How Love Builds Momentum at $833 Per Person
by Mark
Silver
Published on this site: March 23rd, 2006 - See
more articles from this month
One obvious thing you need in a business to build momentum is a list of interested
people. Whether you are sending email, postcards, newsletters, CDs or balloon
bouquets, having that group of interested people is who you want to be in touch
with.
So, the obvious obsession of most business owners who understand
this is "How big and how quickly can I grow my list?" When you have
50 subscribers, you want 500. When you have 500 you want 1500. When you have 1500
you want 5000. And when you finally reach 5000, you are drooling at those lists
of 10,000, 20,000 and 50,000 subscribers.
Stop drooling.
Sure,
a large list is nice to have, but it's no magic carpet. I know business owners
who have lists with 4000 people, even with 10,000 people who are still struggling
to have a profitable business. God love those business people- they are doing
many things right, but are missing the answer to the $833 question.
Don't
feel bad, many people miss this one.
6,000 subscribers = $5,000,000/year
I
know someone who has a list of about 6,000 subscribers. And the business does
$5,000,000 annually. Divide that by 6,000 and that's $833 per subscriber per year.
Sure, the website could use a lot of improvements, the business model could use
a tune-up, but the business is still performing, without any additional
advertising
or marketing.
How does the business do it? It's a four-letter-word: Love.
Here's
the $833 question: How much do you love each other?
Poets and sages
have wrestled with Love throughout the ages, but I'm concerned with just two definitions:
- Love (noun): Affection based on admiration, benevolence, or common
interests.
- Love (verb): To thrive in (the rose loves
sunlight). (Merriam - Webster Dictionary)
It's not Love itself that
turns your business around- it's what Love inspires you to do. Do you admire your
subscribers? Do feel benevolent and generous towards them? I'm already assuming
you have interests in common.
And, the biggest question: do you know
what helps your subscribers to thrive? We have a ficus tree in a corner of our
house next to a window. Every few months we need to turn the tree around. Why?
Because it keeps turning and growing towards the sunlight. We turn it to keep
it growing evenly, but no matter which way we turn it, it grows towards the sunlight,
because that's what it needs to thrive.
If you aren't providing, through
affection, admiration and benevolence, what your subscribers need to thrive, they
won't be turning towards you. And you won't be thriving.
The ancient
wisdom said it best: Love increases Love. If your subscribers are thriving, you'll
be thriving.
Except that's not always true...
What makes the
difference between being in a mutually-thriving relationship with your subscribers,
versus just giving and giving and giving until you are depleted and broke?
Keys to Answering the $833 Questions
- Thumbs-down
on being "professional."
I don't mean that you should show
up for work with oatmeal dripping down your shirt, or not showering in four days.
What I mean is- be human. I see many people writing newsletters to their subscribers
that are very.... careful... You can almost see the thought balloons above their
head: "I hope I said it right. I hope I don't upset anyone. I hope they like
me."
Wow... that's an exhausting way to write, and an exhausting
read. Instead connect to your heart, and connect to the hearts of your subscribers,
and act like you would if your best friend asked you for help concerning something
you do in your business. If you did you would yuck it up, and just let your generosity
flow out of you.
- Send Valentine invites.
When
you love your friends, you invite them over to dinner, or to a party. If they
are good friends, you invite them often. And I bet your friends always ask, 'What
can I bring?' And you usually feel great about saying, 'Bring dessert.
Invite people to buy from you with this same attitude, and do it regularly. Offer
them what they'll love, and will help them thrive. And don't be embarrassed to
ask them to pitch in- that it will cost them money to do it. If everyone pitches
in, then it becomes a potluck, and everyone thrives.
- Call
them in the middle of the night and talk for hours.
Love makes you
do crazy things. Keep in touch with them often-when you love someone, you want
to hang around them a lot. That doesn't mean 'when you get to it.' That doesn't
mean 'once a quarter.' The most successful are in touch with their subscribers
at least every two weeks, even better at once a week, or even, in certain instances,
more frequently. The business I described above sends out two emails a week, and
has for years, with raving responses.
What do you tell'em when you
call? Let love inspire you to learn more and more about what you do for your business
and share that, generously, with your subscribers. Plus, tell them sweet nothings,
like telling them your favorite tapioca recipe, which I did a few weeks back.
Love inspires love. Generosity inspires generosity. Showing up consistently
inspires loyalty and connection. Go love the heck out of your subscribers.
My very best to you and your business,
Mark Silver
Mark Silver is the author of Unveiling the Heart of Your Business:
How Money, Marketing and Sales can Deepen Your Heart, Heal the World, and Still
Add to Your Bottom Line. He has helped hundreds of people in small business succeed
without losing their heart, through integrating 1500 years of spiritual tradition
with down-to-earth business practices. Get three free chapters of the book online:
http://www.heartofbusiness.com
|
