Haha first, I appreciate the thanks, I'm glad you guys are diggin what I'm writing.
Secondly though, we have the mindset all wrong, and it's probably my fault. Your cows are your most treasured asset, and there is no such thing as a useless cow, or a dried up udder.
I'm writing up a piece on customer appreciation, and now I'll definitively post it over here. Your cows are your most valued asset. If you think a cow is just an udder to be milked, forgotten about, then milked again when you need the cash, you're going to find you have a pretty useless farm.
You gotta feed the cow.
You gotta shelter the cow.
You gotta make sure the cow is healthy and happy.
Otherwise, you're going to get little or no milk.
You have to create relationships with your customers. I mean real relationships, true friendships.
How many guys in your area offer the same exact stuff you do? 15? 20? 50?
What are you doing right now to guarantee your cows aren't gonna jump on the next shiny tractor?
The whole point of my previous post was to impress upon you guys one reason it's important to have a client database. It's definitely the easiest and cheapest way to market. But you have to have the relationships in place.
BUILD REAL RELATIONSHIPS WITH YOUR CUSTOMERS.
When I was in high school, I was the ground guy (read gopher) for my girlfriend's Dad. He was a contractor who did mostly one story additions. I remember the first job I was on, about three weeks into it, I was backing up the big ass Chevy rack truck, and I ran over their HOs cat. I **** you not, I killed the cat. Completely an accident, but I though holy crap I just cost us this job.
I was moved off the job for like 2 days, but the HO kept asking where I was. She was a really laid back younger lady, and she was amazingly quite cool about it. Anyways, we get the job done at end of the summer (kitchen remodel, new bathroom, new dining room, sauna, finish the basement), and she throws the company a thank you party. Dave, the guy I worked for, got 8 referrals from this party alone.
Why did a woman throw a party for the same people who crushed her cat? And why did she refer us to her friends?
Because Big Dave was a people person and had a business philosphy I follow very closely now. Make your clients your friends, don't just see a paycheck. And we all got it.
They were always asking us to have beers after work on Friday, cracking jokes, generally having a good time. Even though something pretty ****ty happened, we had a whole summer where we were in their personal space getting to know them, and building a relationship with them.
What are you doing to build bulletproof relationships with clients?
The biggest mistake I know of in business is to just see the sale. How much money am I going to make this time?
DO NO DO THAT!!!
Sure, this couple might be worth a 40k job right now, but what is the lifetime value of them worth? How much business can they bring in for me? How many referrals are they going to give me? How am I rewarding them for those referrals?
A Customer Database is the tool in your arsenal. Use it to its maximum potential.
Do not think about your cows as hamburger. Don't even think about them as business partners.
Think of them as friends and treat them as such. My cows know how valuable they are to me. Some of my cows are my most trusted business associates, and some really good friends.
The Wrap Up
Do not use your database to just shoot of marketing crap. Give value. Use it to keep in touch. Build bulletproof relationships. Let me make this promise to you right now: If you build real relationships with your customers, you won't ever be beaten on price again. Ever. In the history of Ever.
Treat your cows like the gold that they are. No more one and done.
Thanks for reading the mind dump, wait until you see the article I'm working on.
Learn and Earn,
Justin