Creating a Community of Clients

Part 1 of a 5-part Series

This is the first of a five part series on Recession Success.  Look for all five parts to be posted daily this week.  Each topic will build on the next, so be sure not to miss any by subscribing to our RSS feed or email newsletter and free ebook.

Every day you see articles in the paper about this business closing, that business failing and how the state of the economy is killing entrepreneurship and small business in America.  Don’t believe everything you read.  

Journalist are misguided.  People are not refusing to spend money.  Entrepreneurship isn’t dead.  Small businesses are not doomed to fail.  Businesses aren’t failing in this recession-minded economy because people aren’t spending money.  Businesses are failing because people are MORE SELECTIVE about where they spend their money and business owners are sitting on their butts, not doing enough to reach out and grab that business.  Business owners are waiting for the economy to turn or an easy solution, rather than BEING THE SOLUTION THEMSELVES.  This is why they fail.  It is plain and simple, businesses that are failing are not doing enough to reach out and get the business they need.

Every business on the planet should be taking ACTION steps every day to build their community of clients.  A COMMUNITY of clients are the people that you see every day, week or month; the people that are building YOUR business with their hard-earned cash.  If you are not treating these customers as your community, you are missing the mark.  A community attitude breeds loyalty and a growing following.  It creates what Ken Blanchard has coined as “raving fans.”  (He has a great book by the same name.)

In a recession-minded economy you need to understand the importance of treating your clients in a way that they become emotionally-attached to your business.  You need to create a customer experience that meets their needs, both product/service-wise, as well as emotionally.  People want to belong to something special; be a part of something amazing.  Why would they want to “belong” in your business or organization?  The first step is to find out what your customers are saying about your business.  What is working, and, more importantly, where are you failing?  You need to work to understand what your customer’s needs and desires are, beyond just providing them with a product.  Are they looking for a particular experience, more acknowledgement or something else that would have them shop your business more frequently?  What needs do they have that you are not currently meeting?

Next, you need to align your employees on a vision for your service strategy.  What does your sales funnel look like (i.e. What is your customer’s experience from first call/walk-in to sale?)  What kind of follow up and ongoing participation do you have in your client’s lives?  How do you plan to stay connected, related and encourage them to participate?  What kinds of sales/events/specials can you offer to increase repeat business?  You need to create an experience for your customers that is consistently replicated each time they enter your shop or office, as well as when they call you on the phone.  The key to this is creating internal systems that maintain that consistency and making sure that every employee is trained in the protocols.

The final step to creating a community of clients that is energized and passionate (and therefore, buying) is to get them excited about something you are doing.  This happens when you deliver a consistent message and be in communication on a regular basis with them in a variety of ways; this includes getting feedback and LISTENING TO THEM.  Email newsletters are great, but cannot be your only means of communication.  You need to get yourself (or your employees) on the phone and call your customers.  You need to reach out and go the extra mile when you are in relationship with them.

In a recession-minded economy, you must THINK OUT OF THE BOX.  You must do things you have never done before and try a new approach until you find something that works.  When that new approach stops working, toss it out and find your next new approach.

Tomorrow, discover “What is Your Social Capital?”