Category Archives: 4- Thursday – Infinity Customers

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Episode #510 – Your Tribe Is Your Best Sales Team.

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“Your client satisfaction is a direct reflection of your client experience.”

Thursday: Infinity Customers

You’ve heard this before, but I’m going to use it as the topic for today.  Collect reviews.

Our marina just “iced over” last Saturday, that means the lake froze.  So it’s kind of a depressing 6 months until the ice melts.  Well… depressing if you hate snow, cold, frozen, everything!  Those that like winter are pretty excited.

They are odd. 🙂

We are often asked, “what do you do at a marina in the winter?” Well… we’re actually really busy.  We are wrapping up the season by making sure that the boats are winterized… but the fun thing is that we are gearing up for summer!

This starts in January (haha) well, it kind of does, the Boat Show is in January and that gets people excited for the upcoming season.  And that’s what we’re doing right now. We’re getting some of our promotional materials ready to go!

Last year we used Shutterfly to make a very nice picture book.  So there’s tip one for today, make a photo book!  It’s a great way to have something for people to flip through at a trade show.

However, last week we had a fun idea.

Let’s see if we can get a Testimonial from someone… anyone.  Today we started reading the words of our customers.

OH MY.  It’s is really fun to read the wonderful things they have said about our staff, services, and facilities.

I’m going to highly recommend this!  This is the first “real” time we’ve ever tried to get testimonials… In addition to words, the customers have submitted photos.  It’s making this book come to life!

Sure, it’s nice to see photos of the boats.  But, when you read the customers stories and see their photos, wow. We are so thankful that they took the time to share these wonderful memories.

So that’s tip two… actively seek the help of your current customers, which should be your tribe, to help you explain the benefit of your offerings.

Be specific.  Know what you are looking for before you ask.

If you are collecting information for a specific product/service, ask the customers with the most first hand knowledge.  Send them an email or pick up the phone and call them. But do not do a generic or blanket request.  You are asking for targeted information and help. Your tribe will help, but be specific and grateful.

You will love the results.

 

#doinginfinity

Tomorrow… come back for my episode on “Try This”!
PS:  Like my vibe? I want you to join my tribe! Begin with my quick and simple guide to understanding the 5C’s of the Infinity Marketing Machine.  I call it #doinginfinity.  Click Here and I’ll email you a FREE download.

Infinitypreneur.com

Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!
Sunday – Week in Review

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ProfitCenterCoach.com – Episode 505 – Making Your Customer Wait is a Good Thing.

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It’s what you look forward to that best drives you forward. – Tony Curl

Friday: Big Money Small Change

I was looking through my phone for today’s topic for small changes you can implement now at your business.

The biggest thing????

Anticipation.

Did you ever have an old Polaroid camera… you’d snap the photo and then put the photo on the counter and wait… wait… wait and after about 90 seconds you could see your image?!?  There was something magical about the waiting.

This type of waiting is a good thing… it makes you bond with the “thing”.  (that’s my technical term) haha.

But it’s true.  You spend your time waiting so you’ve already invested a piece of you in the process.

Therefore, build anticipation with everything you do.  It’s going to help build loyalty.  I like to say “it’s part of the show” — now, this may seem difficult, but it can be very simple.

Last year before the Boat Show started I needed to make an “in person” stop to pay for the weekly parking permit.  The arena was alive with activity… I found the location of our booth space and took a picture, then marked up the photo with “Our Booth #1418 Coming Soon”

Our customers, along with most Minnesotans fighting cabin fever, love to visit the boat show and think of summer.

But it’s more fun to see the show before it’s set up, it’s a “behind the scenes” view… it’s a great way to connect on your Facebook page… and it builds anticipation!

You can do this when a new shipment of products arrive, just snap a picture of the shipping containers and a “guess what arrived” note.

These things are so simple, and they go a long way toward building loyalty!

One final example is a brand new iPhone.

