Goodman on Marketing

Stay Ahead of the Pain

Any medical procedure can be difficult and it’s important to listen to your Doctor. This is especially true when it’s your 3 year old daughter getting her tonsils out. Rubie’s tonsils were so huge they were causing problems with her sleeping and eating. So, we set the date and got it done. Now the recovery period!

It’s late at night and Lisa and I are taking turns holding Rubie and trying to get her to take her medicine. She resists, quietly saying, “I feel okay.” But, we remembered the words of her doctor, “you need to stay ahead of the pain.” He said it’s best not to wait until she shows signs of discomfort or irritability, but to be diligent in giving her a dose every 4 to 6 hours.

It strikes me that this is what we tell our clients about marketing, and recently, it was demonstrated to me that I should practice what I preach.

This past month we had a “Client Code Red,” which means a client told us that they were planning on leaving us. It happened to one of our affiliate companies, one that is in a real growth stage. Since our business model is to build on our monthly base of business, the potential of losing a good customer was not in our plan. And, this all seemed unexpected; we did not see any sign of the company being, well, uncomfortable or irritable with our services. Wait a minute…

So, not one to let a “good” customer go, we went through a lot of pain to keep them, something that we would not have had to do if we had just stayed ahead of the pain, listening and meeting their little concerns before they grew into something very painful.

There has been multitudes of studies showing why customers are lost, and it’s not because of price or even product dissatisfaction. On average, the studies show that 68% of customers leave because of the “Perception of Non–Caring” on the part of the vendor.

Perception of Non-Caring? We really do care about our customers, but the key is that the perception of our customers is what really matters. But, how do you know what a customer’s perception is? Well, you ask them. Part of our renewed effort to keep customers is something that I have used in previous companies and is summarized with the goal:

“To make our customers so overwhelmingly happy that they do not have a choice, but to do business with us.”
To address this, we need to “Stay ahead of the Pain” by doing an ongoing (regular dose) marketing approach to communication, focusing on listening with our customers as we look for any signs that their perceptions are changing, or for any indications that they are not as happy as they should be, or are becoming a bit uncomfortable or irritable with our services. Doing so will help us keep from enduring the pain of future “Client Code Reds.”

So, as I sit here late at night holding Rubie and hoping she will soon fall asleep and sleep through the night, I remind you, and myself, to listen to the Doctor of Marketing; communicate with your customers, listen, and do your marketing research to understand the signs of the changing needs in your marketplace. Because, it’s a lot easier and cheaper to “Stay ahead of the Pain.”

Table:
Why Customers Leave
Courtesy of Rockefeller Corporation
“Making the Sale: Getting Great Clients to Choose You”

Readers are invited to take a survey at www.ceoiowa.com

Jim Goodman is the President of Customer Ease, a marketing consulting and research company in Des Moines. Jim founded the CEO Center (Creative Entrepreneur Organization) for assisting in the growth of Iowa businesses. Jim is also an adjunct
professor for Drake University teaching Entrepreneurship and Marketing Research. To reach Jim: jimg@customer-ease.com or 515-471-1301.