Have you ever stopped to think about how much “everything matters” to you in your job, your workplace and even your personal life? Have you thought about how much effort you put in, and what this effort reaps, versus the effort applied by those around you?
I look around the clients and companies I come in contact with on a daily basis, I am constantly enthralled by the enormous chasm between the two key types of people that I come across:
1) There are those to whom nothing matters at all. People who pass the time at work, and in the other parts of their lives muddling through the varying and various priorities that lie before them without much sense of urgency. Bridging the time adequately between each weekend enough to justify and satisfy their existence.
2) And there are those to whom everything matters. People who take care of every detail and manage every priority with ultimate diligence and plenty of urgency. Who worry about the outcomes and carry the weights of responsbility on their shoulders.
I am told often that neither type of person is “right” or “wrong” in their approach, but there is certainly some elements we need to understand the value of in client-facing roles.
The person to whom nothing matters is usually very happy with their low-responsibility low-concern existence and style and fails to see why the person to whom “everything matters” makes such a feast of every task and activity. And the person to whom everything matters simply cannot understand why their hyper-relaxed peers arent affording their challenges the energy they think they need nor taking their deadlines seriously. And unless we take the time to consider the other’s communication style we will rarely bridge the gap and instead spend plenty of time hollering at each other in frustration.
But in Marketing, both internally within a firm and externally to clients there is a few important elements of an everything matters approach that cannot be denied. It is clearly something that clients want to see from their service providers. Lets look at how:
a) Everything Matters people attract new clients easily. Many clients love the passionate approach of an Everything Matters person. Clients are clearly invigorated by the energy that these people pour into everything they do, and enraptured by the results these people can achieve.
b) Everything Matters people make their clients feel important, which let’s face it, is critical to a client wanting to work with you team. A client wants to feel like they are the only thing that matters to you and your team.
c) Everything Matters people are reliable, striving hard to achieve deadlines with loyalty and responsibility to both their peers and their clients. A Client can be fairly sure that their priorities will be achieved by an Everything Matters Person, and left in no doubt of their dependability.
d) An Everything Matters person often provides a more satisfactory customer experience, meeting client deadlines, and taking obligations more seriously that their nothing matters counterparts.
e) Everything Matters people to drive staff communications and internal marketing programs extremely well. Every single employee in a company likes to feel like they are a part of something that they are in the business to work with others and be a part of the collective effort to make a positive contribution. The Everything Matters Manager recognises this need and engages well with their team. Every little communication matters to them.
So take another look at your team, and understand the dynamics needed to build rapport with clients, attract new work ensure great customer experiences, and be sure to reward those in your business who step up and make every little thing matter.
Your customers simply wouldn’t be your customers without them.
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The Stretch team are happy to announce that the new Stretch Marketing website is now live at www.stretchmarketing.com.au. Let us know what you think.
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A Celebration for Every Customer
Do you celebrate your customers and clients publicly? Do you make them feel part of your tribe? Do you make them feel like they are making the right decision with their time and money when they choose to be involved with your business?
As a customer I buy products and services for a range of reasons. Given the choice, when I spend my money on a product or service:
So whether I buy a shirt, a house or a professional service, these three things can be examined and applied to consider how I should value my purchase and help me select a provider, but also, they can be used to drive me to gain a connection with a business, one that I am going to refer and return to time and time again.
I went to the Apple Store today to buy a computer. I walked into the only Brisbane store to find a 300m2 space crammed with people. The vibe was hot, full of people lusting after technology, gathering trying and buying new tools and toys. But there was one thing that stopped me in my tracks. Mid way through my purchase process, which was fairly un-exciting, everyone stopped what they were doing all over the store, literally hundreds of people, and started applauding with vigour. The whole store erupted into cheers. The person two tables away had bought their first Mac and to Apple it was well worthy of a celebration. The staff were visibly elated and the customers were looking around with the joy of being a part of a special moment in someone’s life. It is an apple tradition to celebrate people joining their “tribe” or community. And this celebratory cheering for joining their clan is one of the simplest yet finest demonstrations of “tribe marketing” I have ever seen.
A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea. Tribe Marketing is another term for building a community around your product or service. For making your customers feel like they are a part of something special. After all, the most important thing in your customer’s experience is how it makes them feel and how strong the after-effects of that feeling are to compel them to buy again or refer you and your product or service to those who can buy in the future.
Back in the Apple store, just minutes later, it happened again, with the room cheering in celebration and continuing to do so more than six times during the ten or fifteen minutes I was instore, each due to the purchase of a mac or ipad by a “first time” Apple buyer. It made me, as a customer feel good to watch this ceremony of celebration, and it certainly made me feel confident that I was making the right decision when I purchased their products minutes later. “I” was a part of their tribe… and that feeling of belonging was wonderfully reassuring.
But how many businesses take this approach? How many make their clients or customers feel good for choosing to work with them? And how can we do this more effectively in our locally relevant services firms?
It was certainly inspiring to watch Apple create such a vibrant “feeling” in this small room in humble Queensland, but when you see the vibe in the room, you can completely understand why they have people crowding rooms all over the world begging to buy their products.
Think about how you can do the same on a scale that is relevant for your business.