How To Create A Loyal Tribe of Repeat Customers
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The document outlines strategies for building a loyal customer base, emphasizing the importance of frequent communication and creating a strong emotional connection with customers. It suggests providing value through free information, sharing a compelling company story, and fostering community among customers to encourage repeat business. The author highlights the significance of personal interactions and the need for businesses to be seen as relatable rather than corporate, ultimately advocating for a personality-driven approach to marketing and customer engagement.
How To Create A Loyal Tribe of Repeat Customers
- 1. How To Create A Loyal Tribe Of Repeat Customers piedpiperpersuasion.com/how-to-create-a-loyal-tribe-of-repeat-customers by Jon Everyday my inbox is flooded with emails from marketing ‘gurus’ offering to teach me how to get more leads. Leads, leads, leads! Yes, building a list of potential customers is an important activity for any business. However, increasing sales by acquiring new customers is more expensive than encouraging your existing customer base to buy from you more frequently. This is why I believe an important goal for your business should be to… Build a loyal tribe of customers, who come back over-and-over again! This is the key to developing a long-term and sustainable income. So, as you read this post… Here’s What You’re About To Discover: What you need to know about organised religion to keep your customers around for years Why the word NEW can mean the difference between a one-off sale and a life-time foaming-at-the- mouth evangelist Why offending people could be the fastest way to build a loyal tribe The 3 main mistakes that most home-businesses make when focusing on single products to sell …and many other tips to create a culture of customer loyalty Let’s get started… Everyday that either you, your message or your business is not in front of your customer, your business is losing perceived value in the mind of your customer. Remember that on a daily basis your customer is being bombarded with 1000s of marketing messages. They’re being distracted with weird and wonderful notifications on their smart phones. They’re having to deal with work and family related stress. Life just often just gets in the way.
- 2. So… One of your many goals as a small home business owner should be to find a way to… Be heard over and above the noise! Marketing legends such as Dan Kennedy, often refer to this as occupying ‘front of mind’ awareness. Is there really any point of breaking your neck to get new customers, if all you ever get is a one off sale? Of course not. Most home business owners that I come across to neglect to provide good… Customer Service! Think of it this way, if you are only sending your customers an email, or a printed letter once a month, this basically means that you have 28-29 days off perceived value-loss before you will get the opportunity to boost your business’s perceived value back up to where it needs to be to encourage more sales. So, a great question to ask yourself is… “What have I done to encourage my customers to think about my business this week?” Your ability to communicate value is of paramount importance when trying to build a loyal customer- fanbase. Organisations that best understand this principle, tend to be religious institutions… Why do you think a local church, synagog or temple ask people to turn up every week? To keep a particular philosophy ingrained in the minds of their followers. Now that I’ve discussed the importance of frequent communication, you should also remember that… Not all customers are created equal! Here’s what I mean… Everyone of your customers likes to absorb information differently. Some, will be more receptive to blog posts. Others would to prefer to communicate with you using emails. Some love listening to audio etc. So, creating a monthly marketing calendar, is a sensible way to keeping on top of all of your marketing activities. It really does makes sense to communicate with your customers throughout the month using as many
- 3. different forms of communication as possible. Remember, what you are trying to do here is to turn your existing customers into a loyal tribe of repeat- buyers. Now… This will not happen if you simply increase the number of sales messages that you are sending to your customers. Frequency of communication is important but it can also kill your business if you’re simple begging them on a daily basis to… Buy your stuff! So.. One technique that you could use to create more value on a daily/weekly basis is to give your customers as much valuable free information as possible before you sell them anything else. A great ratio to aim for is to give free practical/usable information 75% of the time, and then present your sales messages for existing/new products 25% the time. Utilising public holidays as an excuse for value building communication such as, Christmas, Easter, Halloween, Mothers/Fathers day, St Patricks Day is also a great way to increase goodwill whilst maintaining this ‘front of mind’ concept. So, here are a few tips that should help you to turn one-off purchasers into a loyal tribe of customers. Tip 1: Focus on strengthening your customer’s pride of attachment with your business. Ask yourself this question… Is there anything about your business that would make someone proud to be affiliated with you? Answering this question during the prospecting stage, will dramatically improve the likelihood of your customers being long-term evangelists of your business. This is the key to building a cult like following. Yes, I said cult. Get over it So, what do I mean by this… Well, let’s take a closer look at sports fans.
