BETA
This is a BETA experience. You may opt-out by clicking here

More From Forbes

Edit Story

How To Raise An Army Of Marketers Without Buying Advertising

Shaz Memon, Founder of Digimax Dental | The worlds highest rated Dental Marketing Agency | Charity: Wells on Wheels | Best-Selling Author

Companies spend vast sums of time and money trying to attract new customers. But what most fail to realize is that their most powerful marketing strategy is entirely free. After all, the best people to sell your products or services to new customers are the customers you already have. 

Typically, a person spends their money on the basis of a promise. The product or service they are buying has claimed that it will do something for them or make them feel a certain way, whether that is to save them time, make them healthier or boost their confidence. Often, this promise has been drummed into them through a sophisticated and enticing marketing campaign. In nearly all cases, this customer either gets exactly what is promised to them or less. Sometimes their expectations are severely let down. But even when they are met, the customer does not feel the urge to tell their friends about their experience. Why? Because, in most cases, the customer is left feeling indifferent.

Companies often miss the easiest and most effective marketing strategy of all time. Quite simply, you should not aim to deliver on the promise you have made to your customer. Rather, you should aim to deliver on the promise and then some. Always aim to give the customer more than they are expecting. Only then will you be in a position to turn your customers into raving fans.

Think about it this way: Imagine someone has seen a campaign for the launch of an exciting new restaurant in town. They go to the restaurant, order a small bowl of spaghetti vongole and a veal Milanese and find that the food is indeed nice, but the service is nothing special. The waiter doesn't check back once they've dropped off their food, there is no gesture at the end to acknowledge them as new customers and the manager doesn't come over to check how they are doing or introduce themself.

Why would the customer be in any particular hurry to talk about this experience to others? They were promised delicious Italian food, and that's what they got. There is no story to tell. It would be like calling up your friend to say to them that your new fridge is keeping your food cold. If, however, the customer's delicious meal is accompanied by a superb customer service experience, with free, homemade focaccia bread brought to their table on arrival, an attentive and smiling waiting staff and with an unexpected live pianist, they may very well tell their friends to book the restaurant while there is still availability. This will increase if every interaction between the customer and the restaurant is positive, and if any problems do arise, they are solved straight away.

If you approach customer service in this way, not only will your customers tell their friends and family about your business, but they will also want to stay loyal to your brand. For this reason, your marketing should focus on current customers as a defined marketing strategy for growth. It is a crying shame when a company spends disproportionately more time and money on theoretical customers than on the ones they already have.

A curious phenomenon with which all business directors will be familiar is the high amount of repeat business you can get from people who initially complain about the service they received. Often, once the customer has made a complaint, a company will overcompensate to make it up to them. After which, the customer will be happier than if the issue had never arisen at all. This is a superb way for a company to behave. But why wait until something goes wrong? Surely, it would make more sense to treat every customer in the same way you would treat someone who complained. This is particularly important when you consider that many dissatisfied customers do not complain to the company. But that doesn't mean they won't share their experience with others. 

By not focusing sufficiently on your current customers, you might find you don't just miss out on a free marketing campaign but that you have unleashed a secret campaign against you. It is, therefore, crucial to any company's long-term success to value their current customers above all else.

To properly achieve this, you need to consider not just the initial promise you made to your customer but everything that goes with it. We are all aware of the moments of truth that will determine a person's impression of a company — the moment they press the switch, turn the key, open the package or enter your premises for the first time. But suppose you want to turn your customers into an efficient army of unpaid marketers. In that case, you must foster a mentality whereby every single interaction between your company and your customers is treated as a moment of truth. When you answer the phone, send an email or answer a question, you are altering how the customer thinks about you.

Customer service isn't something you do; it is something you become as a team. Forget about trying to pinpoint moments of truth when the truth is that every moment matters. Creative marketing strategies will always play an important role. Still, few can benefit a company as much as exceptional customer service, a marketing strategy that has stood the test of time. Best of all, if you have a track record of exceeding your customers' expectations, you will feel far more confident when you sign off on that next big marketing push because you will be targeting not just new potential new customers but potential new fans.


Forbes Business Council is the foremost growth and networking organization for business owners and leaders. Do I qualify?


Follow me on LinkedInCheck out my website