Day 7: Inspire Them and They Will Come

Photo by AlicePopkorn

How do you make customers (or anyone, really) love you madly, passionately, devotedly?

The #customerlove philosophy is to love THEM madly, passionately, devotedly. And that is a great way to start – but it’s only a start. If you want them to be True Fans – who will follow you, rave about you and buy everything you have to offer – you need to do more.

You need to inspire them.

The word ‘inspire’ means to encourage, motivate, animate, bring to life. When you can do that for your people, you will have True Fans.

What inspires people?

• Laura White-Ritchie says, “Watching people take on impossible odds with their chins held high…win or lose, that puts a lump in my throat every time.”
• For Tori Deaux it’s, “Enthused, hungry reactions. Layers of fancy. Crawling inside of one another’s heads.”
• Tia Sparkles is inspired by “Love, acts of kindness, books, movies.”
• And Skaja Wills says for her, it’s “Music, my friends, creative people.”

Inspiration is different for everyone – or is it?

• Catherine Caine finds inspiration in, “Magnificence. The endless capacity to be better today that we were yesterday. And apricot pie.”
• “Brave edges” inspire Abby Kerr. “I know that sounds esoteric, but *yes*!”
• Gini Martinez says, “I’m inspired by witnessing others shrink from their true selves… I always see what I don’t want in others and it inspires me to what I DO want for myself.”
• Colin Beveridge is inspired by “people overcoming the odds, sticking to their beliefs in the face of ridicule, making themselves heard by working hard.”

We are inspired by those who have the courage to be true to themselves. Because let’s be honest, that is one scary task.

When you were true to yourself as a child, did you get universal approval? I doubt it. Even if you were lucky enough to have supportive parents, your teachers told you to stop coloring outside the lines. Your classmates made fun of you for your good grades. Your best friend told you to stop embarrassing her in front of the cool kids.

So you learned early that expressing yourself honestly was dangerous. You came to the conclusion that people wouldn’t like the real you, and maybe they were right. Maybe something was wrong with the real you. Better to keep yourself under wraps – even from yourself.

You became determined to be the person you thought you should be, whoever that was. Maybe that meant making lots of money or having a spotless house or the perfect body. And when you achieved your goal, you found that you still weren’t happy.

Is it any wonder you are inspired when you see someone who is?

You know exactly how much courage it takes to stand up and be honest – because you’ve been terrified of doing it yourself.

Oh, you’re trying to do it. You’ve read all the blog posts that tell you that’s how to attract your right people, so you’re giving it the old college try. But you’re still not sure what it means, exactly. And let’s face it, the rent comes due every month. You have mouths to feed. Better to play it safe.

That’s why we’re so inspired by those who have the guts to jump off the cliff and start to fly.

But you don’t have to jump off a cliff. As I wrote a long time ago, all you have to do is step up.

One step at a time.

How will you inspire your people? Tell me in the comments below – I’d love to know!