Giving & Gifting Your Way To Success-Part 2
December 17th, 2020 // 2:17 pm @ Scott Manning
It’s Christmastime and there’s no time to waste. I’m going to jump right into it and cut to the chase…
Actually, there should never be any time to waste because it’s the one thing that you can’t get back and every minute gone is a moment you won’t see again. It’s important to make the most of all of them – not always or necessarily from a “productivity” standpoint but instead from a perspective of significance.
And that leads us straight back into the conversation of give before you get concept with your customers, clients, and patients.
First and foremost, I operate from the position that it is your responsibility both to the customer and to your business to maximize and make the most of every single customer that you have the opportunity and great privilege to serve.
That is the bottom line and when it is done with integrity and principles, every customer gets what they truly deserve from your business – your very best.
Second, I also consider every customer, client, and patient a relationship not a transaction (though if you don’t do right by the relationship you will miss out on the transaction, all the same).
Therefore, it is on these two premises I have long taught and presented here that you must do everything possible to give your customers a better chance at buying – before they are faced with a purchase decision. You certainly can’t wait until after to either try to convince them or to give them the good stuff – it will be too late.
Last week, I correlated this to “giving before receiving” since it is that time of the year. Today, here are some very clear reminders about how this comes to life and what exactly you should give your customers before you ask for more or expect anything else (including their trust).
I’d like to break it down into four parts: The Conceptual, The Tangible, The Tactical, and The Psychological.
Here we go, give to your customers first…
The conceptual idea of giving customers what they need in advance is built around the information and education, the verbiage and positioning of making them feel like they have made a great decision before they have technically made their decision.
I also encourage that you say things like, “our customers come to us for…” as you layout what people are in search of and how you offer solutions to this.
I see it all the time. Businesses try to talk people out of their money instead of talking them into wanting what’s best for themselves.
The only way to do this is to engage, ask questions, and listen (even if that is a survey form online or a chat box or anything else).
You want to set your customers up for success by understanding what they want and by laying out clearly defined expectations while at the same time upgrading their perspective and vision of what your best customers would be thinking.
The tangible is very simple. You want to give customers all the things you would expect… testimonials in every form of media, educational videos, case studies, examples, and inspiring stories that showcase what the best customers get as a result of being with you. You want to ‘sell them’ in advance of needing to sell them by giving them proof of other people and by making your process truly experiential.
Most businesses are in the justification game after someone has already decided, “it’s too expensive” or “I want to think about it” or “I’m not sure I need this anymore” and then we play defense instead of providing materials that go on offense in order to build up the customer’s value in advance.
The tactical I want you to think about is rewarding good behavior. For every positive step a customer takes from their first point of contact, what can you do to acknowledge their progression. Like a mouse in maze finding a piece of cheese. You want to design a sales process where naturally one thing leads to another and, like a game board, they just want to keep going.
This is the idea of giving them the next thing to do or read or learn or sometimes even a first smaller purchase that leads to greater and greater purchases.
These are the tactics and strategies that you have to think through from the eyes of the customers mirrored with the objectives you have to wherever it is you want them to end up.
For the psychological, the entire point is that you don’t look desperate because it’s not a rush to the sale because you aren’t chasing the quick dollar. You are letting the customer and the ‘sale’ develop but not by chance, very deliberately and with great intention. You build trust and prove your integrity, traits we all look for in people we work with.
The other big point is the law of reciprocity where the customer feels cared for and given something in advance of feeling they have earned it by paying for it. This is going above and beyond expectations – something you already do. They will be appreciative and automatically want to say ‘thank you’ by taking the next step.
These four core principles go together and they also should be looked at not just at the inception of a prospect or the initial sale but also between every step and for each type of customer.
Again, the idea is what can you do before and how can you gift and give the customer motivation, incentive, and value that leads them down the path to purchase with them moving willingly along.
And once you do all of that you will not only have created a better and more valuable customer, you will have converted a whole lot more of them into your “A” customer from the onset and that leads to more profit, more referrals, more satisfaction, more loyalty, and more trust.
When you fully implement your genuine approach to relationships and giving first to your customers, it will result in you having the ultimate gift that keeps on giving. As Zig Ziglar said, “You can have everything in life you want, if you will just help other people get what they want.”
Category : Blog
