The following is the 4th part of an 8-Part series focused on “How To Become A Customer Magnet,” the metaphysical mindset, processes, and systems that contribute to developing a team of RAVING Customer Fans. The magnetic process, now being incorporated into a stand-alone book, will be released on Amazon this summer. Authored by Danna, the Customer Magnet concept is incorporated into many of her strategies over the past decade. Enjoy!
Magnetic Attraction
Creating an ENGAGING APPEAL
Magnetic Attraction – the force by which one object attracts another.
Susceptibility and Attraction are two sides of the same coin in the customer acquisition process. Attraction can’t happen without all of the right triggers in place and it helps to weed out unqualified prospects.
Think of the attraction process as the wooing stage of the customer relationship. For those of you who are younger than 50, “whooing” is the courting or dating stage of a relationship.
During this stage of the process, you are building the relationship and trust needed to move forward. The buyer’s journey involves the process of discovery and decision making. There are generally 6 stages to the process and each step is marketed individually. There’s the problem recognition stage; information search stage; alternative evaluation stage; purchase decision stage; purchase and finally post-purchase stage. On average 67% of the buyer’s journey may be done digitally.
Priming the Funnel
With that being said, how do you build a relationship with your buyer? Potential buyers can enter your sales funnel at many different touchpoints. Each one should provide a unique experience within the Prospect Journey. One of the signature programs MarketAtomy offers is what we refer to as Touchpoint Mapping. Touchpoint Mapping is designed to identify every touchpoint a prospect or customer will come in contact with your brand. For example, within the cellular industry, someone who is looking to switch service plans may do preliminary research online to narrow down their choices. Where do you think they may go to find out information to make their decision easier?
They could start with a Google search, right? Depending on how good your SEO efforts are, you could come up as one of the top-ranking sites in Google. If that’s the case, what do you think the prospect’s expectation would be when they click on the Google link to go to your website?
First, they’d expect there to BE a website. First impressions are critical. If the site is not professionally designed and easy to maneuver, they’ll probably go on to the next Google listing. Secondly, they wouldn’t want to have to dig through the site to get the information they are looking for. You want to make sure that the information they are looking for is clearly identified and easy to find from the home page. They would want to know what sets you apart from other providers and what you have to offer right off the bat. They may search for any bad reviews, on Yelp, Google or other review platforms. If that is the case, you want to make sure that any derogatory remarks have been addressed and managed satisfactorily. We all know that you can’t please everyone all of the time. But on those rare occasions when someone feels shortchanged, you don’t want to ignore the situation. You want to address it quickly and positively.
Networking is another area where prospects can have a negative or positive reaction to your brand. The way you present yourself and your company carry a great deal of weight in the eyes of potential prospects.
There are seven tips for building a rapport early on in the prospect journey process.
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Provide Value
First and foremost, demonstrate the value you bring to the buying relationship. Make sure that you understand the problem and that you have the answer they are seeking. It’s important to remember that the act of “selling” is not something that you do to someone, but rather a means for helping them solve a problem. Therefore, make sure that your digital touchpoints meet their expectations.
2. Keep it Real
Don’t try and fit into their mold but rather help them understand why you are the best solution for their problem. In other words, don’t try to be something you aren’t just to close the deal. You’ll lose the client fast and the repercussions may extend to friends and family as well. Let them know how you have solved their problem with other clients as well. A broad-based “we do it all” statement immediately tells the prospect that you are probably a “Jack of all trades but master of none”.
3. Provide a Solution
When working with customers to provide a detailed map of how you will provide a solution to their problem. Put yourself in their shoes, reiterating the issues they have been experiencing in their own words and addressing how you will address them.
4. Provide a Strategy
By addressing the strategy, you are positioning yourself as an expert in what’s causing their frustration. Most people aren’t looking to make a change just because they want a change. They are really seeking out a better alternative to alleviate what is causing them issues.
5. Make a Connection
Connecting with prospects or customers on their level will go a long way in building a relationship that sticks. Keep in mind that they approached you for your expertise. Communicating in a language that is over their head or demeaning will only drive them away. It is for this reason that we say to put yourself in their shoes. Approach every solution from their point of view. What is going through their mind at every touchpoint? What are their expectations?
6. Build Trust
As you build rapport you want to be sure you’re not just providing a solution just for the sake of a paycheck, but rather you genuinely want to help. One of the main components of becoming a customer magnet is understanding the concept of upselling and cross-selling. By taking a personal interest in your prospect or customer you will be able to find opportunities to offer more value for their money. By anticipating their expectations, you can build a package or program that will address present and future pain points.
Let’s look at another example of what I mean. This actually happened to me. As a business owner, my cell phone is my lifeline in my business. More than as a phone, I rely on it to keep me seamlessly connected digitally with my calendar, email, texts and project management. You can imagine the data usage and memory capacity needed. About a year ago I noticed that calls were being dropped, I was missing contact info and I was running out of memory quickly on my phone.
I have always had a pet peeve with anything that wasted my time during the workweek. Therefore, there were three things I could easily dismiss if I could…namely going to the bank, stopping for gas and going grocery shopping. To me, these were a total waste of time even though they sometimes are a necessity. That would probably explain why as a young woman I would find myself stranded on the side of the road because I ran out of gas. I’m digressing here though.
Back to the story about my cell phone…I can officially add “taking my cell phone into my service provider to be fixed” as another pet peeve. After struggling with constant issues with my phone for almost 3 weeks I finally went by my service provider only to find out that my iPhone 6 that I had purchased no more than a year earlier was now outdated and not serviceable. They were now on the iPhone 10! Evidently because of all of the number of SCAM calls I was getting and constantly blocking the numbers I had eaten up the memory in my iPhone 6. What???
After about 45 minutes of the conversation trying to understand why I was not notified that this was an issue because evidently, I’m not the only one to come in with this problem, I ended up upgrading to the iPhone 10.
Where this story is leading is what Tip 7 is all about.
7. Do All This before you ever speak to them
Had my service provider been proactive in meeting my expectations as a customer they would have known that I depended on my phone for business. Having my information in their database they could have reached out to let me know the memory issues the iPhone 6 was displaying and encouraging me to upgrade before I started to have problems.
In the case of a new prospect, it is equally as important to anticipate what the expectation will be at each touchpoint. Putting yourself in the prospect’s shoes at each stage of the buying process is what will set you apart from the competition and build a level of trust that will turn prospects into customers and them into advocates on the back end.
Next in the “Customer Magnet” Series – The Magnetic Field – Creating an Environment That ATTRACTS
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MarketAtomy, LLC is a growth development and eLearning organization for small and medium business owners with one goal in mind…to empower you with the tools and knowledge needed to build your business on a rock-solid foundation. Our patented “Journey Mapping” program designed to build a “Customer Experience” infrastructure within your organization, combines eLearning and monthly Mentoring/Coaching.
Through foresight and fortitude, entrepreneurial dreams become reality. For more information, please visit marketatomy.com
