The bread and butter cream and dream customers - Simone Douglas

Simone Douglas - "#Seriously Social"

Introduction

When you consider who your best customers are, how do you define them?  For most businesses it’s safe to assume that the best customers are the ones with the highest level of engagement.  From referrals to social shares to click-through rates, these shoppers are committed to the brand, your business, and are always happy to get involved.

Repeat purchases are a huge part of this.  Customers who return to your store to make another purchase demonstrate a strong commitment to your products, but that’s not the only factor to consider.

Once you’ve identified who your best customers are, you can begin to intentionally build emotional relationships with them.  These relationships go beyond simply making a purchase and have the power to supercharge the valuable interactions they already have with your brand.
Today we are going through understanding how the customers are buying and their paths of travel to your door, who are my best accounts or business family members and why cost of acquisition in comparison to top line sales is a critical factor.
 
It is easy to get distracted by all the noise in the business world at large but jump day is your chance to settle in and work on your business in ways that allow you to make the most of your opportunities today, tomorrow and forever. 

Sure we need to get an understanding of the 6 phases of the Customer Journey so we will take a look at how you identify these.

But then we are going to really start to categorise and put some solidity around what the three types of customers look like in other words who falls into each of our key categories.

Your “bread and butter” clients, who buy your basic entry-level product. Your “cream” clients, who buy your mid-level product or package. Your “dream” clients, who buy your high-ticket offer.

How do we really get to know them and provide the ideal solutions and the ultimate customer experience, which as we know is going to be the key differentiator in 2021 when it comes to sales success.

IBGR is a global community of commerce committed to your success and our programming is designed to give you the tools and resources as well as the one percenters you might be missing. So settle in because all the best stories are told with the audiences full attention and today is no exception. If you put the learnings into place you will have started your preparation to belt 2021 out of the stratosphere. After all We didn’t wake up this morning and decide to own an averagely successful business now did we?


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​Show Objectives - The Why
Today we are going to take a really close look at who your best customers are from a time, resource and profit perspective and why understanding your best customers helps generate more revenue for your business.

Then we are going to look at how understanding your best customers helps you attract new customers to your business through being able to replicate them.

Although acquiring new customers is necessary for business growth, maintaining good relationships with your current customers is just as important. It costs organizations six to seven times more to attract a new client than it does to retain a current one. Understanding your clients’ needs and being able to meet their demands will give your business a competitive edge in more ways than you would think.

Key Issues - Owner Perspective:

1. Why do you need to know who your best customers are?
2. What are the characteristics of your best customers? 
3. How do we find more customers like are best customers? 

What You Need to Know - What we will be covering
“Forget ‘branding’ and ‘positioning’. Once you understand customer behaviour everything else falls into place.” – Thomas G Stemberg
In business, it’s about the quality of your customers, not just the quantity.

There are good customers, high-maintenance customers and not-worth-it customers. Any small business owner recognizes these categories.
 

1. Three ways to Identify and keep your best customers  - While you’ll probably keep C-level customers at your baseline of impressive service, your D customers are different. The smart strategy here is to identify them as D-level and maintain a positive brand image. At the same time, use this knowledge to turn away future D-level prospects
2. The 6 phases of the customer journey There are six steps in that relationship; that is, the customer lifecycle: discovery, evaluation, purchase, use/experience, bond, and advocacy. Almost any company with a reasonably incentivized sales team can get through the first three or four parts of the lifecycle. But when they get to bonding, many companies fall down.
3. The difference and importance of the three key types of clients - If you don’t know who your ideal clients are, you won’t be able to tell people who to keep an eye out for, and you can’t identify strategic partners who are in touch with those clients.
4. Understanding who is talking to your best customers before you and after you - Many people form strategic partnerships, promise to send each other clients, then fall out of touch and gain nothing from their efforts. you need a strategic and long term plan for nurturing these relationships
5. How to replicate your best customers - Make a list of the clients you would love to replicate, if you could. Make sure these are the type of clients you want to grow your business with for years to come. There is not a ‘one size fits all’ definition of a top client, but rather, several factors to consider

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What you need to do​ today
 

1. Analyze your crm and existing customers and categorise them as to where they sit “Bread & Butter, Cream, Dream.
2. Assess where you fall down and where you excel on the customer journey
3. Identify who in your networks you need to be more strategic with and engage better.
4. Map out and schedule what your relationship based sales strategy is for 2021.
5. Plan to spend time putting lessons learnt and aha moments into practice.  Let me know how it goes.
6. ACT! Nothing changes if you don’t set aside time to make it happen so once you have worked out what you need to do start putting timelines and deliverables on your action plan. Get clear on what you want your customers to feel, what actions you want them to take and what pain points you are here to solve for them.

 
Shows
Previous: Episode C3.04.3 The feedback loop for consistent improvement (User Friendly & Results driven) how is our product or service working for our customers now they are part of the family and how do we assess that and maintain our relationships and brand positioning.
 
Next: Episode Season 3 Episode C3.06.3 
The relationship debate - are you burning contacts or creating raving fans  - if you are going to improve the customers experience how do you surprise and delight them in some way. The one percenter that creates raving fans and memorable moments.

Written by Simone Douglas 
The Publican & Licensee of the Duke of Brunswick Hotel, Executive Director for BNI Adelaide North one of the biggest networking organisations in the world, the driving force behind South Australia’s leading social media agency, Social Media AOK and best-selling author with her first book “Seriously Social – turning your online game into real-world gain”. Her next book “The Confident Networker” is set for release on November 6th.

Simone also serves as Deputy President of the State Chapter Committee South Australia for the Franchise Council of Australia and sits on the Franchise Advisory Council for BNI Australia

You can connect with Simone on any of her seriously social platforms
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