Tag Archives: customer development

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Relationship Building – The Four Levels of Agreement – Level 4

And so we come full circle in our exploration of the four levels of agreement. Level 4 agreement – Committed Rapport – is when we have made Disciples.

I have no doubt that on October 4 a scene much like the one depicted in this graphic will emerge at the Apple event where they are predicted to unveil the iPhone 5.  Apple’s Disciples will fill the room in eager anticipation of the new device.We all wish we had such devoted customers.

So let’s look back and remember how we get to this fourth level agreement:

Level 1 was that mental ‘click’ that caught your attention. Level 2 was the move from thought to action. Level 3 is where you entered into a contract based on expectations and promises and Level 4 is where you become the ‘more than satisfied’ customer we refer to as a Disciple.

So how do you move someone from Level 3 to Level 4? What is the secret sauce, the mystery of the ages, the magic bullet that creates these fanatical followers? It takes work. In order to become a Disciple-making organization you need to remember three keys:

1. You start with Customer Service

Customer service always starts with a set of expectations. Those that were created at Level 3. The expectations of those delivering the service may not be the same as the expectations of those receiving it. The closer the match the easier it is to deliver on the expectations. Do you see why the Level 3 agreement becomes so crucial? You need to set the right expectations early on.

On the delivery end you can compare yourself to the competition and create higher expectations for what you will deliver. Your customer will be pleasantly surprised the first few times they experience this higher level of service.
After that you’ve set your own bar at a minimum that is higher than the competition but is still a minimum…for you. Now the customer set of expectations is higher when they enter your store. Now, what was once “higher than anyone else” has become “the minimum expected in this place” Because that is the minimum set of expectations, even though it is better than the competition, the best you can do is “not fail”.
Even if your standard is the best in the industry.

So how do you create opportunities for a “pleasant surprise” that lives beyond the first or second visit?

2. You have to Empower your People.

I was marshaling at a local golf course several years ago sending groups off in order from the first tee. I had a twosome who somehow got lost in the rotation. The club house had delayed in calling them down to me so by the time they did get called they were almost an hour behind their scheduled tee time. There were NOT happy. The late start meant they wouldn’t get the full round of 18 in that they had paid for because they had appointments later in the day. I could easily have blamed the club house, they HAD messed up. I could have apologized profusely,  which would have made no difference to them.

Instead I offered that we’d give them their money back for the full 18, get them out to play the 9 holes for which they had time, and give them a 2-for-1 on their next visit. They went from haters to fans in an instant! Was there a procedure for such a thing? No. Did I ask permission? No. Did I cost the golf course money? Not really in the long view. But I was empowered enough to make a decision that served the customer.

You have to empower the people who interact with the public to make service decisions instantly and you need to applaud them when they do. (Spoiler Alert: This means that every “mishap” is really a golden opportunity, but we’ll talk about THAT another day.)

3. You must Anticipate Need

Have you ever found yourself struggling to open a door with two armloads of stuff?  Ever had someone see you struggling and come up to help? Better yet ever had someone see you approaching the door, bounce past you before you got there, and opened it for you? That anticipation of need creates a different level of appreciation than just meeting the obvious need of someone struggling with a door. As I mentioned in Preparing for Disciples:

“Customer service that fosters Disciples does not seek to merely serve the customer needs in the moment. It seeks to anticipate what the customer’s needs will be tomorrow and stands prepared to meet them or even preempt them.”

Anticipating need is all about knowing your customer. Not just at a transactional level but at a motivational level as well.

These three keys, customer service, empowered people, and anticipated needs will help you move from Level 3 agreements to Level 4 agreements smoothly setting you on the road to Disciple making.

Expectations are crucial in moving from Level 3 to Level 4. What would you guess your customers expectations are when they deal with you?

Do you meet the minimum expectations or do you constantly seek to raise the bar?

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Relationship Building – The Four Levels of Agreement – Creating Level 2

Last week we started to look at relationship building from the perspective of four levels of agreement.

