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Quickstart - How To Develop Advocacy Marketing
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MAKE SOMEONE'S DAY! - The Quickstart community grows through word of mouth and word of mouse and for that I thank you. Why not pass this copy on to other consultants you know or suggest they go to www.OneStepFurther.co.uk
Quickstart
Grow a Profitable Consultancy and Still Have Time for a Life
In this issue
Note from Beverley - In Response To...
One Step Further - How To Develop Advocacy Marketing
Personal Reflections - Removing Barriers To Entry - or Not!
Note from Beverley
From your many replies to the "Quickstart Value or Not?" question I have decided to send out the newsletter every 2 weeks rather than every week and in the new year I will be starting a blog. Quickstart will continue in its current form until then and I am delighted that what you describe as being of value is what I enjoy delivering. I have had requests for more "What's Out There?" info so that part of Quickstart will reappear with me acting as your "personal google".
What else would you like? As for the blog - well I've got my thinking cap on!
The next Quickstart edition will be on Tuesday 14 November. Why not look back and review some of the Past Issues and receommend to your friends and colleagues that they sign up?
Have a good week.
Beverley
bev@onestepfurther.co.uk
www.onestepfurther.co.uk
+44 (0) 1344 625713
One Step Further
"Research shows today's wired customer relies heavily on information from peers, rather than traditional media sources or from the seller, itself. This means that in order to attract quality suspects... you must find ways to spread positive word of mouth through current customers and supporters." Jill Griffin
The power of word of mouth marketing should not be underestimated; whether you are a sole trader consultant or a global corporation. Loyal fans, long term advocates and "sneezers" if nurtured, can be a key way to leverage more of the same. So how can you turn customers into your most loyal advocates? You must start with gaining their loyalty. Here are 5 loyalty building starter strategies.
Strategy 1 - Put Service ahead of Selling
Whether business customers or consumers, people want something that is of value to them. Constantly understanding, checking and reviewing exactly what your customers want and delivering it in the way that they want it, is what will distinguish you from the "same as" crowd and may even determine the length of time you are in business.
Many people don't like being sold to and so when they are ready to buy, help them do so by delivering great service. Make them feel valued. Let them know you appreciate their business and ask, "How else may I help?" Exceed their expectations when you can and give them something to remember you by which they did not expect - that's what they will tell other people.
Strategy 2 - Get fanatical about how your customer defines value
Value is the main key to ongoing loyalty. Become obsessive about knowing!
What, how, when, where and why are the key questions to ask and ask repeatedly. Different customers may define value in different ways; they may see value in different ways and you then have a choice, based on what you learn, as to what and how you start to or continue to deliver the value they want. Again how well you do this will be a key factor in the loyalty of that customer and their propensity to recommend you.
Strategy 3 - Engage Your Ideal Clients through Multiple Channels
There is much evidence to suggest that if you engage your current and potential customers through multiple channels, their loyalty will be greater than if you simply engage through a single channel. The key factors here are constancy and consistency. Engage them often and let them experience the same value through whatever channel they come to you.
Discrepancies of value will detract and are more likely to turn people away. So if you send out a newsletter, distribute letters and have a website, consistency of branding, value and services levels should be equal; let yourself down in one area and you immediately knock the loyalty effect.
Strategy 4 - Create Alliances
Share, collaborate and innovate with other people and organisations that serve your ideal clients. You can do it all yourself but you will often be able to increase the value you offer your clients through developing joint ventures or alliances. The loyalty effect here is doubled - for you and for your partners. This means admitting you don't have all the answers, looking for innovative ways to add further value for your clients and being open to new approaches from others who want to do the same.
Strategy 5 - Be Reliable, Stay Responsive
Reliability and responsiveness are closely linked to a customer's perception of good service. The increase in electronic channels has changed people's baseline perception of speed to market. The fast pace of global business means that making a customer wait can be a barrier for prospective suppliers and therefore your value proposition for many (not all) clients needs to have a speed to market or speed to service element - whilst at the same time maintaining the integrity of your proposition.
"Do what you do so well that they will want to see it again and bring their friends." Walt Disney
Personal Reflections
I drove up to Cambridgeshire last Thursday to attend an event organised by Supply2Gov
"Supply2.gov.uk is a dynamic new government backed service designed specifically to give companies easy access to lower value contract opportunities (typically worth under £100,000) offered by the public sector. This portal brings buyers and suppliers together for the first time and is the first portal of call for lower value business opportunities."
On the surface it seems like a great resource; a portal where SMEs can bid for public sector contracts of under £100k value.
However...
In the presentation, which was only for suppliers (there had been a buyer event in the morning), the focus was very much on the website and its benefits rather than on what most people wanted to know "what, how, where, who" in terms of contracts and buyer process. I'm not quite sure why they didn't combine the supplier and buyer sessions - we could have had great conversations and discussion!
One of the presenters started off talking about how they were trying to remove barriers to entry and reduce bureaucracy for SMES (always a good thing) and then told us about a pre qualification questionnaire that as suppliers we would have to complete before bidding for any contract. This is 6 pages (down from @42) and consists mainly of company details and polices you have in place for health and safety, diversity, environment, quality etc. When I suggested that many sole traders or companies with under 5 people don't have or indeed need these polices the reply astounded me. "Well it's really only a tick box exercise!" Well I nearly lost my cool.
On the one hand he was talking about removing barriers to entry and bureaucracy and then proceeded to demonstrate how they are in fact perpetuating that very thing - process for process sake. Why have forms that ask for stuff if it is not really needed? Why ask for stuff for the sake of it? Either the policies are of value and are absolutely needed for the contract or they are not - in which case remove them.
Thousands of pounds have been spent on this portal and yet the fundamentals of keeping it simple, creating ease of use and simplicity of process are lost in the administrative and political correctness of form filling. What was also interesting was that when they asked the room of nearly 200 people who had won a contract via the portal the answer was zero. What a surprise.
Such a shame as in principle the idea is really good. You might find some value from the portal and in fairness they are keen to be of help so why not check it out at www.supply2gov.co.uk it’s free to register.
Best Regards
Bev
bev@onestepfurther.co.uk
www.onestepfurther.co.uk |
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