This was taken from a private, internal Memo I sent to my team some time ago:
***
“The Old Lady & The Blue Dress”
Margaret, a sixty-seven year old grandmother, walked into her favorite local clothing store excited to make yet another purchase.
After eight years of loyal patronage, and thousands spent on clothes for herself and gifts for her granddaughters and fellow “Canasta Club Ladies”, this would be her last visit.
Armed with her half-off coupon, and ready to spend away, she
proceeded to rummage through the aisles.
Ninety minutes later, and with a cart filled to the brim with three dresses, six shawls, four t-shirts, and a magnificent blue dress she’s been looking forward to buying, she approached the cashier.
“Here you go young lady. Here’s my coupon for today,” Margaret said, reaching out her hand toward the cashier.
“I’m sorry ma’am. That coupon is for new customers only.”
“Yes, but I've been a loyal customer for years here,” retorted Margaret.
“Yes ma’am, and we appreciate that. But this special offer is for new customers only. I’m sorry. You can’t use that,” shot back the cashier.
And with that, out stormed Margaret. Never to return again.
We can all see how foolish that cashier was. Or, how foolish the owner is for having a policy like that in place.
Margaret was a customer. A loyal customer. A valuable customer. And like all customers, Margaret is the lifeblood of that business.
How foolish not to give her the same deal — or an even better deal — as someone just coming in off the street for the first time.
One word: dumb.
As direct response pros, we understand the high costs of acquiring a new customer. We recognize that in any business the most expensive activity is customer acquisition.
We also understand that to effectively build a business, we need to invest heavily and aggressively in acquiring a new customer.
Often, spending more to acquire a new customer than what that customer spends with us during their first visit — what’s called “going negative”.
And, therefore, we also understand the profitability of the business comes from our “backend activity” — the repeat transactions from an existing customer.
Without steady, repeat transactions from existing customers, there is often little profit in a business.
This not only impacts the business’s ability to invest in acquiring more new customers, it impacts every employees pay, benefits, incentives, and the overall culture and workplace environment.
This is why here, at MFA, we live by a Golden Rule: We take care of our customers. We roll out the red carpet for our customers. We treat our
customers like the lifeblood and foundation of our business…
because that’s what they are.
And, the better the customer… the better the treatment.
That doesn’t mean we don’t take care of our new customers.
Of course we do.
But it means that we take extra-special care of our loyal, die-hard customers. We give them special deals. We give them extra incentives. We give them freebies not given to anyone else.
Plain and simple: We make sure they know how special and valuable they are to us. That they’re appreciated. And that we understand they have lots of choices for where to spend their money, but they choose to spend it with us.
Fact is: The first sale is the most difficult sale to make. It requires a lot more effort. Requires a lot more money. And requires a lot more time.
The second sale, with an existing customer, is exponentially easier to make. The third one, even easier. And so on.
However, only if… if… our customers are treated with the respect, appreciation, and care they deserve.
And, we need to live this out in all circumstances. Both private and public.
Recently, I conducted a webinar intended for prospects only. I gave valuable content for about an hour then presented a special offer with extra bonuses for our Six-Figure Funnel Formula training program. Then, I took questions.
During the Q&A portion, an existing client on the call, Bonnie, shot over a message in the little chat box.
She said, “I have the 6FFF and paid a lot more - now I feel I need all these bonuses. Dilemma!”
Now, this was a private chat message. I didn’t have to read it or respond.
Or, I could have simply responded privately that this was a special offer for new customers only. Especially since Bonnie purchased 6FFF back in August of 2014.
Instead, I simply told her to send an email over to support and I would make sure she got the bonuses. And, I said it live on the webinar with all to hear... knowing there could possibly be other clients on the call who would also then ask to be given the extra bonuses.
My thinking?
Good. I hope they do ask. Because it gives us the opportunity to show them how much we value them by giving them the bonuses without asking for any more money.
That’s how we turn average customers into loyal customers. And loyal customers into die-hards. And die-hards into folks who invest in any and every valuable training we offer, sight unseen.