Level 1, Cognitive Resonance, was that mental click that happens when something gets your attention. Level 2, Completed Response, is the move from thought to action. That thing you do in response to the mental click. So if our premise is that relationships build as you move through these four levels of agreement how do ensure that your “call to action” is something doable?

Have you ever been in a meeting where someone presents a 30 slide presentation FULL of information that is nothing more than just that, information? No application, no ask, no call to action.

Several years ago I was doing some communications consulting with a large technology company. They told us of a meeting that had been held by the Senior VP of sales in which he recounted which of their product lines they were going to focus specifically on in the coming fiscal year. Good information right? Problem was he didn’t provide any call to action and as a result:

  • The support group wanted to know when they were supposed to announce end of support for the lines that were not in focus for the coming year.
  • Development teams on the non-focus lines started updating resumes in fear they were going to be let go.
  • Marketing started working on messaging around migrating customers off of the non-focus product lines.
  • Multiple meetings were called to try to figure out the impact of dropping several of the product lines.

Finally the VP had to call yet another meeting to “announce” that they weren’t going to drop ANY product lines. They were just going to put specific focus in the coming year on the ones he had mentioned previously. Which, by the way, didn’t alleviate ALL the fears…it just extended the runway.

Contrast NO call to action with the sidewalk evangelist who approached a friend and I, when we were nine years old, leaving little league tryouts. This kid was probably in high school or college, all the same to me…I was nine, and he was really in to “sharing the gospel”. Having “grown up” in the church I was interested in what the guy had to say, not sure if my friend was, and listened politely. He came to the end of his schpiel, with a few leading questions along the way, and asked if we wanted to confess our sins and ask Jesus into our hearts. Hmmmm…call to action (for a nine year old): Admit that much of what you have done in your nine years is wrong, confess that to GOD, and give Him complete control of your life, right here, while we’re talking, on the sidewalk, after little league tryouts, without asking your parents. Yikes.

Let me share a couple characteristics to remember when sorting out your call to action, that thing you’re asking someone to do to move to a Level 2 relationship.

1. Make it Clear and Actionable – “I want you to consider supporting” is not a crystal clear action. “I want you to support” isn’t either, they’re both passive asks. Remember this is an action step. You want them to do something physically. “I want you to support this initiative by taking two actions…” Those two actions are your clear ask.

2. Make it Right Sized – The ask of the street evangelist to a nine year old is huge. How about asking the kid to attend a church service with his folks?  “Get up out of your chair and sign up for classes today.” Again, huge. There’s cost, schedule, class choice, a lot of decisions that go into that ask. “Come try a one day class for free.” Relatively easy. (By the way this is where offering freebies is a GREAT call to action: come try it.)

3. Make it Low Risk or at least Risk Appropriate. – Remember you’re early on in relationship here. Trust has to be earned. Think about the risk you’re asking someone to take. Give them an easy first step to build confidence in the relationship, then follow that with a next easy step.

The “risk free 30 day trial” is a great attempt at a clear, actionable, low risk call to action. Are you skeptical when you see that ask? Why or why not?

Can you think of a time when your call to action was either absent or too big? How Could you change that?

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Relationship Building – The Four Levels of Agreement – Level 2

Last week we started to look at relationship building from the perspective of four levels of agreement.

  • Level  1 – Cognitive Resonance
  • Level  2 – Completed Response
  • Level  3 – Contractual Responsibility
  • Level  4 – Committed Rapport

We explored Cognitive Resonance: that mental “click” that happens when something stands out and makes you take notice, and talked about how to create Cognitive Resonance for your potential customers, parishioners, or clients.

So what is this Level 2 – Completed Response all about?

Imagine that you’re walking through the kitchen in your home and the TV is playing quietly in the background. A commercial comes on, it’s for a local car dealership, the LAST thing you need to do is listen but the volume has suddenly reached that epic, please-don’t-use-your-outdoor-voice-in-the-house level like all commercials do. You grimace, shake your head, plant your face firmly in the fridge, and then you hear: “Everyone who comes in and test drives today receives a free trip to Paris, France!”

