Here I go with another story — sorry, I can’t help myself:
Back in the 4th grade, I noticed an interesting phenomenon: If I paid really close attention to what the teacher was saying, I could make her look directly at me more than the other students. I would concentrate on sending the thought, ‘Look at me,’ into her brain. I was evil that way. It got to be a game with each new class — how fast could I become teacher’s pet? I know: kinda creepy, but smart kids bore easily. It passed the time.
Fast forward to 2010 and internet marketing circles. After buying a few ebooks and courses, I realized I had new teachers whose attention I wanted. Only it’s not about evil-kid games this time.
It’s a two-way street. If you want to get the most from the people you buy from, you need to love them, too.
Here’s why: If you’re a true fan, you want a closer connection with your teacher. You may want a mentor, an opportunity to write a guest post, or a possibility of a joint venture in the future. Buying a course [or taking advantage of a free consulting offer] from someone you want to learn from is a sure way to get on their radar — and a little bit closer to the inner circle.
To leverage that further, be a great customer.
Here’s how:
- Follow their advice. A big problem for people who create courses and ebooks is that most buyers don’t actually use the knowledge they just paid for! If you actually work through the ebook or course, ask questions and put into practice what you’ve learned — trust me, you will be remembered.
- If they have a forum, join it and be active. Forums can be a pain to get going because people are often shy to speak up first. If you’re active, asking and answering questions, you encourage others to join in as well. Another apple for the teacher.
- Promote your teacher. Talk about what you’ve learned from them on your blog, Twitter, Facebook — wherever you hang out. Sign up to be an affiliate and review their products.
- Write a kick-ass testimonial. Whether you bought a product or took advantage of a free offer, thank your teacher with a testimonial that they’ll be delighted to use on their site or sales page. Don’t just praise them to the skies — be specific about what your problem was and exactly how they helped you solve it.
- Last, but never least: Be successful. When you have even a small success thanks to what you’ve learned — and especially a big one — make sure everybody knows who taught you how to do it.
Follow these tips and I guarantee you will be teacher’s pet in no time. And that’s what being a great customer is all about!
Your task today is to do something nice for someone you’ve learned from. Tell me in the comments how you’re going to thank them for their knowledge!
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by LaVonne Ellis, Customer Love. Customer Love said: Day 8: How To Be A Great Customer – http://is.gd/gQaFq #customerlove […]
[…] Day 8: How To Be A Great Customer […]
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My first thank you goes to Catherine Caine for asking the right questions. Goody for me that I passed most of your tests for being a good customer. But, I need to work on that promote her – of course she’s so awesome, my promotion is a drop in the sea of incredibleness!
That last one – be successful. Still working on that but have a first success in better knowing who my right people are and reaching out to them. After all, it’s led me to Customer Love!
Catherine Caine is one of my teachers too — she really helped get The Complete Flake started. And she’s got more awesome stuff coming soon. Cannot WAIT!
Wooooooooo!
Thank you *so much*, Monette. It was a delight to work with you and help you along in that process!
Awesomeness! I love this idea. (and yes, I use that mind trick lots!) But such a great idea — and advice. I’ve been on both sides and it really does break my heart when peeps don’t read (never mind apply) what they’ve paid for. sigh.
As a consumer — it can help you too — if you are NOT going to read/use/apply then do not buy. No matter how many “cool kids” are touting it. Just because the cool kids were baring their midriffs to show off their new belly button jewelry did NOT mean I was going to — right?!
Love it Lavonne, you’ve got my attention for sure 🙂
You do?! I loved that trick! Of course, I’d get so focused on getting the teacher to look at me that I wouldn’t hear a word she was saying.
Interestingly, when I volunteered to read to my son’s class, I found myself paying more attention to the kids who were probably doing the same thing to me. Good psychology!
What? LaVonne was showing us her new belly button jewelry, and I missed it? Dang!
Seriously, I owe some people thanks for their courses as well as their mentoring in forums and things. I gotta say for me, Pamela Wilson at Big Brand System wins the top prize. She’s an all around super nice person, great designer, and awesome teacher.
By the way, you can spell the word “love” from LaVonne. Has anybody mentioned that to you yet??
Marlene, when I get belly button jewelry, I promise you’ll be the first to know. 🙂
And thank you for noticing how truly special my name is. Back when I was a hippie, I TRIED to get people to call me Love ON, but I guess they weren’t stoned enough.
Woo-hoo: thanks for the shout out, Marlene! I am having so much fun sharing what I’ve learned over the years. I guess it shows!. 🙂
These are really great points, LaVonne. I know taking Teaching Sells last year and actively participating in that forum helped me get the guest posting opportunities I’ve had lately. And those guest posts help people find my site, so it’s a “circle of customer love” that’s good for everyone.
Great post, Lavonne. You’ve succinctly wrapped up a whole lotta good points.
Jon Morrow said pretty much the same stuff on a video lesson for his excellent Guest Blogging Apprenticeship. (For which I am unfortunately not going to be remembered as teacher’s pet, because I got invited to be the content-creation partner for a new site launching on Jan 1, and those blog posts took priority. Ah, well. I’m still following his lessons, just a whole lot more slowly than I’d intended!)
Now that I think of it, I think I saw the same video. Hmm. I know I knew some of this already, but credit where credit is due – thanks!
I love the teacher’s pet story and hearing Lavonne credit her Regular Girl self with being smart. I haven’t ever been around so many people who were willing to let their light shine–ever. Signing up for and following through on #customerlove has been wonderful for me because it has given me a place to give (acknowledge my strengths) and receive (figure out where I need help and how to ask for it).
Since October 8th, I have been taking class from Tara Gentile of @ScoutieGirlBlog called Website Kickstart. Not only did I build a new website which will open for business this Friday, I have been inspired by Tara, how she focuses her energy on creating the future she wants, how she owns her strength and power, and how she shares what she knows with others in a truly accessible way. And she is way younger than I am–it gives me hope for our earth culture.
So, here I am following Love On’s advice to follow, thank, promote, write a testimonial. Now I am off to make sure I am successful, too!
Thank you all!
Woohoo – can’t wait to see your new site, Alyson! Be sure to make a big splash of it on Twitter and use the #customerlove tag to give it more exposure. 🙂
Great testimonial for Tara — don’t forget to email it to her and give her permission to use it as a testimonial.
Looks like my hippie name finally stuck, lol, thank you!