First Kiss - How to Win Your Client's Affection

by Andre Bell

Published on this site: April 12th, 2005 - See more articles from this month...

Many books have been written romanticizing the power of a single kiss.

The concept is that all that is required to win the heart of a would be lover is a single kiss to make them swoon with delight so the two of you can run off and live happily ever after.

But lets face it. That is just a fairy tale.

More is required than a single kiss to develop a lasting relationship.

A single kiss may be enough to ignite a flame but it takes ongoing communication to keep the relationship alive.

The same is true of marketing.

Many entrepreneurs and business owners have made the mistake of believing that all that is required for a potential client to `fall in love' and become a client forevermore is a single marketing communication.

They run a single advertisement or create a website they believe will make surfers swoon with such delight on a single contact that they will immediately become a client for life.

This is a fantasy.

To get a complete stranger to do business with you and remain your client you need to communicate with them frequently.

Offline it generally takes at least three communications to get a person to take action and become your client.

Online it can take ten or more communications.

I cannot think of a single exception. Perhaps the only time a single communication works in with event-driven situations.

Say a person's toilet breaks and is shooting water onto the ceiling with each flush. How many communications do you think it will take for that person to do business with a plumber? Yeah, just once.

Or lets say a person gets a flat tire while driving. How many communications will it take for them to replace that tire?

Those are examples of event-driven situations that do not require multiple communications to get a person to act. No matter what, they are going to do business with someone.

But for most business situations, there are no such critical events requiring a person to buy now.

So what does this mean for most businesses that are relying on a single communication? It means they are missing sales because most people do not buy on one communication.

And besides, let's face it. We are drowning in information.

Expecting anyone to remember you enough on a single contact to take action is a pipe dream. It just won't happen.

The truth is you must continue communicating with people over and over again if you want them to do business with you. A sinlge communication is rarely enough.

The best scenario for getting a stranger onboard is a multiple sequence of messages.

Each message is a continuation of a previous message that ideally builds in intensity.

Few businesses use this approach. Most sit around (lonely) hoping that their single communication will win the hearts of millions.

After you adopt a follow up system and send multiple communications to the people you are hoping to court, you can kiss your marketing blues goodbye because you will win their affection and finally live happily ever after.

This article is an excerpt from Andre's free marketing course available online at http://www.andrebell.com