You stop what you’re doing and turn quickly to face the TV. You want to be sure you heard that right. The announcer continues ranting but manages to convince you that there is no apparent catch. All you have to do is go test drive a car and get a trip. Your interest is piqued! You’ve JUST entered into a Level 1 relationship with the dealer. Now what?

Now you have a choice to make. Will you believe it enough to go test drive a car? You rational brain kicks into overdrive analysis mode.  There has to be a catch. They couldn’t afford to do that even if they marked up every car significantly AND sold one for every two test drives. “Paris, France” must be a name they’ve given to their sales office or something. It cannot be.

At the same time your heart is fighting back. What if it IS true? What if their owner also owns an airline? How big of a hero would I be if I took my wife to Paris? I’ve got nothing else going on this afternoon, I should go do it!

At this point you’re on the verge of entering into a Level 2 agreement, the Completed Response.

While Level 1, Cognitive Resonance, is a passive, almost automatic reaction Level 2, Completed Response, is a cognitive active choice that involves some form of physical action.

You observe the girl across the room, hear her talk and are intrigued by her combination of looks and intelligence…”click”…Level 1 agreement. But unless you walk over and introduce yourself OR go do some “friend research” to learn more about here, both Completed Responses, the relationship never moves forward.

You hear the car commercial offering the trip…”click”…Level 1 agreement. You internally debate. But unless you go test drive a car OR talk to someone who has tested the offer, both Completed Responses, the relationship never moves forward.

In traditional sales this is typically referred to as the “call to action”. This is the “what I want them to do” after they hear the pitch. It is important to remember that the Completed Response involves physical action. It moves the relationship from thought to action. Too often we present ideas, try to sell products, attempt to build relationships with little or no thought to this call to action. We present information to folks and HOPE they’ll make the right choice or give them an ultimatum: buy today. There is art in creating the right call to action. There is elegance is providing an easy path to a Level 2 agreement.  We’ll look at the “how to” next time.

Think about the last time you tried to recruit someone, to sell something, or even to convince someone of a new idea.

Did you present the information in a way that would inspire a Level 1 “click”?

And did you follow that up with an easily achievable and understandable call to action that made for a seamless transition from thought to Completed Response?

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Relationship Building: The Four Levels of Agreement – Level 1

Last time we looked at how relationships grow through four levels of agreement. We identified the first level agreement as Cognitive Resonance, that instant where your attention is captured enough to create a connection, a first level agreement. We described Cognitive Resonance as:

It’s the brain buzz, the ‘click’, the “hey, that looks interesting”. It’s that thing that happens when the server walks by with someone else’s food and you start madly scrambling for the menu to see if you can figure out what that was because “THAT looked goooood.”

It’s that moment in a conversation with someone you’ve just met where you start to pay closer attention because you were suddenly struck with the thought, “Hey, I think there could be more to this person.”

It’s that third recommendation of a restaurant that makes you think, “Yeah, we should check that place out.”

Make sense? Good. So here’s the question of the day…

If you can identify what the moment of Cognitive Resonance feels like how do you inspire it in others?

Whether you’re trying to woo potential customers, build a congregation, or simply make friends knowing how to create that moment of Cognitive Resonance is key to getting out of the gate on the right foot. I believe there are two key operating principles you MUST  employ when you’re looking to create a moment of Cognitive Resonance for people.

Principle 1: It isn’t about you, it’s about them.

The picture at the top of this post is the first magazine ad I was ever tasked with creating. It was a half page ad in a magazine that was going to be distributed to all attendees at a large industry conference being put on by a large software company.  I looked at the ads that all of our competitors had done the previous year and they all sounded the same. “We’re the best.” “We’re the biggest.” “We have more.” ” We, We, We”  That’s why my ad emphasizes the word YOU. I wanted to start with the prospect in mind. In fact, we go so far as to tell them what they want. Pretty bold move.