- 4. I’m not really that passionate about sports but if you’re anything like me, you’ll probably have a number of friends or family members who are ridiculously passionate about sport. In my case it’s football(soccer – for my US readers). Some of my friends spend an obscene amount of money on a monthly basis, buying clothing and merchandise that represents their clubs. On weekends, they often walk the streets of London with pride, showing everyone that they are a members of the “Chelsea” or “Arsenal” club. Here’s the reality when it comes to human beings, the need to belong is one of the emotional drivers that every human being possesses according to psychologists such as Maslow. Sports aside, this trait can be seen by people who purchase Apple products too. These fans seem borderline-fanatical because Apple have created a die-hard tribe, who’s logo makes a statement to the world that says… I’m one of the cool new & innovative members of society! So… Let’s look at why are people so obsessed with the concept of something being ‘New’? It goes back to our childhoods. The brain’s limbic system keeps a record of past traumas and emotionally positive events to help us to judge what the potential outcome of new experiences might be like. Every time we received a present on our birthday or at Christmas, and we opened our present and received a positive emotional experience, our limbic system stored this information year-in and year-out, and this accumulation of positive experiences often send a signal to our brains that ‘new’ things are likely to make us happy. Side note: The act of opening a wrapped present involves two emotional buying triggers that can be useful influencing techniques that you should start applying to your marketing… Mystique & Positive Expectation! I’ll discuss the practical application of these triggers in another post. Apologies I digress. So… Your goal is to create a sense of pride of affiliation in the hearts of your customers.
- 5. There are a number of ways of going about achieving this but an effective way of doing this is to repeatedly and frequently communicate your story, your mission and your vision, at every opportunity, to your customers. If you haven’t done so already, define you story. Why are you in the business that you are in? Why do you sell the specific products that you sell? Here’s the reality… If you are just another ‘me-too’ business, then you shouldn’t be surprised if after using your products/services for a couple of months, your customers run off to one of your competitors who offer a similar product at a reduced price. But… When you have a powerful story, which your customers can emotionally connect to, you could probably afford to raise your prices and you’ll still keep your customers because their association with your business gives them a sense of pride. Powerful tip: Try to find a way that your customers can feel like they are characters in your story and playing an active role in helping you to fulfil your mission. A shared sense of purpose is what this is all about. Quick question… Have you ever been around a group of people who have recently given up meat to dedicate their life to veganism, or given up smoking? I’ve known a few of these people in my time and if there’s one common thing that unites them all it seems to be… Evangelism! There are always exceptions to the rule but, the majority of people who I have encountered that have gone through a significant lifestyle change want to help as many people as possible to ‘see the light’ too. This is what you want your customers to be like and this is why you need to have a story/mission with a powerful emotional connection that can attract me-too types. You might be worried that by defining such a powerful mission,vision or story, you could potentially exclude a large section of your marketplace from becoming customers. You’re right and… That’s exactly what you want to do! If you’re not offending or repelling some people within your marketplace you might be doing something
- 6. wrong. It is always a good idea to focus your energies on making it crystal-clear on who you are and what you stand for and more importantly, what you don’t stand for and the types of people you don’t want as customers. Attracting the wrong types of customer WILL most probably result in headache for you later down the line. Tip 2: Start connecting your customers together, regularly. Going back to the sports example earlier, when my friends go to a sports bar and meet other people that support the same team, they can’t help but talk(ad infinitum) about their club’s mission, the successes/failures and how the club/team should be improved to get better results. It is this meeting of minds that helps to keep their passion for their club alive. Here’s another thing that what I’ve noticed, when I look at my friends/social circle. Those fans who regularly spend time in environments where there are other similar fans, tend to be the ones who are most likely to take action. When I say take action, I am talking about: buying more merchandise, travelling around the country to watch their team, and getting involved in corporate activities etc. My gut feeling tells me that, being around others who have a similar mindset also stimulates emotional buying triggers such as… Exclusivity and Significance! People like to feel that they belong to a exclusive group! So, ask yourself this question.. Do I have some way of recognising customers in my business in a way that stimulates exclusivity and a sense of belonging? Merchandising might be an effective way of you achieving this. Imagine what would happen to your business, if your customers woke up in the morning and had a cup of coffee using one of your ‘Top 10 Customers” exclusive coffee mugs.
