I downloaded the Radiohead album last week and have cycled through it a couple of times while working, and friends, I just love it. I want to share with you my journey through Radiohead-land as a sample of how your potential customers become your enthusiastic friends.
I was never a big pop music or rock music afficionado, and mostly listened to Duran Duran in the late 80's. When grunge hit, I tuned out and started only listening to classical music.
My then-boyfriend introduced me to a Radiohead album when we first met: I trusted his taste because he also shared the music of Olive, Paul Oakenfold, Fat Boy Slim, and Delirium with me: I still like those musicians today.
Over the next few years, we found and bought more Radiohead albums, and appreciated that Thom Yorke and his bandmates took the time to re-invent their style and their sound.
One day on the way home from Christmas in Yosemite, we listened to almost 4 hours of Radiohead on CD.
Now, I just appreciate their music so much, and I look forward to any new album they churn out.
See the progression? From suspect, to testimonial/word-of-mouth/referral, to customer, to raving fan.
How will you be able to encourage your customers and clients along this road, where you become their top choice for whatever field you're representing. I want you to consider not only your marketing plan and your sales reps, your customer policies and the branding you do, but also the idea that you are the number one name in your customers' minds.
You are the number one cell phone service provider, based on word of mouth from family and friends.
You are the number one florist/pharmacist/dentist/attorney/fill-in-the-blank your customers turn to.
You are the number one clothing designer they turn to.
You are the number one box of chocolates they always buy.
You are the dominant domain name provider for your customer and they recommend you to all their work associates.
(etc. etc. etc.)
I think in today's information-overload economy, your customers crave the warmth, friendship, affiliation, and security they feel by going directly with you. They're building community (as evidenced by the most-visited websites being mostly social networking sites). They abhor mass-market, spam, and poor customer service. They know when your company is genuine. They know when you're in the business to provide a quality service, not just rip them off for a bunch of money.
I think you would prefer to have a core base of raving lunatic enthusiastic fans, who buy everything you offer and who stick with you for life, instead of millions of customer/hostages who despise you, badmouth you, and will switch at the quickest opportunity (see my next post for more).
Also, Radiohead's latest bold move, which rocked the music industry, involves going directly to their fans. For their latest album, In Rainbows, they don't charge anything (besides the download fee): it is up to you how much you want to pay for the privilege of listening to their music. Some are paying zero, zilch, nada, but some are paying more. The average? 1.2 million customers this past week, with an average payment of 4 pounds ($8USD). Now that's successful.
What will you, as a woman of color in business, give away to your core customer base? I know you'll receive back so much more.
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