This was an ad that I really thought would be more or less a throw away. We got it free as a sponsor of the event. But you would have been amazed at how many people came by our booth and mentioned it in one way or another. The change in approach that put the focus back on the customer prospect, rather than on trying to scream how good WE were louder than our competitors, actually caused people to pause. It created a moment of Cognitive Resonance.

Now I’ll admit, taking that approach you have to know pretty well what the prospect really wants. But that is exactly where marketing lives today. Traditional marketing was about screaming more loudly than the competition how good your stuff is and because it is so good, Mrs. Customer, you know you want it.

Relational marketing, or tribal marketing, or social marketing…whatever label we’re going to land on here shortly…is about understanding the customer and speaking to their need. And if you do THAT well you’ll create a moment of Cognitive Resonance.

Doing that WELL leads to principle number two.

Principle 2: Understand the customer and start where they are.

Customers, potential church attenders, soon to be friends all have needs both recognized and unrecognized. The better you can identify those needs the better you can meet them with a product, service, or relationship.

For years I sold software. People selling software always assume the customer wants to buy software. What started to bug me was that we sometimes lost the sale, to “no decision”. WHAT?!?! They bought NOTHING? The reason was that while software sales people were assuming that the customer need was for software, the customer felt they needed to solve a business problem. They HOPED software might solve it but the NEED was a solution to a business problem. In general then the bulk of the software sales people I was running across were starting in the wrong place!

We began creating presentations that said nothing about software. I had several CEO’s for whom I worked nearly go through the roof with me on that. Our presentations started talking about the business problem, in detail. Without fail we’d have a major prospect, or analyst, or board member stop us only a third of the way into our presentation and say, “You get this better than anyone else we’ve talked to. Now how do we solve it?”

By starting where the customer was, with their felt need, we were able to move very quickly to a moment of Cognitive resonance that set us apart from the competition. We also started selling more software.

Looking at your set of potential customers, or attendees, or friendships how can you start making the conversation more about them than about you?

With those folks you have in mind is there a difference between what they think they might need and what YOU think they might need? How can you start where they are and bridge the gap?

 

 

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Relationship Building – The Four Levels of Agreement

Imagine for a moment that you’re trying to figure out how to build and grow a customer base. Or, if that’s not your thing, imagine you’re trying to figure out who you ought to mentor. Or, if you need something more basic, imagine you’re trying to sort out who to date. In any of these instances what you’re really trying to do is build relationships. Some of us are good at it, some of us stink at it, but all of us need to do it really to be successful in life.

Look again at those three scenarios. Beyond just building relationships what’s REALLY going on there is a desire to build ever deepening relationship and THAT takes work. It’s work that move people closer to each other, work that builds bonds.  In fact I want to suggest that people enter into deeper relationship based on increased levels of agreement.

Think about that statement for a second. You probably can’t name a single person with whom you have any depth of relationship AND with whom you completely disagree. It just doesn’t happen. (Except perhaps with some random members of your spouse’s extended family but that is a unique category.) There is always a “something” that draws us towards some people and away from others, towards one product and away from others, towards one service provider over another and that “something” is the level of agreement.

Now, this doesn’t mean that you and your close friends agree on everything, nor does it mean you like all the same things, nor does it hint at some sort of bizarre, cliquish, neo-cloned relational similitude. What it means is that the relationship itself is moving through four levels of agreement.

We’ll look at each of these in the days ahead but in overview the four levels are as follows:

  • Level  1 – Cognitive Resonance
  • Level  2 – Completed Response
  • Level  3 – Contractual Responsibility
  • Level  4 – Committed Rapport

So what in the world is Cognitive Resonance?

It’s the brain buzz, the ‘click’, the “hey, that looks interesting”. It’s that thing that happens when the server walks by with someone else’s food and you start madly scrambling for the menu to see if you can figure out what that was because “THAT looked goooood.”

It’s that moment in a conversation with someone you’ve just met where you start to pay closer attention because you were suddenly struck with the thought, “Hey, I think there could be more to this person.”