So, next time you’re interacting with a client or customer… anywhere… on any platform (i.e. our support suite, the blog, social media, a live event, etc.)…
remember, each and every one of them should be treated like gold.
***
With that, let's get to this week's goodies...
😍 Enjoy the Memo? Share it with your friends, fans, or followers...
MY FAVS THIS WEEK
- Iceland ran the world's largest trial of a shorter work week. The results will (not) shock you.
As an entrepreneur, I employ people to produce results, outcomes. Nobody is brought aboard just to work a certain amount of hours. Nor is the aim for our team to simply "work hard".
A focus of our Leadership Team is to help our people be as efficient and effective as possible. Sometimes this should include reducing the amount of hours our salaried employees work. - What George Clooney, Dr. Dre, Pitbull, LeBron have in common: Starting their own schools
The audience for information products continues to grow. Training programs and courses are going more and more mainstream. Even celebrities are getting in on the action now. - 6 Photographers Invited to Photograph 1 Man Reveal the Power of Perspective
The power and impact of perspective is greater than most people realize. How you view the world impacts how you see the world. This, a simple photography experiment by Canon, demonstrates this.
“A photograph is shaped more by the person behind the camera than by what's in front of it."
🚨SWIPE OF THE WEEK
My buddy Chris Haddad is one of the best copywriters on the planet when it comes to punch-in-the-gut story-telling.
This week's swipe is a transcript of the "His Secret Obsession" video sales letter.
Pay close attention to the way Chris evokes emotion through the narrative and word choice. It's masterful.
WHAT I'M TELLIN' MY TEAM
This week on our internal Team Marketing Training...
The guys and I discussed a few of the marketing ideas on my "To Test" list.
As I come across novel marketing tactics, hear about something working from one my friends, or think of any off-the-wall strategies, I put them into a spreadsheet in Notion.
(Side note: As a team, we're going all in on Notion this quarter. In a couple of weeks Notion will be our company hub for everything: SOPs, project management, documents, images, company calendar, onboarding training, client tracking, etc.)
Every idea is categorized in one of the following:
Most of the ideas on this list never see the light of day. And that's okay.
I don't prejudge any idea before putting it on the list. If I think an idea has even some potential I'll save it.
I then review this list monthly. And try to bring the best ideas to the team quarterly.
And, in most cases, I leave it up to the team to choose the ideas they want to act on, if any.
For the most part, what all of these ideas have in common is differentiation. I'm always on the lookout for new and different tactical ways of executing on proven marketing strategies.
🤦🏻♀️ "Are you not getting these? CRAZY!"
Get the full unedited recordings of Todd's INTERNAL Marketing Team Trainings every week. See and hear everything Todd shares with this team -- every conversion tactic, copy hack, AOV booster, hook method, and more!
MY ADVICE
A question posted inside the E5 Nation Facebook Group...
Below is a superb response from Michael Drummond, our Lead E5 Coach:
***
NOTE: If you're not in the E5 Nation Facebook Group with us yet, you're missing out on the opportunity to have me answer your questions. Not too mention, some killer content and live streams only shared inside the Group.
Go here and join us inside the E5 Nation Group (it's FREE!).
ROCKSTAR RESOURCE
Apps which turn text into audio are nothing new.
But, I've never embraced any because I find most to have awkward, robotic-sounding voices.
Until now.
Speechify's premium version comes with the cleanest, most realistic sounding narrators I've come across. They even have an option to have your text read to you by actress, Gwyneth Paltrow.
I'm enjoying it. And using both the desktop and mobile versions.
PIC OF THE WEEK
Rescuing Carly, our one-year old miniature pinscher, was largely my younger daughter's idea.
Gabby saw her picture online and felt Carly would add some spice to the family during the lockdown.
Turns out... Gabby was right.
Carly is a spitfire, a handful. And a bit of a bully to Oreo, our Pit. But, she's also adorable and loving.
Here, as Gabby was grabbing some sun in the pool in our backyard, Carly was snoozing right next to her.
It was cute... while it lasted.
I believe just a minute later Carly was frantically jumping around barking at some random birds outside our gate.
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