I love today’s analogy. And so will all of you who have a special relationship with your pets.
It has been said that the primary purpose of any organization is to create customers. I endorse this objective whole heartedly. After all, it is the person carrying the wallet who is literally driving the bus.
The “dog” analogy the title of today’s reminder makes all the sense in the world if you pause long enough to reflect on behavioral characteristics of individual pet ownership.
Think about how people treat their beloved dogs, cats, guinea pigs, rabbits, and other furry friends. It should appear pretty obvious that this is a winning strategy, if we can manage to make the connection.
Let’s look at a few specifics. I will use dogs in this example:
- Owners speak to their dogs regularly… in an endearing language. We can think of this as communicating with our customers every chance we get.
- Owners “touch” their dogs at every opportunity. We can think of this as meeting with, and speaking to, our customers on a regular basis. At the very least we send them information of interest.
- Owners appreciate the companionship of their dogs. We can think of this as knowing and realizing that our customer is our competitor’s prospect. It has been said that a dog is man’s best friend. Likewise, a customer is a business owner’s best friend.
- Owners reward their dogs for good behavior. We can think of this as thanking our customers for being our customers. At the very least we answer the phone with enthusiasm and return phone calls in a timely fashion.
- Owners don’t leave their dogs alone for long. We can think of this as never taking our customers for granted.
- Owners forgive their dogs when they goof up. We can think of this as understanding our customer’s human frailties. We all have a less-than-attractive side to our personalities and our customers are no different. Empathy may be the word. Understanding is another word that fills the bill. Forgiving is a third.
You might have thought this was a weird title for a column focusing on sales and marketing. I think you now agree that it makes all the sense in the world to treat your customers like dogs.
Mike Marchev is recognized for his down-to-earth, street-savvy and honest delivery of useful sales and marketing advice, suggestions, tactics and strategies. For a complimentary copy of his Special Report titled: 11 Sales Mistakes You Must Avoid send Mike an email with the word TRO-11 in the Subject Box. mike@mikemarchev.com