The Ultimate Customer Formula

Part 2
The Ultimate Customer Formula
By Noah St. John, Ph.D.

Let's start with why someone becomes a Customer in the first place. First, a person has a Want - something they desire. It could be either to alleviate a PAIN or to increase their PLEASURE. That pretty much covers human Want.

Then, they find out about you (through something called marketing) - and something they read, hear, see or experience in your marketing makes them Trust that you will deliver to them the fulfillment of their Want.

If you fulfill what you said you would - you help fulfill their Want - then they are satisfied with their purchase. They are now your Customer because they Trust you.
So what do you do now?

That's where most businesses fail. They go, "Whew, we got another one. OK, where do we get the next one?"

But don't you get it? You can get your next Customer - or dozen Customers - from that first satisfied Customer!

How? Simple: make them feel good about their purchase. Ask if there's anything else you can do. See what else they need or want - that they may not even have thought of. Ask questions that no one else is asking.

Or, just be so much better than the other guys, that your Customers have no choice but to choose you to fulfill their Want.

The Ultimate Customer Formula

Part 1
The Ultimate Customer Formula
By Noah St. John, Ph.D.

"There are no traffic jams along the extra mile."
- Roger Staubach

Customers are the lifeblood of your business. Without customers - people who buy your product or service - then you really don't have a business, do you? Duh!
But if you ask any business owner, they'll tell you they want more customers. Yet I say that you don't want more customers; what you want are more Evangelists.
What's an Evangelist? In this sense of the word, I mean someone who not only buys from you, but who tells everyone within earshot (and emailshot) how great you are.

There are three kinds of people who buy from you:
1. Customer = someone who buys from you
2. Referrer = someone who tells one or two people about you
3. Evangelist = someone who tells everyone about you

So how do we move people from Customer to Referrer to Evangelist?
By using The Ultimate Customer Formula:
Want + Trust = Customer
Want X Trust = Referrer
Want X Love = Evangelist

Leadership - 2 of 2

I read this article and it helped me.

Stay open to change.

Let’s assume you now know yourself pretty well. You can tell when a criticism is way off-base; maybe it’s directed more at your position than at you. And you know when a criticism is 100% legitimate because it’s about a weakness that you’ve already discovered.

But what about the gray areas? The criticisms that might hold a grain of truth? A good leader stays open to improvement by:

Not being defensive,
Looking for the helpful grain of truth,
Making the necessary changes, and
Taking the high road.

Accept yourself.

Jonas Salk, developer of the Salk polio vaccine, had many critics in spite of his incredible contribution to medicine. Of criticism, he observed, “First people will tell you that you are wrong. Then they will tell you that you are right, but what you’re doing really isn’t important. Finally, they will admit that you are right and that what you are doing is very important; but after all, they knew it all the time.”

How do leaders who are out front handle this kind of fickle response from others?
The Serenity Prayer, made famous by Alcoholics Anonymous and other 12-step programs, gives direction in this area:

God, grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.
If you have endeavored to know yourself, and have worked hard to change yourself, then what more can you do?

Forget yourself.

The final step in the process of effectively handling criticism is to stop focusing on yourself. Secure people forget about themselves so they can focus on others. By doing this, they can face nearly any kind of criticism—and even serve the critic.
I try to live out a sentiment expressed by Parkenham Beatty, who advised, “By your own soul learn to live. And if men thwart you, take no heed. If men hate you, have no care: Sing your song, dream your dream, hope your hope and pray your prayer.”
As leaders, we must always be serious about our responsibilities, but it isn’t healthy for us to take ourselves too seriously. A Chinese proverb says, “Blessed are those who can laugh at themselves. They shall never cease to be entertained.”