It’s that third recommendation of a restaurant that makes you think, “Yeah, we should check that place out.”

Years upon years ago I was working with a bunch of crazy Junior-high kids in San Diego and, as happened every summer, we took a bunch of them to camp. The first night of camp the guy who was serving as the “men’s dean” for the week introduced the women’s dean as the “cutest girl in camp”. Being a guy in my mid-twenties I obviously took a more than a passing interest in THAT pronouncement and thus invested a more than casual glance. While I had to objectively agree with his assessment I was, at the time, engaged to be married only a few months hence, and thus I took no other action. No, really, I promise, I didn’t do anything.  Until the next morning.

When the “cutest girl in camp” got up on stage to do her morning announcements and devotional with the kids I experienced a SIGNIFICANT moment of cognitive resonance.  (No, I did not think in those terms.)  What I did think was:

“Wow, she’s pretty sharp… and funny… and pretty good at what she does, and…man, I’m thinking that what I’m seeing here may answer a couple questions I’ve been asking… and…”

See where that’s going? Yeah, that’s where it went. We got married a year later and have been married for 21 years.  To be fair, and transparent, our relationship moved through all four levels of agreement over the course of that year but it all started with the moment of cognitive resonance.
Who are the people in your life today, probably in the category of acquaintances at the moment, with who you’ve had that twinkling of an ah-ha moment, that moment of cognitive resonance?

If you’re looking to build a customer base what are you doing to provide those moments of cognitive resonance for your prospects?

Have you had a personal experience where you can clearly identify the moment that cognitive resonance first took place?

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So…why Disciple Making as a concept?

image courtesy of cornnius at sxc.huThe word Disciple, for most people, either conjures a mental picture of the biblical twelve or of some quasi-cult-sci-fi-horror devotee of an incredibly evil/demonic villain. (Now THAT is an interesting contrast to explore in and of itself, but I digress.) The concept of discipleship is ancient and carriers many nuances depending on which particular tradition you examine.

The Greek philosophical schools used a type of discipleship model. Students typically paid masters to learn from them in a much more “dialogue through life” educational approach than our schools use today. Eventually the students became proponents of what they had learned from their masters. Socrates to Plato to Aristotle being perhaps the most well known of these linkages.

Eastern religions such a Hinduism and Buddhism contain within their practice the concept of disciples: those who submit themselves to the teachings of the master in order to climb the path towards enlightenment.

The biblical notion of discipleship grows out of an origin in rabbinical tradition where a student followed a rabbi, typically paid for the opportunity and devoted themselves to the teaching of the rabbi’s interpretation of the Torah with the intent of eventually becoming rabbis themselves.

In general them the common thread seems to be that disciples engage in four activities:

  • They commit themselves by choice
  • They pay for the opportunity
  • They devote themselves to deeper understanding
  • They seek to promote the teaching of the master.

In a marketing context the term we typically find used is “net promoter”, those people who, on a scale of 0-10, say that they are “highly likely” to recommend a good, or service, or business to a friend. There exist some pretty solid arguments for why this is such a valuable piece of information to track and such a valuable score for a business to increase.

I want to suggest that a Disciple goes beyond simply recommending IF they are given the opportunity. The third activity of the disciple holds the key.

They devote themselves to deeper understanding. This means they want more than the menu items. They want to know the back story. They find value in the business ethics and decision making paradigms of a company to whom they give their allegiance. They don’t just want to know and use “what” you do, they want to know “why” and “how” you do it.

Of course, you can’t just give lip service to the “why and how” you have to actually live it. Just like the rabbis and Greek philosophers and Buddhist monks have to.

When I was in full time vocational ministry I used to joke that there seemed to be a fine line between ministry and marketing when it came to church growth. This model of Discipleship lends itself to a different approach to spiritual discipleship than we see in most churches today but it also has some seriously strong ju-ju in the marketing world. Whether you run a corner store, a home based business, the local soccer club or a fortune 500 company you’ve got people out there who want to promote you if you’re giving them the goods.

