Are You Scared Of Your Customers?

by Glenn Fisher

He seemed to stay later than anyone else...

What’s he doing, I wondered?

Something dodgy?

Far from it.

Turns out, he was doing something brilliant...

Something that you must do if you really want to succeed in business.

You see, this chap had a regular email, much like Shortcut, in which he gave his advice and opinion on investment matters.

When I asked around and eventually saw the figures, it turned out this chap’s email was making a ton of money.

His readers really enjoyed the emails he sent and they responded by following his advice.

But why?

Sure, the writing was good, the ideas interesting and the advice sound... but that wasn’t the real reason for the emails success.

It really came down to what he was doing when he was staying a bit later than everyone else.

It wasn’t the staying late in itself, but what he was spending that time doing.

He was talking to his customers.

People emailed him and he replied.

You wouldn’t think that sounded very revolutionary; it might sound like common sense.

It is.

Surprisingly a lot of people in business are actually scared of their customers...

Should you be scared of these people?

Are you?

I hope not. And you shouldn’t be.

Because as I said in yesterday’s issue, the customers you do have are the key to your future success.

And as much as possible, you should communicate with them.

By setting aside time to engage his readers one on one, this chap benefited in a number of ways and so did his customers...

First, he got to hear their thoughts.

He didn’t need sit in some meeting with a load of marketing ‘experts’ working out what they ‘thought’ readers might like and what they might want to hear.

Instead, he found out firsthand.

Quickest way to understand what makes your target audience tick?

Ask them.

Now, as well as learning about his customers, there’s the fact that by communicating with them one on one, he earned their trust.

Sadly there’s a lot of fakery out there.

There are a lot of automated emails from rip-off merchants who haven’t written a word themselves for years.

I mean, I got one email from a so called ‘marketing guru’ this morning telling me he was sat in his garden with his laptop enjoying the sun on this warm July day...

Er, mate, it’s February and it’s pretty damn cold outside.

So with all the rubbish out there, when you get that email back from someone who’s genuinely sat there at the other end writing to you...

It means a lot.

When this chap replied to his readers it meant a lot to them too.

And when it came to him selling his product or service his readers would respond because of the trust he’d built up.

Great thing is...

A win-win situation for you and your customers

Both of the factors we’ve explored here benefit your customers too.

They get an opportunity to share their opinion and get what they really want out of your business.

And thanks to the trust you’ve built up with them, they can have confidence in your business.

It’s win-win.

So, start talking to your customers.

Whenever you sell your product or service, ask for feedback. Ask your customer for their thoughts, ask if they think the product or service could be improved and how, ask what they like about it.

If you have a website make sure you’ve got your contact details on there and ask visitors to get in touch.

If you’ve got a regular email, ask your readers questions, ask what they want to know, ask how you can best serve them.

If you write a blog, encourage people to comment with their on thoughts and feelings.

If you want to succeed, get your customers involved.

Of course, there is a negative to all this...

Remember our man up top?

To respond to his readers he had to stay a bit later...

And that’s the thing - to do this, you have to put in a little extra work.

But believe me, the payoff will be more than worth it.

You’ll develop much stronger and longer lasting relationships with your customers and over time that will show itself in the money your business makes.

Best Wishes,

Glenn Fisher
Editor
Shortcut Bulletin

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Are You Scared Of Your Customers?

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