What’s the first thing you think of when I say “first time?”If you said “sex” you are just as smart as Google! (Try typing in first time and look at the results.)
Being a newbie at anything is often mortifying. But you can’t get good at anything without starting. Whether it’s a first kiss, your (ahem) “first time,” or even something a heck of a lot more mundane like your first blog post, the first time you do something, you’re not going to be good at it.
When LaVonne asked me to write a guest post for Customer Love about what it’s like to be a “first timer,” I went back and read Naomi Dunford’s original post again. In it she says,
Make friends as if your life depended on it. Be helpful. Give lots of shout outs. Send link
love. Generally be the nicest, coolest, smartest kid in school.
Uh-oh.
Here’s where insecurity strikes. What if you weren’t the coolest, smartest, nicest kid in school? What if you were generally considered an introverted weirdo? What if you hate Twitter and want to commit acts of badness upon the ever-present Fail Whale?
Is there hope for people like us?
I think the answer is yes.
Love is a Many-Splendored Thing
I’ve owned my own business since 1995. I actually have a few customers who have been with us for 10 or 15 years. The business itself has completely transmogrified multiple times, but we still offer a lot of the same services. We just position them differently now.
Quite a few of my customers don’t care that now I call myself a “book publisher” when before, I was a “Web designer” and before that, I was a “technical writer.”
I’m still me.
When customers email me, I answer (often within hours). When they give me a project, I do what I say I’m going to do, when I say I’m going to do it. When people buy our products, they get customer support from a real live human being, not an autoresponder. Past clients know they can still email me with questions.
It’s not that hard to be awesome and treat your customers well, but few people actually do it. If you do, you’ll find out what real customer love is all about.
Can’t Buy Me Love
The Customer Love challenge is all about putting yourself out there to attract attention with your awesomeness, but if you treat your existing customers awesomely, you’ll attract a fan base that lasts way longer than one month and one big product push.
We’ve all seen the Internet marketing “guru” types who go out there and market the crap out of something that’s basically crap. (“It will change your life and you don’t have to do any work at all!”)
They simulate awesomeness for about 15 minutes, stirring up a frenzy until you whip out your credit card. But people aren’t stupid. This type of phony customer love is icky and let’s face it, sometimes the Internet is a lot smaller than it seems. If you’re in business for the long haul, you don’t want that bad karma.
(So please don’t be that guy — or buy crap from that guy.)
When you take the concept of customer love to heart, you end up with long-term customers. These customers you work with for years turn into something even better than just plain old customers. They become your friends. (And couldn’t we all use more friends?!)
The Power of Love
If you’ve read about the Customer Love Challenge and felt like you might be a bit too weird, shy, introverted, or geeky to commit to it, don’t worry that you need to suddenly become someone you’re not.
We can’t all be as fantastically flamboyant and wonderful as Naomi Dunford. But we quiet types have something to offer too.
Some days I don’t feel awesome and I dread it when the phone rings, because I don’t want to talk to anyone. Most days Twitter hates my satellite Internet connection, so you won’t find me on any Twitter chats, either. But then I’ll get an email like this one out of the blue from a customer who bought one of my books a couple years ago:
I reread your entire Publishize book last night. It provides so much valuable information. Just thought I’d let you know that you are the #1 EXPERT on this topic!
Assuming you’re a nice person (and I hope you are), you can make your customers love you by being the best you possible, over time.
The results are worth it. That’s the power of love.
Your task today is to love on your existing customers. [If you don’t have any yet, think of the people you serve in some way without being paid.] Tell us in the comments how you plan to rock their day.
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[…] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Colin Beveridge, Customer Love. Customer Love said: Day 6: Love Isn't Blind. Or Stupid – http://is.gd/gLRRm #customerlove […]
[…] Day 6: Love Isn’t Blind. Or Stupid […]
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Excellent post Susan.
My main goal is to be honest with my customers and potential customers. I don’t tell them they’ll get rich quick through freelance writing or selling their own materials, and I don’t tell them it’s easy.
And honesty also means being honest with myself and just being me online. I won’t be one of those people with a strong, edgy, stream-of-consciousness personality like Naomi Dunford — it’s just not who I am.
My goal with what I do online is to enjoy the process as much as possible and make sure it doesn’t keep me from living a full and happy life offline.