Do you think Apple is incompetent that their box opens so slow?  OR, brilliant because it drives you nutz!  You just bought a cool new phone and you really want to see it, but it takes an extra 9 seconds for the bottom and top of the box to separate.

New Phone Day is the BEST DAY EVER!

So look to ways to build anticipation, you have them, so might as well use them!

#doinginfinity

Tomorrow… come back for my episode on “Try This”!
PS:  Like my vibe? I want you to join my tribe! start here! 

Infinitypreneur.com

Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!
Sunday – Week in Review

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Episode 504 – Quit Advertising, Throw A Party Instead.

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“Inviting people into your home is about them, and not you. . . “

When I’m creating marketing ideas the easy way to come up with the best ideas is to consider the customer as a guest.

Sometimes this is a tough leap to make… depending on your crowd… but when you visualize the customer in your house you get a completely different perspective on how to interact with them.

For example… if you invite someone to your home, and they show up, you invite them in.  I mean how rude would it be to leave them on the porch?!

Same for your business.  Every piece of advertising you create is an invitation to visit your “home” a.k.a. your business.

That means… when they show up, treat them well!  Make sure your store/or office front is clean, welcoming, and that you are happy to see them!

Remember, you INVITED them.

See the difference?  If you look at marketing/advertising as your way to INVITE people it’s completely different from placing an ad or writing a post.

I’ve spent a lot of time on this particular topic… because I really, really like it.  I created a mini-series.  The first of a three part series on the way to becoming a tribeologist!

Yes… how cool is that.

We start with the marketing party system, move to the mini-infinity, then complete pre-tribe.  These three things are going to transform your business, easily, into it’s own Infinity Marketing Machine – based on the concept of building a loyal tribe that knows, likes, and trusts you!

But it all starts with an invitation to your party.  The marketing that brings them in the door.

If you want to learn more… just click here.

Let’s throw a party and create our tribe!

#doinginfinity

Tomorrow… come back for my episode on “Big Money Small Change”!
PS:  Like my vibe? I want you to join my tribe! start here! 

Infinitypreneur.com

 

Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!
Sunday – Week in Review

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Episode 498 – Get a Room!

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“There’s always room for improvement. Get a room.”

Thursday: Infinity Customers

It’s always risky naming a post “Get a Room” but when we look at today’s inspiration it all makes sense.

When we are building a tribe you’ve got to speak to them… HA!  I’ve now jumped from “Get a Room” to speaking about your tribe.  It’s getting a little strange at my keyboard.  Then again, I did write this on Halloween night.

OK. Back to normal.

Each Thursday our main goal is to learn how to better connect with our customers and turn them into a loyal tribe… to do this we need to speak their language… and this means we need to become the “vibe behind our tribe”

You need to be this person.  You must be the Leader.

Today’s inspiration states there’s always room for improvement – thus “get a room” meaning… always improve.

So Halloween at Noon I was at Subway and it hit me.  Carving Pineapples.

WTF is she talking about now.

Well… I have a site on the back burner which I’m currently cultivating.  It’s called Pineapples In Progress.  You see… I’ve always felt that there are times in life you need a crown.  I mean… doesn’t vacuuming just sound TOTALLY better if you’re wearing a sparkle crown?

That idea became a solid “run with it” idea when I came across the mantra “Be a Pineapple… Stand Tall, Wear a Crown, and Be Sweet on the Inside”  However, let’s face facts, not every day we’re feeling “pineapplely” – and that’s why, vacuuming while wearing a crown, just might make you feel a whole lot better.

Back to carving pineapples.

I was at Subway and getting ready to post my PineapplesInProgress.com Midweek Motivation – when it hit me.  The one I was going to post was a normal inspiration and THIS WAS HALLOWEEN.  I just wonder if anyone has ever tried to carve a pineapple like a pumpkin…

Sure enough I found a photo!  A very cool photo… and then it hit me.

You cannot carve pineapples.  It’s like trying to fit into a crowd by imitating… and yet you can be a good pineapple that imitates a pumpkin BUT you’ll never be a pumpkin.