Do you give potential Disciples access to the “why and how” of what you do?

Do they get to see your “corporate values” exhibited in your dealings with them?

More importantly do you live by them when the customer isn’t looking?

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Good food + Bad service = bad blog review

Our family went out to dinner the other night to celebrate our son Ian’s 16th birthday.  He had chosen the Melting Pot, a fondue restaurant in downtown Colorado Springs.  (Compare this to the choices his siblings made this past year, California Pizza Kitchen and Johnny Carino’s) We showed up a bit early for our reservation but they got us right in and seated. We had informed them that it was Ian’s birthday and they had offered, for a mere ten dollars, to take a picture and give it to us in a commemorative frame, we said, “sure, why not.”

Our waiter was a decent enough fellow just finishing his premed degree, who welcomed Ian by name, wished him a happy 16th birthday, gave him a birthday card signed by the staff, and deftly explained the menu options. After all three of the kids choked back whispered shock at the prices we settled in to the routine of a meal out which, at the Melting Pot, consists of four courses: cheese fondue, salad, meat fondue, and chocolate fondue.

The first bump in the road came when our waiter, who shall remain nameless, only brought four instead of five plates with the cheese course. He apologetically ran off to get another plate. After he got the table sorted he asked if we thought we might need more of any of the dipping items: bread, veggies, fruit etc. and we told him we’d definitely need more bread. This turned out to be bump two since his, “Bread, gotcha.” turned out to mean, “I’m not bringing any more of anything.”

Bump three hit when we had to sit through the entire course panting into empty glasses awaiting refills. When the very pleasant bus person came to help clear the first course she also welcomed Ian by name and wished him a happy sixteenth birthday.

Bump four came with the wrong number of plates again on the third course. (We must have confused him when only four of us had salads on the second course.) Bump five was another parched twenty minutes between refills, during which time the manager came by, wished Ian a happy 16th birthday, by name, and said he’d be back to take our picture when they brought out the chocolate course, apologizing for our empty glasses as he dashed off. He must have said something because another server came by to refill our glasses and guess what. She wished Ian a happy 16th birthday! By name!

Bump six, we took our own picture so the candle wouldn’t melt ALL the way down AFTER it had caught the stem of the maraschino cherry on fire, bump seven, they finally got around to taking their picture when we were clearing the plates…but the person who came to take the picture DID wish Ian a happy 16th birthday, by name!  And bump eight, the final jolt, came when they forgot to bring back the printed version of the picture they’d taken. We had to ask for it on the way out. The person who tracked it down smiled as she put it in the frame and wished Ian a happy 16th birthday, by name.

At the end of the experience, which my son Nathan pointed out lasted three hours, we felt like we had had some really good food, and some of the worst service we’d had in a long time.

Moral of the story:

You can add all the little niceties you want but if you don’t cover the basics the niceties just seem cheesy. Pun intended. If you want satisfied customers, who can later become Disciples, you MUST cover the basics.

When you serve your customers are you putting more effort into the “nice to have’s” or are you making certain that you provide solid service on the “must have’s”?

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Preparing for Disciples (Marketing version 1.0)

Stock image courtesy of nosheep at sxc.huLast week we looked at the notion of Disciples as “more than satisfied” customers and created a working definition for Disciples in a marketing sense. While it can be easy to make excuses about your particular enterprise and its worthiness in terms of attracting disciples let’s set aside that skepticism for just a moment and look at some preparatory essentials. These are the attitudinal building blocks that lay the foundation for Disciple making:

1. You have to be prepared serve

A customer who gets exactly what they expect is satisfied. A customer who gets more than what they expect on a regular basis is ripe for becoming a Disciple. This means that you need to be prepared to go above and beyond ALL THE TIME.  It’s easy to imagine a company like Disney or Apple creating Disciples because they provide goods and services that tap into some of our core emotions and values: Family, Coolness, Escape, Social acceptance etc. But how does a lawn service or a purveyor of pencils make Disciples when the goods and services they provide are much more mundane? By going out of their way to serve the customer. Customer service that fosters Disciples does not seek to merely serve the customer needs in the moment. It seeks to anticipate the what the customer’s needs will be tomorrow and stands prepared to meet them or even preempt them.  Are you ready to anticipate and serve your customers future needs? Then you’ve begun laying the foundation for Disciple making.