I agree about being honest with your customers! In my world, I encounter SO many people saying you can write a book in two hours or two days. Saying you have to work to achieve your publishing goals is an unpopular stance, but an honest one. And I have to sleep at night 😉
You’re preaching to the choir as far as having a life outside of work. The whole reason we started our company was to have the flexibility to live where we want (which in our case is in the middle of a forest in rural Idaho). Although being in business can be stressful, it’s also empowering because it gives you the freedom to live your life on your own terms.
Susan, we’ve both used our businesses to live in beautiful rural areas. To me that’s one of the main advantages of a successful and mobile business. I can do my work and walk right out my door and hike in the woods.
Exactly! I go on hikes in the woods every day. And of course, my dogs like it a lot too 😉
Honesty is so huge when you run a business. Not just about timetables for work and contracts and stuff, but about what you can and cannot accomplish. I’m always pretty clear with my clients that when I write copy for them, it’s not a magic bullet. They still have to get eyes on their site, make sure it’s formatted right, etc. As you point out, nothing great ever came with zero work involved.
I think a lot of the issues with marketing come from people feeling pressured to market their products as a quick fix, rather than a tool that can help someone accomplish something. We all feel these pressures to be miracle workers, and most of us aren’t. That’s really okay, but I think we all need to come to terms with that and this marketing stuff would be a lot easier.
Fantastic post. 🙂
Thanks Holly! I agree that sometimes you have to embark on a little “tough love” with your clients and tell them things they may not like.
In my case, more than once I’ve had to tell an author that her book needed help. Serious help. Potentially expensive and time-consuming help. Those are hard conversations to have! But like you say, it’s still not a magic bullet and it’s gonna take work 😉
What a great post, Susan!
One thing I’ve figured out in my wedding art business is that there are places to automate, and places not to.
For example, customers can order online, and I do my best to answer questions on the website. But lots of people still have questions, and either email or pick up the phone and call.
On the surface this seems like a big time-suck, and it is. But the personal connection people get from those contacts, and the assurances that I will lovingly help them through the process and patiently answer each and every question (even though the are the same questions *everyone* has and I’ve answered them thousands of times before) makes people feel well taken care of.
And as a result, that much more likely to buy from me when they are ready to order. (Or just feel really validated in their decision if they had already decided to buy from me.)
I also forward tracking info directly, even though an email is auto-generated by UPS when I make the airbill.
Oh, and I send a thank you note. I never know whether this brings me new sales or not, but don’t underestimate the value of a genuine thank you, with no strings attached (no pushing of other products, just a plain and simple “thank you and I wish you a lifetime of happiness together” kind of note).
All of these things take time, sure, but they make me feel good about myself and my business, and that good karma pays back in the long run, I’m sure of it!
This is my “background business,” which runs in the background, as it were, while I’m developing new income streams with my blogs. As that identity is still being shaped, I’m in the process of finding out what my Customer Love opportunities are!
I’m excited about my Sandbox Sessions, though! If you need help just biting the bullet and getting down to work on a project, these sessions can really make a difference. (And free all through the month!)
I agree! I’m married to a programmer, so hey, we talk automation here a lot 😉
But with that said, if someone buys a book directly from us, they get a personal thank you letter, a bookmark, and even my business card in case they want to get in touch. Like you said, I don’t know if it really results in more sales, but I do know people send me emails later about the books, so I’m sure the personal touch helps.
In fact, yesterday, I called a person who bought two books and placed two separate orders. I wanted to make sure he didn’t have some type of mouse freak out (click mistakes happen!). There wasn’t a problem and he was happy I called. He was even more happy when I told him I was charging less shipping since I could pack the two books together.
I hope you’re right about the karma points. I love your creativity blog and what you’re doing! Thanks for commenting and RT-ing my post 😉
I tell people the truth – it’s who I am. It just so happens that we’re talking about how to manage their creative business and accounting for it. It would boggle my mind to misrepresent any of that.
Related to that – I love helping my people make their business better – just love it! So much that I’d do it for free if that’s what it came to.
The downside – for me – is having to tell lovely people the truth about their business when it’s bad news – had to keep tissues in my office 🙁
BUT, then we get to the problem solving making things better part and we’re in love again 🙂
The problem-solving aspect is fun and definitely part of the love. When you can solve people’s problems, it’s really satisfying 😉