You and I are bombarded by commercial messages. While Consumer Reports estimates the average American receives 247 commercial messages each day, it seems like I get more than that in emails alone. Each of us has to adopt a coping mechanism to get through the day without spending all of our time reading and listening to advertising. You and I … Continued
How to Stop Your Members from Quitting
With all the reasons your members have for quitting, is it any wonder you’re able to keep your members at all? As a matter of fact, while there are many reasons for your members to quit, there are five — and only five — reasons your members will stay. Members stay for … 1. Return on investment — value received … Continued
Something I believed that held me back
“I’m amazed at how much you get done.” I hear this all the time from clients and friends. Actually, I’m the one who’s amazed. Not because of how much I accomplish, but because they are impressed. It doesn’t seem like I’m accomplishing that much to me. All I see is the long list of unfinished projects left to do. Still, … Continued
Unleash a Vibrant Community Among Your Customers to Become the No. 1 Player in Your Industry
What if you owned more than 45 percent of your market? The mutual fund company, The Vanguard Group, does just that. More than 45 percent of the money flowing into mutual funds today goes into a Vanguard managed fund. You’d think they wouldn’t need to do much for their customers. In fact, since they specialize in index traded, set-it-and-forget-it type … Continued
If you ran a Harley dealership
“The swirl” is one of the things we talk about with Harley-Davidson dealers when we are coaching them to improve the profitability of their dealerships. At any given time in a dealership, there are customers considering buying motorcycles, trying on clothes or waiting for their motorcycles to be serviced; service techs working on motorcycles; parts orders arriving via UPS; and … Continued
Using the Power of Exclusivity to Grow Your Revenue
Understanding exclusivity and how it can be used to motivate customers into buying doesn’t make you exempt from its power. In fact, it’s the real reason I’m running the Boston Marathon. I want to be in that exclusive group! There’s no good reason to run a marathon. Yeah, the marathon is 26.2 miles long, but that’s the least of the … Continued
Mentally prepared to make a kill
The mother lion slowly creeps closer to the edge of the prairie where a family of gazelles grazes nearby. The gazelles are always skittish. Ever watchful to protect the herd. Yet as they graze, the lioness creeps closer. The lioness has a pack of cubs in her den. She’s been hunting for hours, ranging from one prairie to the next, … Continued
Becoming attractive to customers
“Don’t I know you from somewhere?” he asked me. “No, I don’t think so.” I was shopping for clothes at the mall. I’d recently gotten a new job, I was 22 years old and I knew few people in town. “Where do you work?” He asked. I answered and asked him where he worked. He told me he owned his … Continued
A Rarely Considered Member Churn Factor That’s Easily Managed
“Let me get this straight. You spent $45,000.00, and now you’re going to make three trips to Baltimore to spend a week in some training class? You’ve been repairing cars for years. What are people in Baltimore going to teach you, you’ve been in the business for years?” This was the beginning of the conversation I imagined between an excited … Continued
What Gets Ignored Dies
It was so frustrating. It was like everyone else was from a different planet. There wasn’t a single person who “got it.” My first info-marketing business targeted the association industry. I promoted a product teaching associations how they could recruit and retain more members. For 10 years I attended events where association executives got together. I spoke at many events, … Continued