2. You have to be prepared to give

Two of the characteristics we identified as hallmarks of Disciples were that they typically self-identify and that they crave ‘insider’ information. (And I’m not referring to public trading) They want to feel like they are a part of your organization. If you’re going to capture this sentiment you need to be prepared to give some form of recognition. It may be that you’ll give recognition by creating some form of membership or named group, it may be that beyond a named group you’ll provide levels of involvement, it may be that you’ll provide members with information not available to the general public. It doesn’t always mean that you’ll give away material goods, but you may choose to do that as well.

I remember standing in line to get into the Denver Zoo one summer when our kids were small. There were several new exhibits and the line literally stretched around the block. We happened to be annual pass holders at the time and I clearly recall 90 degree heat, one child strapped to my back with another in a stroller,  and no recognition that we were pass holders. We stood in line with hundreds of folks who had never seen the zoo. Now, imagine they had had a separate line for annual pass holders, that this simple change was the only ‘perk’ they gave us. Not only would we have felt as sense of thanks and recognition for  being pass holders but we would also have stood in a far shorter line. Now, how many annual passes do you think they might have sold that day had they chosen to simply give out some turn-style recognition?

Remember, this giving of recognition is above and beyond your normal service offering. “Hey, you like what we do? Why not join us? And once you do here’s what you’ll get!”

3. You have to be prepared to nuture

Sounds touchy-feely I know. In this instance think of nurturing as being something as simple as drip feeding, a little water now and again to keep growth happening. If you’d like to see a phenomenal example of this approach do a little web research into Jack Daniels Tennessee Squires. According to several sources:

“The Tennessee Squire Association was formed many years ago to honour special friends of the Distillery and their world-famous Tennessee Whiskey. Many prominent business and entertainment professionals are included amongst its members”

I know about the Squires because my dad was a member. He was given a “plot of land” (I eventually learned it was about an inch square) and at least once a year something would come in the mail, a horse chestnut from “near your property”, a plug of tobacco from a “local boy”, or some Jack Daniels logo item reserved for the Squires.  By following up over time the company nurtured the relationship and my dad was a pretty brand loyal guy I have to believe, at least in part, due to that nurturing.

So, still a skeptic? Still think your brand of organization isn’t suitable for Disciple making? Are you prepared to anticipate and meet need? Are you prepared to give recognition? Are you prepared to nurture your customer relationships? Then you may be more prepared than you think!

What is the biggest stumbling block you face in moving towards creating Disciples? How can it be moved?


 

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What is a Disciple? (Marketing version 1.0)

When we hear the word disciple we tend to think immediately of the twelve guys that followed Jesus around the pages of the Bible. The truth is that many businesses today are out to create disciples they just refer to them using other titles: Advocates, Raving Fans, Maxxinistas, Trekkies and so on.

These folks are much more than just satisfied customers. They are ardent followers of the brands, products, services, and personalities they espouse and support. They’ve gone well beyond clicking the ‘Like’ button, they’ve got skin in the game!

So how do you know if you’ve got disciples?

I recently “attended”, on Facebook, the cast reunion for the film The Big Lebowski. The Achievers, as these fans refer to themselves, gathered in New York’s Hammerstein Ballroom to celebrate the release of the film on Blu-Ray and all the key players were there on stage: John Goodman, Steve Buscemi, Jeff Bridges, the whole gang.  But this wasn’t just a one time event, no sirree. The “Lebowski Fest” happens every year in about a dozen different cities. Hundreds of people drives hundreds of miles to attend these events! Imagine Star Trek convention meets Woodstock in bathrobes and you’ll get something of a picture.