BOOM.

Inspiration: “Somedays I feel like a lost puzzle piece tryin to find where I fit in this world.

I LOVE THIS.  I totally “got a room” and ran with it.

My only problem was… how do I share it with YOU.  I had already posted my Midweek Motivation for here… but I really wanted you to see it.

So there you go.  When you are building your tribe, really go deep into the vibe, and love them.  You just might find out that “carving a pineapple” is magic!

Be the vibe behind your tribe.

Also… never be afraid to run with a last minute idea… “Get a Room”!

 

#doinginfinity

Tomorrow… come back for my episode on “Big Money Small Change”!
PS:  Like my vibe? I want you to join my tribe! start here! 

Infinitypreneur.com

Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!
Sunday – Week in Review

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Episode 492 – Would You SnapChat with a 90 Year Old?

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“Communication is at the heart of e-commerce and community.” -Meg Whitman

Thursday: Infinity Customers

At our marina we have six generations of customers.  Now, we’ve only been in business 58 years so how can we have six generations of customers?

It means we have customers from age 8 to 90+!  Sometimes we have all of them on the same day.  We have our Greatest Generation, Lost Generation, Baby Boomers, Gen X, Millennial, iGen, and the unnamed newest generation… oops, guess that might be 7 generations!

Sometimes our youngest customers come in on a jet ski and buy candy while our slip or rental customers are much much older.

Why does this matter?

Here’s why… I’m in my 40s and the big thing growing up was talking on the phone.  For about the last 10 years texting has been the big deal.  Watch any teen/20 something and you’ll see just how fast they can text… some can still do it on a “flip phone”!  However, these same people have really really bad phone skills.

Don’t even try to talk to some of them in person… it is like talking to a space alien!

Back to my previous question, why does this matter?

It matters because to create an Infinity Customer you must be able to communicate.  This is why today’s inspiration is so awesome, and simple.  Communication is the heart of ecommerce AND community.  It’s not coding… it’s communication.  It’s not one or the other… it’s both.  To build your community and build your ecommerce you must COMMUNICATE.

Now… to communicate with 6 (or 7) generations you need to figure out how they communicate.  It would be rare for a 90 year old to use Snap Chat, but it would also be rare to find a teenager who prefers to receive a phone call.

I’m mentioning this because earlier this week one of my crew members was trying to contact area businesses.  She visited their websites.  She found 5 that did not list an email address.

My pet peeve used to be when you visited a business website and found an email with a  gmail or yahoo domain.  It’s so easy to get a custom domain for email that it’s a “must do” – – but now it appears to be a trend to fail to list an email at all on a website!

Remember today’s inspiration… communication is key… COMMUNICATION.

Be willing to communicate how your customer wants to communicate, not how you want to.  This is such a fundamental building block that I almost didn’t use it as a blog topic, but then I thought, “if 5 of 20 on our list did not have an email on their website… maybe my tribe needs a friendly reminder, too”

Include an email on your website. Its a polite courtesy for your customers, soon to be tribe members.

#doinginfinity

Tomorrow… come back for my episode on “Big Money Small Change”!
PS:  Like my vibe? I want you to join my tribe! start here! 

Infinitypreneur.com

 

Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!
Sunday – Week in Review

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Episode 486 – Will Knows Best!

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“Don’t chase people. Instead, be yourself. Do your own thing and work hard. The right people – those that really belong in your life – will come to you and stay.” Will Smith

Thursday: Infinity Customer

Question:  What’s the best way to create a tribe of Infinity Customers?

Answer: Today’s Inspiration.

1) Don’t chase people.
2) Be Yourself.
3) Do your own thing.
4) Work Hard.
RESULT: The “right” people will those that REALLY belong in your life (tribe) will come to you and stay!

Thank you Will Smith!

People are attracted TO you.  Otherwise you become the “close talker” at the party that stuffs your business card in their pocket… you end up chasing them.  (and they run faster away from you… haha)

You want to attract people.  You want to attract customers.  You do this by being yourself and doing your own thing.  I love that you are here to read my post.  But if it annoys you that I write short paragraphs… use dot dot dot’s… and write conversation style.  Eventually, I’ll annoy you.