- 7. Or… Imagine what would happen to your customer subconsciously if they used a calendar that they were awarded by you as a ‘special customer’ with your logo and USP written on it, to record the date of their sister’s wedding. This is a powerful concept. Dont ignore it! Achieving this level of ‘front-of-mind’ awareness is one of the best ways of preventing your competitors from coming in and stealing your lunch because your customer will be thinking about you more frequently. Tip 3: Develop a magnetic personality-based business. On far too many occasions, I come across people who are running a business for a few hours a day but who want to be more professional and ‘business-like’ their large corporate competitors. Big mistake! Expensive mistake! Firstly, it takes a ridiculous amount of money to build an institutional brand. Millions! It is also much easier to build perceived-value with a personality-driven business because you as the owner are more accessible and relatable than a coporate entity could ever be. So, if you want to go about building a personality-driven business there are number of factors that you can not afford to drop the ball on. Firstly, you customer has to believe that the act of purchasing your products was more than just another transaction. You have to demonstrate that you genuinely care about them. Let, me rephrase that statement.. Your customer has to believe that you genuinely care abut them. I hope you do, because you can’t pull the wool over consumer’s eyes in this day and age. If you try to, you’ll get found out and won’t be in business long. Your customer needs to sub-consciously believe that their relationship with you is much stronger than it actually is. This is the fastest way to create raving evangelists and long-term customers!
- 8. Once again, there are a number of ways of developing a powerful bond with your customers but a really effective technique that you can start to implement is to find out more about their personal lives by keeping a file/record of information such as: Their star sign/ birthday Age Their political views Their level of education/background Their preferred holiday destinations Favourite restaurants etc You get the point. Your goal here is to ask them these questions AND consistently communicate the fact that you know these things about them. When your interaction with your customer starts to delve into more personal conversations about their lives and when your customer starts to reveal information about their family or personal life without being prompted by you, you know that you are on the right track to creating die-hard and loyal customers. Tip 4: Be consistent and predictable. Having something valuable that your customers can look forward to at a predictable time, on a consistent and frequent basis, helps to program their sub- conscious minds to receive and accept information from you. As long as you are giving plenty of value, you will find that consistency will also breed positive expectancy which should ultimately lead to more sales in the long- term. This concept of consistency is one of the critical elements of building trust. Tip 5: Help your customers to get even better results by applying the principle of ascension.
- 9. As, I mentioned before, your customers love the word ‘NEW’. Those businesses that keep customers for years and years, are all excellent at applying the principle of ascension to their business. As far as your business is concerned, ascension is all about having core products and then new higher-value products that you can often to your customers at a later date. If you manage to define yourself as an expert within a given area such as weight-loss to encourange the first sale, as long as you maintain good customer service, a percentage of your customers will openly accept offers to higher value products at a later date. Let’s say that a fictional character ‘Julie’ runs a skincare business from home with the following products: Cleanser – £12 Body Buffer cream – £47 ‘Gremlin to Victoria Secrets Model’ Transformation kit – £97 Here’s what’s likely to happen, if she provides great customer service: 10% of the Cleanser users will upgrade to the Body Buffer kit. And.. 10% of the Buffer cream users will upgrade to the Gremlin Transformation kit. But here’s what’s even more interesting.. Julie will get the most attrition(people buying once and leaving), with the lowest-value product – the cleanser. And… The customers who are happy users of the Gremlin Kit will be the ones most likely to be with her years down the line. This is the power of ascension! Also.. The ascension principle can apply to other areas or problems that your customers might want to resolve, which are not related to their initial problem. If you are seen as a weight-loss expert and your customers love working with you, you would be amazed at their willingness to accept your advice concerning other challenges that they have to resolve such as resolving their skincare problems. This is why a personality-based business is of paramount importance.
- 10. Tip 6: Help your customers to get results fast! The probability that your customers will stay with you long-term will be directly proportional to the speed at which they practically use your advice or your products/services. As, I mentioned before, life often gets in the way and if your customers buy your products and services but never use them, the probability of them re-ordering your products or buying new ones later, is slim at best. This goes back to your ability to demonstrate that you care about them. Never let there be any confusion in the mind of your customer when it comes to how to use your products/services to solve their problems. Remember, people are mainly motivated by: Fear of loss Movement towards some form of personal gain So, you should always communicate with them to get them to take action by focusing on one of these forms of motivation when encouraging them to take action. Finito! You now know some valuable tips that should help you to keep the customers that you currently have for longer. And… By turning your one-time buyers into rabid foaming-at-the-mouth fans, you should find your customer-base growing organically because they will probably start ‘spreading the word’ about your business which could result in you getting more ‘word-of-mouth’ sales without having to spend more money on advertising. How cool is that. I hope you got some value from this post. If you did, please share with post on social media by clicking on the buttons on the left-hand side of this page, leave me a comment and share your thoughts with me. Till next time, Jon