PAY…STAY…REFER

This is one of my favorite topics because it is the heart and soul of Magnetic Marketing!

It’s rather simple. This is exactly what you want your customers, clients, or patients to do. You want them to pay for the benefit of working with you. You want them to stay with you and continue paying for as long as possible. And, you certainly want them to refer others to you.

Well, it’s easy to say, not so easy to do, is it? Let’s break it down into bite-sized pieces.

Pay – It all starts with identifying your ideal prospect so that you don’t end up shouting “Buy From Me” all the time to a public that is already being bombarded by nearly 1500 messages a day. They’re deaf to it. By messaging only those that will resonate with you, you have to be very specific in who you are targeting. Think of it like this. Say you’re a coach for speakers, and you target speakers nationwide.

We know there are +/- 3500 registered speakers in the National Speakers Association, but that’s just a tiny fraction of those that are in the game. Just as a guess for this example, let’s say there are 35,000 speakers in your market (it’s probably more like 350,000).

This process I refer to as external marketing because you are seeking customers or clients from outside your organization. Get it?

If your message is crafted so well and your offer is so outrageously attractive, you’ll only resonate with 2% at most. Why? Because only a small fraction of them might be ready for your message at this time. 35,000 speakers aren’t hanging around the email inbox hoping to get an invitation from you. None of them are. But you might catch the attention of a fragment of them with your well-written copy. Then what?

You have to nurture those who raise their hand to signify they have some interest. It’s a dating ritual. You caught their attention, now you have to romance them a little and build a relationship. If you do everything right, they might pony up with your fee and dance. That’s the easy part. The fun is just getting started.

You’re successful enough to receive payment for your services, but for how long? If you only have one pitch, one service, what happens once you’ve delivered it? Best to have more than just a lead magnet and a tripwire to capture them as a client. Your main service (consider everything as a product) is what you’ve sold, and delivered, what else can you offer to keep them engaged and interested in working with you further?

Stay – This is the point when your marketing switches from external to internal. You’ll be doing a lot of marketing to your existing customers or clients to keep them interested in you and what you offer for as long as possible.

I shared the formula to calculate customer lifetime value more than a few times over the years. The formula hasn’t changed one iota. Go here for some info. This is the number you want to continue to grow, and it will as long as you retain the customer and said customer continues to purchase from you. That means you are going to make certain you have upsell or cross-sell items, new products from time to time, OR, a recurring monthly payment product, like a membership. Just about any business segment can conceive a membership product or service. You just have to be creative.

The hidden beauty of a membership-style business is that you have recurring revenue coming in 24/7, thereby allowing you to work on new offerings to serve new customers or those who have yet to elect membership.

Most of you know I came out of the private club industry, where membership is King or Queen.

We knew we were banking $4 Million a year coming in before we opened the doors. That takes the pressure off just a bit, but it still requires us to make them want to STAY. Creating a membership offering can keep you on top of your game.

Refer – This is the big payoff. This is what you’ve been working so hard for. If you’ve done your job by creating happy and satisfied customers or clients, you should be encouraging them to refer their friends and family, work associates, and church friends to your business. Imagine, you have already spent a fortune acquiring and nurturing your current base, so any new referrals cost you bupkis. And, they are going to be easier to work with because they are acting on the relationship their referee has already established. Yahoo!!