What does a loyal customer look like to you? … Why are most of your customers not considered in that category?
It may be a long way off, and let me know if I am, but if you are like most business people I know, your drive comes from knowing with every fiber of your being that what you sell or the service you provide has the potential de really makes the life of your ideal client that much better. You will probably even proselytize it whenever you get the chance.
So what’s up?
Why does it feel like you are the crazy preacher on the sidewalk standing in the square in the milk carton, pleading with the people to listen to you so that you can help them find their salvation, only to have them laugh or worse yet, completely ignore you?
My friend, you may have the keys to your salvation, but the fact is, you haven’t connected with your client about what is really important to them.
The difference is subtle, but significant.
I guess the way you talk about what you do is focused on everything you do and what you provide, and not enough about your potential customer, their view of their problem, and the solution to their burden.
To make your clients love you, you have to become the Gamgee, more specifically, be like Samwise Gamgee from the Lord of the Rings.
If you’ve seen the movies, you might remember the scene in Return of the King where after Frodo destroys the ring, the remaining members of the fellowship (read: everyone except Boromir) gather in Rivendale. Frodo, recovering from his injuries, awakens to find Gandalph at the foot of his bed, then the others enter the room.
Frodo is really happy to see everyone … and then Samwise walks in. They look at each other and it shows, it is different. There is an unspoken feeling that only they share. (You can see the scene on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/wgtMW38vsUs)
For a while, I struggled to identify the emotion in this scene. What was he seeing and why was Frodo looking at Samwise that way? Why did it make me feel a series of emotions that I couldn’t adequately describe or even understand?
Then it hit me … I wasn’t seeing an emotion, I was seeing love, deep connection, intimacy and appreciation. This scene is perhaps the most shocking of the entire trilogy (although how it was portrayed is often mocked … My theory is that it’s because the scene makes people emotionally uncomfortable).
But how did Frodo come to love Samwise so deeply?
It is simple. He was there, he was with Frodo the entire trip, and he never let him give in to despair.
How does this relate to you and your business?
Realize that you are, or rather should be, Samwise Gamgee.
Like Frodo, your client has his own specific burden … They have a problem, something that they must strive to achieve in order to bring more control, balance, or benefit to their lives.
Sure, that burden may be similar to what others experience (and hopefully otherwise your business may not have a viable market), but for the individual customer, their burden, the circumstances, and the emotions involved are completely his.
Like Samwise, you cannot wear your client’s “ring”, that is, you cannot force the effort that your client must put in to achieve their goal. But you can assure them that you are there to ease their path to achievement; is there to offer encouragement and support; you are there to anticipate where obstacles may get in the way and help them overcome them.
Samwise loved Frodo, and he showed it by accepting that it was not he who should bear the burden of destroying the ring, but by offering help, work, skill, advice, and encouragement, and kept Frodo focused on the truth that it exists. good in this world, and worth fighting for.
It should be your goal to show the same to your customers – to keep them focused on the good they want to bring into their lives and how your product, and more importantly, a relationship with your business, will help them on their journey to achievement. .
There is a surefire way to do that, and I am here to help you learn it.
If you want a practical, simple and effective method of getting your customers to love you, then I can help.
I can show you exactly how to engage with your clients, how to ask the right questions to find out what they are specifically trying to accomplish: what is their “ring”, how to plan for the challenges they face throughout their journey. and how to make it clear that you are with them every step of the way.
If you want your customers to love you, to be loyal to you … If you want your impact and connection to be deep and inexplicable, stay tuned for more articles on what you can do to make your customers love you.