November 2007
This will probably be the shortest book I ever recommend, so if you haven't been able to bring yourself to read any of my prior recommendations, you may want to start with this one. It's small. It's a parable. And you can read it at no cost on-line.
I met the author, Betsy Sobiech, at a retreat for Attracting Perfect Customers, and she shared this gem with our group. It's a true story, it's funny, and it really illustrates how we can get off track sometimes.
Top Myths of Traditional Marketing (and the New Reality of Attracting Perfect Clients)
[The following is Part 1 of a Four-Part article on attracting your perfect customers.]
Marketing Myth # 1: To get customers, you first have to FIND or TARGET them
Reality: Your perfect customers are looking for your business.
The Strategic Attraction™ Planning Process is founded on the concept that customers are looking for the perfect vendor to fulfill their needs and desires.
Here's the Key:When a business is clear about its mission and purpose, and its employees are standing firmly aligned and united around the mission and purpose, then the business emits a powerful "light."
This attractive "light" guides the way for your company's most perfect customers to arrive quickly and easily to your business doors or web site. The responsibility of the business shifts from looking for customers to serve to simply standing still.
So how do you get the needed clarity? By working through the Strategic Attraction(TM) process and creating a Strategic Attraction(TM) Plan.
So what's a Strategic Attraction(TM) Plan?
There are many kind of plans out there, and traditionally, we know we should all have well-researched and well-written business plans (whether or not we are going to ask for outside funding -- yes! this means you!).
But a Strategic Attraction(TM) Plan (SAP) is different. This is a non-traditional tool that helps you get to the heart of who you are and who you want to work with (the perfect customer for YOU).
There are four parts to the SAP:
1. List of the qualities, characteristics, attributes and personality traits of YOUR perfect customer. When you make this list, don't put down the things you think are expected of you. Put down the things that YOU think are perfect. For example, do you want to work with people who are happy and friendly? Then put that on your list.
Example 1: Your favorite customer is named – Linda. She is brilliant minded, happy, relaxed, likes to have fun, buys from your company on a regular basis and refers lots of other customers to you. When you are with Linda you feel good about yourself. You want more customers just like her!
Example 2: Your least favorite customer is named – Mike. Mike constantly nit picks the details of every project, he tends to have a short fuse, and when he calls you don’t enjoy the conversation. When you are with Mike you don’t feel comfortable or relaxed. You would prefer that Mike work with another company besides yours.
The good news is that YOU attracted both of these customers! Why is this good news? The reason is that if you attracted someone like Linda, she serves as an example to highlight what you want more of in your relationships. Mike’s example will help you to see what you want to have less of in your relationships.
Both customers could be described as ‘perfect’ in that they are demonstrating something to you about yourself and your desires. They are helping you get clarity!
As you create this list, you will begin with the superficial or generic items that most of us want on our list. But as you exhaust those qualities, you will start to get more specific (and you should!). BE PICKY. Write this list as if you were creating a list of qualities you want in a spouse. You'd be pretty specific there, wouldn't you? And with good reason. You need to be just as specific with the qualities you want in a perfect customer.
Now hold onto your list and we'll do the next step in December.
The above article outlines the first part of the SAP process and will take you a few hours to complete thoroughly. Next month we'll have more on the 4-step process; but until then, please give us a call if you have a question about creating your own strategic attraction/marketing plan...805-658-8196.
Good Words
If we designed an economic system where money told the truth, we would more easily move to a sustainable world. Right now money tells us the price of everything.
-- Paul Hawken
author of The Ecology of Commerce and Blessed Unrest
E-mail promotions DO work!
24% of shoppers at retail websites arrived at that website because they received a promotional e-mail from the company. This group is more satisfied than those who came to the site because of a search engine, and is 16% more likely to buy than those who came through a search engine.
Source: Foresee Results, Inc., online customer satisfaction survey, Ann Arbor, MI
Testimonial
--Katherine Kasmir
Project Director
Straight Up Ventura Cty
Good Tool: Audio Acrobat
If you've been looking for a way to add audio to your website, you may want to check out audioacrobat. You don't need any special equipment and can record from your own phone. They have a free 30-day trial,
Good Idea:
Eco-friendly Holiday Cards
This December, consider sending a recycled custom holiday card to your clients and prospects. If you're familiar with Vistaprint.com, you should check out GreenerPrinter.com. They offer different choices in paper all the way up to 100% post-consumer recycled!
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