However… If you like my style, you’ll hang out, come back, and stay for a long time.

To transform a customer into an Infinity Customer. You need to make them want to stay.  This is accomplished by respecting them with information they desire that provides them insight in to YOU and makes them know, like, and trust you.

When this happens – they’ll stick around!  That’s the goal, create a tribe that wants to do business with you.

Let’s learn from Will!

#doinginfinity

Tomorrow… come back for my episode on “Big Money Small Change”!
PS:  Like my vibe? I want you to join my tribe! start here! 

Infinitypreneur.com

Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!
Sunday – Week in Review

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Episode 480 – Do These Three Things to Build Your Brand Strength.

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“Stop promoting your business and start promoting your brand.”

Thursday: Infinity Customer

When you think of a Cheetah, what comes to mind?  Yes – the pattern of it’s coat.  Now imagine a Zebra, or a Giraffe, How about a Cow… then a Dalmatian?  The cow and dalmatian both have spots, yet if you see a photo of just the coats, you can tell the difference!

This is a great way to think about your brand.

Think about how the coat defines the animal… now, what “coat” defines your business?

Your brand is not a logo, but your logo represents your brand.  The brand is the feeling you evoke with your customers.

The better your customers relate or identify with your brand, the more loyal they become and that results in the transformation of customers to tribe.

So… you need to define what your brand is because if you don’t your customers will!

I want you to take a moment to define these three things to help you build that basic foundation for your brand.

1) Target Audience – who is your target audience. Get specific. Come up with an ideal customer profile.  Do this for each profit center in your business.  It helps to get very specific.

2)  Unique Selling Proposition (USP) – What is the one thing you do better than your competition.  OK, you may have more than one or there may be one for each profit center.  But it’s important to define this so you can promote it.  For example, our winter boat storage is scheduled on our customers agenda.  Many of our competitors tell the customer when their reservation date is, we let the customer decide.  This is a USP.

3) Live Up to It – If you show photos of a brand new hotel room and customers show up to find a dingy worn out room you are not living up to your brand.  If you say you do something you must follow through… OTHERWISE your brand becomes dishonest and that’s a huge problem.

Today, as you build your Infinity Marketing Machine, really focus on your tribe building skills by jotting down your answers in the three categories.  It’s critical to help you focus your messaging which attracts customers that stick around a long time!

#doinginfinity

Tomorrow… come back for my episode on “Big Money Small Change”!
PS:  Like my vibe? I want you to join my tribe! start here! 

 

Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!
Sunday – Week in Review

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Episode #474 – Create Your Own Closed Market of Customers

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“Chase your Customer, not your Competition.”

Thursday: Infinity Customer

How do you chase something you can’t find?  We’re quickly approaching hunting season.  In Minnesota this is a big deal. We have duck season, deer, and a bunch others… I’m not a hunter but it’s big.

If you’re hunting… you clearly go where your animal is… whether it’s an open field, in a marsh, or in the woods, your animal has a habitat.  It makes sense to go hang out where they are.

Well… we in advertising we use to have a pretty easy time finding our field, marsh, or woods.  It was easy to place an ad in the Sunday paper, the phone book, or on the radio.

But then the internet happened.

Now we could place an ad on many websites, our own website, or even in the newspaper.  It’s very noisy and there are tons of places to put an ad.  When we actually pay money for an ad it’s likely that our competitors are doing the same thing.

Wouldn’t it be better to have a closed market where we’re the only ad?

YES!

The Infinity Marketing Machine allows us to create our own closed market!  We have a great group of customers in a location we can find them!  We communicate with them, build trust, and increase sales.

It puts us into a position of strength.  We no longer are reactive to what our competition is doing and instead gives us the opportunity to bond with our customers.

