Providing Value to Your Customers – Part 1
Have you ever seen the TV show ‘My Name is Earl’? It’s comedy about a guy who believes in karma and thinks that bad things were happening to him because of all the ways he had wronged others throughout his lifetime. After one very unfortunate event (he lost a very high-paying lottery ticket) he decided that he was getting what he deserved, reaping what he sowed. He decided at that moment to start making a list of everyone he had ever wronged and spend the rest of his life, if it took that long, making restitution to them all.
Well, personally I don’t believe in karma, however, I do believe that most of the time in business, we will reap what we sow. With all the competition for your business, most customers will come to you with a bit of skepticism and uncertainty until you prove to them that you really are worth their time, money, and energy.
Your customers will never trust you right off the bat. You need to win their trust and you can do that in several different ways. You can start by offering them something of value, for free. For instance, you can offer them a free newsletter with good and helpful information on a topic that interests them. You can offer them a free e-book written by you or someone else (with the author’s permission, of course) such as “The 7 Great Lies of Network Marketing” by Ann Sieg (yes, it really is free. Just click on the link). You can also offer video or audio tutorials to help walk them through a new or difficult process. Use you imagination and think of ways you are drawn in to other businesses. What do other successful businesses do in order to gain the trust, respect and loyalty of their customers?
Once you have figured out a valuable, free product to entice your customers with, continue to build your relationship with them. The way you do this is by first getting their contact information, then sending the free, valuable product. If you have succeeded in gaining their trust, or even just piqued their interest in your business, you can continue to build a relationship and sell them on your business or product. It’s business karma at its best!
