Today it's St Valentine's Day and I know I should have whisked Margaret off to one of the cities of love like Paris, Venice or Rome but I didn't. There is a good reason which is outside of my control.
Instead I want to introduce you to a Jay Abraham idea that I believe all customer focused entrepreneurs should follow - you should fall in love with your clients and customers.
Jay Abraham believes that possibly the biggest mistake you can make is to fall in love with your company and products and not your clients.
It makes you very selfish with a "me, me, me" attitude and you look at everything from the wrong perspective.
You will be asking "how do I increase my sales and persuade people to buy more" when the right question is "What do I need to give prospective customers so they want me, my company and my products?"
Do you see the subtle difference.
The first looks for ways that you can influence your customers and opens up possible ideas of manipulation.
The second approach takes the customers view and focuses on what they want.
Romancing Your Prospective Customers
Do you romance your prospect customers and tease them into wanting more? Or do you go on a blind date and talk about "me, me, me" so much they sneak out of the back door?
Do you start with small commitments, show you care and make sure that they are happy or do you do the equivalent of rushing up to a pretty girl in the bar and begging her to marry you?
Flattery Through Listening
In many ways the most flattering and respectful thing you can do is to listen to a person. People are begging for a "good listening to"
I don't mean paying lip service to "discovering their needs" before going into your standard sales pitch but really listening, empathising and showing that you are interested in and understand their problems and pain.
Show You Care By Acting Sincerely
Discovering a prospect's pain and making it clear to them that they can't go on suffering is an important element of many selling systems but what you do next is critical.
The cynical are ready, willing and eager for the "one night stand" and take advantage of the emotionally vulnerable and desperate and rush in to create desire and action based on false promises.
The romantic relationship builder knows that it is essential to build trust and confidence with "try before you buy" schemes, easy payment terms, strong risk reversal guarantees and a commitment to the long term based on mutual happiness with the relationship.
Keep The Romance Alive
Keep checking that your customer is happy and wherever possible give a little more that they expect.
The biggest reason people say that they stopped buying from one supplier and switched to a rival is because they didn't feel cared for or appreciated.
So keep romancing your current customers through regular communications focused on helping them and not selling yourself.
If the only reason you contact your customers is to pitch more product they will soon get tired of you because they know your focus is "me, me, me."
But become a customer focused entrepreneur where you attention is on their needs, wants, interests and benefits, your customers will love you even more than you love them.
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