Create a Legacy For Your Business: How to Attract Life Time Customers | Learn.DryerBuzz.com
When attending events with vendors, I like to visit each booth to support and get a sense of how we are doing business. At one such event, I came upon a product pretty common for today, attracted by its display. The vendor was offering homemade soaps. Gorgeous product and packaging, etc. I could not stop at first glance but I embed the location in my mind to come back.
Before I could get back to the table, I could hear the buzz about the vendor and it wasn’t good. I heard… (this is usually how buzz spreads). I heard the price was too high and she didn’t accept cards. As I observed the booth from a far, I saw people walking away. As others approached the booth, they were not greeted nor coached into purchasing by the vendor. But I wanted some new soap. So I still planned to stop by.
Knowing she did not take cards, I hit the ATM mumbling about the ATM fee under my breath. When I approached the booth, no greeting whatsoever. She was engaged in conversation with a non-customer and not about the product where I could listen in to help my buying experience. So I continued browsing. I guess since I didn’t leave, she decided to stop the conversation to see if I had a question. I inquired about the price. Now I understood. The pricing gave question. Clearly she didn’t feel like explaining the ingredients or learning anything about the customer that could have become the lifetime customer. Despite what I had heard, I still tried to shop.
When I arrived back in the office with my money in my hand and no soap, everybody had more experiences like this to share. Clearly this particular vendor had the best product of the day, especially in an office building full of women.
The chief complaint was affordable price and lack of samples which is commonly expected in a vendor/festival/expo situation. Second was her non-existent greeting and not interacting with the customers. Her desire to make a one time sell and not establish an on-going relationship also hurt her business. It was obvious she was not into life time customers.
What could she had done differently?
This vendor had an opportunity to create a legacy that day. Here’s how:
- In an environment full of women, she could have offered soap samples. There was enough time for the women to retreat to their office, try the sample (as women do), create buzz and then return to make a larger purchase before the day was over.
- With a product such has hers, the selling point could have been a membership or discount club especially at her price point. She could have advanced the sells by attracting with samples and offering gift packs for new members aka lifetime customers. This would have earned revenue month after month.
- Most people who buy this product often buy for someone else. A gift option might have sold better.
- Even where customers did not purchase, she could have offered literature with an invitation to her website.
- She could have requested information to add to her mailing list. When we don’t take the time to learn something about the customer, we miss out on opportunity. She didn’t ask me anything about me. Therefore I didn’t mention I live in a house full of women or work in an office full of women who might have loved her product. Nor did she take the time to learn that I have an award winning website that engages women everyday.
- She could have held a drawing at certain times to bring customers back throughout the day
- She could have offered her product or business as an opportunity. How many people are looking for additional streams of income or additional savings as preferred customers? Again she didn’t inquire about her customers. Perhaps she missed a wholesale opportunity or chance to include her product in a wonderful store or catalog.
You never know unless you cover your bases. Advance your business from one time sells to creating relationships with your customers to create your legacy. Interacting with this particular vendor was a learning experience for me. We have all experienced a short coming here or there or had an after thought after the event. The biggest shorting coming of all is to learn better and not do better.
Let’s grow our businesses even further with lifetime customers by building better relationships. Better relationships leads to better businesses which leads to legacies.
Two decades engaging niche audiences and helping entrepreneurs create buzz for their business, Yalanda P Lattimore, Editor of DryerBuzz.com answers FAQ’s in the perfect accessory for entrepreneurs, Create Buzz When Starting a Business: 27 Answers to FAQs About Social Media and Networking is available via ebook and Amazon Kindle.
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Awesome article! Yalanda has communicated some of the frustrations with vendors NOT vending. I don't feel that this is just isolated to events that have vendors but also to businesses in general. I have visited numerous eating establishments, retailers and grocery stores where the employees acted as if you were irritating or interrupting them, you are there to do them a favor, or they at as if they just absolutely hate their jobs.
Customer service goes a long way and builds return and lifetime customers. Bottom line is as business owners we need to be prepared to meet and greet our customer(s), capture their information, have some information/samples to offer them, and always leave them with a wonderful customer experience so they refer you to friends and family and come back for more.
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