture your list, and if you run out of ideas, products or services to offer, bring in joint venture partners to offer something completely new to your list. Studies have shown that, for instance in the insurance industry a stick rate with one product is about 30%. Once they have two or more products with you, that rate almost doubles.
Cherish your customers; do not dare take them for granted. Trust me on this.
And let me end with this from Jerry Rice, another NFL Hall-of-Famer:
Refuse to accept you’re as good as you can get. No matter how great you are, you can always get a little bit better.
