“Not everything in business and life is a revenue event but everything is a relationship event.”
~ Brian Kurtz
Is your business transaction based… or relationship based?
When I ask this question, sometimes the person sitting across the table looks at me as though I’m crazy, “Every business is based on transactions. If you don’t have transactions, you don’t have a business.”
This is only true in a superficial fashion because transactions without relationships are probably one-off events based on price rather than long-term interactions based on value. As a business owner, I know which I prefer!
What Contributes to a Long-Lasting Profitable Business?
I’d say there are just a few key elements:
- Profitable attraction of new customers;
- Satisfactory retention of existing customers;
- Exponential expansion of value to customers;
In fact, you could probably sum all of these up in one word: TRUST.
… they trust you enough to do business with you in the first place;
… they continue to work with you because you deliver what you promised;
… their experience assures them that you will continue to deliver what you promised (or acknowledge when you fail).
If that doesn’t describe a relationship rather than merely a series of transactions, I don’t know what does. Certainly, it may not be an intimate relationship, but it is a relationship nevertheless… and without that relationship your customers will be looking around for greener grass, shinier objects, and lower prices no matter how well you serve them.
How Does Direct Response Marketing Build Relationships?
Relationships are built over time. That can be elapsed time (like your friendships with kids in primary school), or emotional time (like a friend of mine who met and married the love of her life in the space of 41 days).
Business relationships are usually built with a combination of the two. It doesn’t usually have the instant attraction and intensity of a spontaneous courtship, but it does involve the customer spending enough time ‘with’ the vendor that they feel sufficient trust to move forward.
Direct response marketing awakens the emotions, but it also involves consistent communication so that before long a prospective buyer has spend quite a bit of time with the vendor:
- reading ads, social media, and blogs
- looking at their website and sales letters
- searching on google
- listening to podcasts and other audio
- watching videos
- reading books
- scanning emails…
The time-trust equation is the reason why longer videos, sales letters, and books are so effective. They claim more of the prospect’s time, so that the prospect has already invested heavily in you by the time he finishes your material.
You Still Need to Attract their Attention!
Time spent in your company is important, but if you don’t appeal to their interest and curiosity in the first place you won’t get anywhere. That’s why your headline, offer, and promise are so very important.
Without ‘sizzle’, you won’t attract attention, without ‘substance’ you won’t hold it. One of the great copywriters said:
“The purpose of the headline is to attract attention. The purpose of the sub-head is to keep them reading,… and so it goes, all the way to the end of the letter. If you’ve held their attention until then, the reader will do whatever you instruct them to.”
Long is good (if it is captivating).
New is intriguing (if it is also trustworthy).
Consistent is key (because more than any other element, consistency builds trust).
Curious About Direct Response Marketing?
The Melbourne Magnetic Marketing Entrepreneurs Mastermind Group is led by Debra Hilton, Australia’s only Magnetic Marketing Advisor and a cadre of other experienced Magnetic Marketing practitioners from a variety of industries. We meet monthly in Box Hill on Tuesday evenings to provide entrepreneurs and ambitious business owners with a safe yet challenging environment in which to develop and refine marketing campaigns that will attract high quality leads that convert to lifelong customers.
Come along and see for yourself what we do and decide whether you want to join.
To learn more and sign up for notifications visit https://memg.com.au.
NB: This is not a sales or referral meeting. Our purpose is to help each other reach our ideal clients, patients, and customers more effectively.