#doinginfinity

Tomorrow… come back for my episode on “Big Money Small Change”!
PS:  Like my vibe? I want you to join my tribe! start here! 

 

Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!
Sunday – Week in Review

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Episode 468 – Calling all Chocolate Chip Cookie Lovers!

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“You pick who you want to struggle with”

Thursday: Infinity Customer

Beep Beep – struggle bus just pulled up!  All aboard.

Can I say, “all aboard” for a bus or is that just for a train?  Hummmm something to ponder (and distract me).

Do you ever feel like you have an all access pass to the struggle bus with your customers.  I’ll bet there are a few that you have which take up a great deal of your time. OR better yet, you see them walking in, or their number pops up on your phone, and you shrug.

Guess what?

You picked them.

Sure, you can think that they picked you — but I’ve got news for you… you created an ad or some how attracted them, and now they’re yours!

So what do you do now?  I mean, there they are!

Well, get very focused on who you really want to work with.  Figure out who your ideal customer is.  Really!  This is a thing.  When you sit down and spend time to figure out who you want to attract, they will appear.

Imagine everyday you wake up to start working and your “favorite customer” is the only person that calls or emails!  How amazing would that be?

So today… sit down and list your favorite three customers.  Then write down what makes them your favorite.  Do they pay in full, on time?  Do they love your ideas? Are they creative?  Do they have a golden doodle and love chocolate chip cookies?  Oh wait, that’s me.

But you get my point.

Once you have your list of two or three ideal customers you are going to be able to attract them! So there you go, a little homework to start your day!

#doinginfinity

Tomorrow… come back for my episode on “Big Money Small Change”!
PS:  Like my vibe? I want you to join my tribe! start here! 

Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!
Sunday – Week in Review

ProfitCenterCoach.com – Episode 462 – Creepy Phone

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“Selling to people who actually want to hear from you is more effective than interrupting strangers who don’t.” – Seth Godin

Thursday: Infinity Customer

Yesterday I was talking to one of my crew members.  We were done for the day and he was on his way to ask his girlfriend to the homecoming dance.

BTW, this has turned into a big event. Not the dance, the actual asking a date to the dance… but that’s a topic for a different day.

He was telling me about the plan and he said, “It’s going to be a fun HOCO invite… blah blah blah” – I missed most of the conversation because I was processing HOCO.  Then I figured it was short for homecoming.  I’m not cool, but I’m not stupid!

He left.

I woke up my phone, checked Facebook for the 300th time that day… and boom. There it was, an ad for Homecoming dresses to celebrate HOCO.

I was (and still am) completely creeped out and angry that my phone was not just listening/monitoring me… but actually picked up the voice of a stranger… and then sent me an ad for teen dresses.

Facebook can be a good place to target market your product. But remember this… these people are NOT looking for you!

Again, super creepy monitoring 24/7 Facebook is gross, and it sends you ads.  These ads “can” be helpful, for example if I were looking for a “HOCO Dress” per the conversation it eavesdropped on…. but I’m not, they interrupted me… and worse yet… caused me to write a post so you could read it.

I still think it’s useful to use the targeting tools that Facebook has for advertising, but remember this:  Facebook contains people you interrupt. Google contains people looking for the thing you are advertising!

This is a VERY big difference.

If you are trying to build a pipeline to your Infinity Marketing Machine… you don’t want to interrupt, you want to attract!

Lots and Lots of money can be wasted on paid ads – that’s why we create an Infinity Marketing Machine to capture the customers, and continually entertain them so they want to buy from us and so we’re not interrupting them!

OH, and be careful what you say around your phone.  so so creepy.

#doinginfinity

Tomorrow… come back for my episode on “Big Money Small Change”!
PS:  Like my vibe? I want you to join my tribe! start here! 

 

Infinity Marketing Machine Daily Topics:
Monday – Character (Subject Matter Expert)
Tuesday – Content & Consistency
Wednesday – Midweek Motivation
Thursday – Infinity Customers
Friday – Big Money
Saturday – Try This!
Sunday – Week in Review