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Creating Frequent Buyers

Our conversation has evolved from measuring prospective client behavior to last week's lesson of tested qualification techniques to turn leads into frequent buyers. Through all this, one thing remains constant, business relationships are the result of your actions more than a goal.

This lesson ends a series of articles on lead generations role in business relationships. If you're interested in more on lead generation, drop me a note, I would like to share with you a special resource kit that highlights some key experts you'll want to know more about. Write lead-generation(a)iunctura.com with "resource kit" in the subject.

As customers (even employees) interact with your company, the positive results of their expectations and desires create an inclination towards staying involved with your company. The only control you have over this inclination is how you handle the actions necessary to create positive results.

Let's face one simple fact, you won't be able create a positive outcome for everyone who comes to your company. That's why you focus on those most likely cases and cultivate the remaining using lead quality strategies.

The relationships created represent certain positive experiences, which can persuade others to take the same chance with your company. In today's lesson, you'll learn how relationship value influences a leads decision to become a frequent buyer.

Next month, you'll see how you keep these relationships strong through the sales-marketing-service convergence.

Be sure to invite other leaders in your company to pay close attention to next months lessons -- readers who discuss these lessons with others in their company have a significant advantage when implementing these techniques. These smart readers are able to significantly reduce their own stress and enhance productivity by using this newsletter as a catalyst for an internal discussion on relationship management.

Are you facing challenges getting started with relationship management initiatives? I'm available to moderate these discussions in a unique coaching program that helps you understand and improve your business relationships. Write for details.

At your service,

Justin Hitt
Consultant, Author & Speaker
https://iunctura.com/

Ps. Did you miss my interview with CRM Talk Radio?For an archived recording and report "How business to business Firms Can Maintain Profitable Customer Relationships," complete this brief survey at https://iunctura.com/ac/ao06

How Relationship Value Influences Turning Leads Into Frequent Buyers

By Justin Hitt, Strategic Relations Consultant, https://iunctura.com/

Relationship value is a measure of what benefit you've brought a certain customer over time. You can demonstrate this abstract value to others in a way that offers proof a relationship with your company is beneficial. Clear relationship value turns leads into frequent buyers.

There are two ways to use relationship value to turn leads into frequent buyers, haphazardly or purposefully. Most companies try to so hard to create customer relationships that they forget to do those things that result in high value to a customer.

While this sounds common sense, companies who fail to use relationship value have the following traits:

• They have a clear lack of internal leadership for customer focus, including poor executive support for necessary initiatives.
• They don't see a customer relationship as the result of doing certain desired actions in a beneficial way that meets documented customer expectations.
• They fail to simplify solution offerings by just asking customers what they want instead of assuming they are serving a customers needs.

Be Purposeful About Conveying Relationship Value

When you purposefully use relationship value to turn leads into repeat buyers, you remove any reasons not to engage your company and provide proof that such interaction will be good for the customer. To use relationship value, it is critical you eliminate those traits listed above and that you:

• Use case studies, reports, and research to document past positive customer experiences in both quantitative and emotional context. Identify exactly what solution you contributed to the results desired by the customer, what it meant to the customer in financially, strategically, and how the customer felt about the interaction. Use your customer's words when possible.
• Study your customers in every detail, understand what makes them happy, what challenges they face, and what solutions they are willing to purchase. Establish an open dialog with existing customers, involve them in your product development, and reward them for their loyalty as it increases your understanding of them. Position your company as a leader by becoming the foremost expert in your customer.
• Reduce a leads risk to purchase with smaller transactions that help them make better decisions about moving forward with larger solutions. Even if you sell million dollar solutions, a pre-project assessment that provides results that can improve a customer's ability to determine project requirements can reduce risk.
• Convey proof that your company provides the solution they desire. This proof must be relevant to the prospect, meaningful, believable, and backed up by real customer experiences. Show leads the value of a relationship with your company with those documented customer experiences that are most like them.

Leads become repeat buyers because they have no reason not to be. To do this, position your company to measure and do those things customers desire, and then engage leads in a meaningful qualification program.

Actions Leaders Take To Demonstrate Relationship Value

It sounds easier to turn leads into repeat buyers than it really is. To make better use of the relationship value you already have with existing customers, here are the actions you should take in your business to business company today:

1. Use smaller transactions to qualify buyers. Help leads step into larger solutions through small transactions that improve their ability to make decisions, demonstrate your ability to solve their problem, orient the lead to a particular solution, and reduces a leads perception of risk. These transactions can be monetary or educational in nature, but must have two traits mentioned earlier.
2. Convey experiences that serve as proof of performance. Use capabilities summaries, return on investment profiles, case studies, results analysis, surveys, and other tools to document the experiences of existing customers. Show leads the results of being a customer of your company in a way that is useful to them.
3. Use multiple positive transactions to positions your company. Leads perceive positive outcomes as only available from providers who are experts, reliable, or who have a level of quality necessary to create such a result. Remind leads of the little things you've done for them, how their experiences are similar to those of satisfied customers, and how this makes your company different in a way that benefits them.
4. Provide quality communications that add value to leads. Instead of literature talking about all your organizations virtues, talk about the results customers experience, why it's important to them, and how you were the catalyst for such improvement. Help customers make better decisions first, and then talk briefly about your solutions.
5. Make your business a logical extension of the customers business. Get customers used to doing business with you they same way they would choose a department within their own organization for specific solutions. To do this, make it easy to purchase, become a decision-making resource, get involved with implementation planning, and always maintain an open dialog with multiple customer decision makers.

Like Pavlov's dog, you want leads salivating every time they hear your company's name. Hook leads on your ability to give them predictable results that clearly create desired outcomes, just as you have for other customers just like them. Start creating the proof that justifies strong relationship value and you'll turn leads into frequent buyers.

© 2004 JWH Consolidated LLC dba Center for Strategic Relations, All rights reserved.
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Justin Hitt is a strategic relations consultant with the Center for Strategic Relations. He is available for limited consultative support of professional organizations serving other businesses. Call +1 (877) 207-3798 or visit https://iunctura.com/