A summary of things you should know about Evergreen according to Noah Fleming: Introduction In this episode Noah Fleming takes a deep dive into his book, Evergreen, where he revealsRead More
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]]>In this episode Noah Fleming takes a deep dive into his book, Evergreen, where he reveals a way to create longer lasting relationships with customers.
In his book Fleming provides a practical roadmap packed with strategies, stories, and tips on improving your business by cultivating deeper, more profitable relationships with your customers. The goal of the book is to teach you 3 significant rules that create loyal customers, how to build effective loyalty programs, and how to incorporate social media into any loyalty plan.
This book is perfect for entrepreneurs who run a business based on building relationships with customers and need a simple guide for creating the best customer loyalty system.
What makes it different is that I start long before the point of closing the sale. I believe that customer loyalty and customer relationships start long before the sale has ever been made. Evergreen provides a deep look at what happens before the sale, to the point of the sale, and then into what I call happily ever after.
The book is broken down into two parts. The first half of the book is a very strategic framework and so I recommend reading this part because I think it’s applicable to any type of business. That said if you’ve already got a successful business you can certainly hop to the second half of the book which is very tactical in nature with very specific action steps you can take.
I want the reader to understand that everything you do is equally about getting and equally about keeping the customer. Just understanding this one principle can change your entire outlook of your company, business, or career.
As I mentioned there are two sections of the book. The first half is a strategic framework which I call The Three C’s of Evergreen Company. Let me explain to you how this started. When I started to look at my own company I had subscription base services, I had my own online community, and I had really strong retention and loyalty. So I wondered if what I was doing was something I could apply to my own clients and so I did. I started to work with clients and I started to help them implement this strategic framework. Then as I started to research the book years later I started to look at bigger companies and I wanted to figure out the commonality between great companies that have truly loyal customers and that seem to thrive all year long. I started to notice there were three key things happening with the best entrepreneurs, the best solo professionals, and the best companies and they had these three things just right. So the first C is character and character is why you do what you do and I walk you through very specific steps to really build your character. The second C is community; the best companies in the world right now are building a strong sense of community amongst their customers. The third C is content and is the shorthand that I am using as the thing you give for money. So your content is your core product, you core service and the big mistake is to believe that content is enough to bring people back again and again. Content is not enough to bring people back so you want to make sure your character and your community really boasts up your content.
Once you define those three C’s then you can get serious about learning about your customer base. In the next half of the book I walk you through how to learn about your different types of customers which I call Archetypes. This is where you start to tailor your sales and marketing messages to them on a much more personal level. I start to try and help people break away from the addiction mentality and help you really focus on where your ideal customers are right now. It’s about how to most effectively, efficiently, and affordably reach them, attract them, and keep them as quickly as possible.
NOTE: That was just a summary. To get the full deep dive, play the audio clip at 06:58
I am a Canadian who lives in Ontario Canada. I am also a father of two girls and married ten years now. In the business side of my personal life I am a strategic marketing consultant. I work with small to midsize companies but also with entrepreneurs personally mentoring and coaching them.
I saw in my clients an addiction to the new customer mentality that we need to focus all of our efforts into driving people through the doors. I knew there had to be a better way to do it which inspired me to do my research and write about my findings.
Linchpin by Seth Godin
Buy Evergreen by Noah Fleming on Amazon today
Visit NoahFleming.com to learn more about Noah, his book, and newsletter
Follow Noah Fleming on Facebook and Twitter
Download the full transcript here (coming soon)
Listen on iTunes, Stitcher , and SoundCloud
Related books:
Customer Experience 3.0 by John Goodman
High Paying Clients by Trevor Crane
Nice Guys Finish First by Doug Sandler
Relevant advice and tips:
5 Simple Ways An Entrepreneur Can Attract Customers To Their Business
How To Become an Effective Communicator in the Business World
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]]>Who is Melinda Emerson and what you can learn from her: Melinda Emerson is known as the Small Biz Lady. She is the founder and president of the Quintessence Group,Read More
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]]>Melinda Emerson is known as the Small Biz Lady. She is the founder and president of the Quintessence Group, a marketing consulting firm based in Philadelphia, PA. Melinda founded an organization that aims to provide training materials to small business owners and entrepreneurs. Her curriculum is available for purchase, but she also gives out free advice to those who need it. Here are five of her biggest tips that I got out of her book, Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months:
One of the great things about being your own boss is that you get to set your own hours. But you should create a schedule and stick to it. Try to get most of your work done during your most productive hours. If you are a morning person, get up early and be at your desk ready to make the most out of that part of the day. If you think more clearly at night, sleep in as late as you want but don’t go out with your friends until you’ve finished what you need to get done that day.
Setting hours also helps friends and family respect your schedule. Many people will get the impression that you can take off whenever you want since you don’t have a boss to report to. While it’s okay to take advantage of this from time to time, it is not the path to success. By letting people know that you are not available for a set time period each day, they will get the message that you take your work just as seriously as they take theirs.
There is a lot of research that goes into opening a new business. Once you quit your job to pursue your own company, you are living off of savings. This gives you a limited time to start pulling in money through your new company before you have to return to the workplace. So instead of setting yourself up for disappointment and failure, do as much of the preliminary work as you while still holding your own job.
Research is one of the most important steps in pursuing any new venture. And much of it can be done before you quit your job. Spend one hour each evening looking into what the growth potential is for your business. Learn what you need to succeed in this field. Get as much lined up as possible ahead of time. That way, once you do put in your two weeks’ notice, you can tackle this project with your full energy and get up and running in no time.
Corporations have huge budgets dedicated simply to market research. You don’t have six figures to spend on this. So you’re going to have to do a lot of the legwork yourself. But this isn’t that difficult. Much of it can be done just by asking yourself a few key questions.
You can get a large number of responses simply by asking people. Once you’ve run your ideas past a few trustworthy sources, send out a Facebook message to get as many answers as possible. But if you leave open ended questions hanging out there, you are going to be overwhelmed with the endless answers you receive. Instead, ask simple yes or no questions to keep people focused and to collect the specific information that you are looking for.
Don’t assume that anyone and everyone is going to want what you are selling. Something that appeals to a wide audience is of course more likely to succeed than something that only a few people are going to want. But when you are just starting out, it’s helpful to focus in on a tight group.
This gives you a concentrated focus that can keep you centered. Particularly in the beginning stages, you are going to have limited resources for things like advertising. Instead of trying to appeal to everyone, send a strong message out to a target audience. As they support your company, your reputation will spread through word of mouth. Once you’ve established yourself with your original audience, you can reach out to other groups.
A word of caution on branching out: you don’t want to betray your existing customers. If you change your image too much to attract a different crowd, you will lose your original audience. This type of change leads to a drop in customer loyalty that can have far reaching negative consequences.
Social media is a cheap and easy way to reach out to a wide audience and develop relationships with your customers. But it has to be used well to be effective. This is not your personal profile that you use to catch up with friends. You need to use it to present a consistent business image that lets your customers know who you are.
This doesn’t mean that everything has to be overly polished. Customers appreciate rough pictures that show behind the scenes action. But just because something looks spontaneous doesn’t mean it is. Thing through something before you post it. Pictures and videos can always be taken down later, but if the Internet has taught us anything, it is that nothing ever completely disappears.
Preview Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months with Melinda Emerson herself
Buy Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months by Melinda Emerson on Amazon today
Visit SucceedAsYourOwnBoss.com to get the first two chapters and some more resources
Follow Melinda Emerson on Twitter and Facebook
The post 5 Lessons Entrepreneurs Can Learn from Melinda Emerson appeared first on The Entrepreneurs Library.
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