But this type of behavior isn’t a random anomaly.What we have here is the first of four characteristics that are exhibited by disciples:

1. The tend to self-identify and gather

  • Disney started the D23 Expo in 2010, an annual event conceived as the ultimate Disney fan event.
  • Apple fans flock to the MacWorld conference every year in droves.
  • Microsoft is launching “HaloFest” in celebration of 10 years of game play. (Has it been that long?)
  • Oracle OpenWorld packs out San Francisco every fall.

To be fair these events aren’t just attended by disciples, the general public comes along as well, otherwise there would be no one to convert. But pay closer attention to some of the conversations occurring at these events and you can start to distinguish the Disciples from the attendees. Watch what people are wearing, it’s a good first clue.

2. They’re typically VERY well informed

A second characteristic of a Disciple is that when it comes to knowing the inside scoop on the brands they support they are connected to the rumor mill, the social media hubs, and the official publications even before they become official. Disciples take pride in knowing things before they’re generally known. They crave this information. They feed on it. They ache to be ahead of the curve. As such they may well know what people are saying about you before you do!

3. They have strong opinions about “their brand”

If you happen to visit Disneyland around the Holidays ask a cast member or two if they’ve heard any complaints from guests about the Holiday changes to some of their favorite attractions. Many Disney Disciples actually find these changes offensive because it smacks of disrespecting of traditions and they’re quite vocal about it! Whether you agree with the opinion of these types of radical zealots or not they can give you insight into how customers may respond to changes you’re considering.

4. The don’t just advertise, they evangelize

Folks who have crossed over to disciple-dom don’t just want you to know about their favorite game, or television show, or computer they want you to adopt it as your own. They go out of their way to try to convince others of the superiority of their brand. They become an unsolicited, unpaid, sometimes undisciplined sales force.

But what if you could harness their energy? What if you could leverage their enthusiasm, provide ways for them to feel even more “connected” to the inside scoop they crave, and give them tools to help them make converts? If you could find a way to create one Disciple out of every five satisfied customers what sort of organic sales force would you have on your hands? There is power here for those that know how to identify it and harness it for good!!

Does your organization have Disciples? If not, why not? If so, how are you mentoring them?

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Commercial Perfection

Have you seen the new Perrier commercial?

This is really brilliant stuff, especially when held up next to much of what is being aired these days. If you’ve seen it in context, meaning on TV, it really stands out from the commercials on either side of it. Why? you may ask, what makes it so appealing? Let me suggest three simple elements:

1) It Understands the Medium:

Television is a visual medium. The visuals of all the melting landscape and props are artistic candy. Watch the actors as they interact with their melting surroundings…great stuff. There is a trend in commercials today to be more reliant on audio, the thought being that people are headed to the fridge with their back turned to the tube so we better give them an audio message. This piece is purely visual communication. Walk to the fridge with your back turned and you won’t know what the commercial is about but watch it, and you’re captivated.

2) It Tells a Story:

We’re drawn in early on to the mystery of why stuff is melting. We shown the main character with a look of confusion approaching panic. She moves toward resolution and then the story arc peaks as the bottle falls off the ledge, a moment of high tension. We get it, we know where this is headed because we’ve seen it before but the piece is so artistically done, the story so visually well told, that we follow it anyway.

3) It Resolves on the Product:

The moment we see the “heroine” drink deeply in the pool we think, or at least I thought, “refreshment”. No slogan is spoken, no print on the screen, but the idea is clear, and more importantly, it is centered on the product. Not the funny person in the video, not the comedic climax, not the tag line, the product. We’re given one word “Perrier” and we provide our own tag line, highly personalized, subconsciously.

What are the places in life where you are trying, or have to try, to convince people to do something, or try something, or decide something? Do your “commercials” understand the medium in which you’re presenting your idea? Do you have a story to tell? DO you focus on “the product”? The thing you want them to choose?

It may be trying to get your kids out of bed in the morning. It may be trying to convince a friend to start exercising with you. It may be trying to sell your boss on a new idea. How can you leverage these three elements to convince your audience in a more compelling way?