How to Serve a Feast that Keeps Em Coming Back

by Mark Silver

Published on this site: October 14th, 2006 - See more articles from this month

I'm sitting here eating Medjool dates, one after the other. Yum. And, when I'm done with what I've got, I'm going to go get more. Why am I going to buy more, and more, and more dates?

These dates hold the key to building a long-term relationship with your customers, as well as making your business profitable in a way that feels really good.

The dates have solved a problem for me: I have a real sweet tooth, but eating a lot of sugar leaves me feeling yucko. By eating dates, I can enjoy my sweet tooth without the yucko sugared-out feeling I get from candy or pastries.

It took me awhile to figure this out. After eating dates for a few weeks, I suddenly realized, 'Hey, I don't feel sick after eating them.' So, I became a committed date-eater.

Okay, that's why I want dates. But it's not why I'm going to buy more dates.

The obvious reason for buying more dates?

Because I ate the ones I (used to) have. They're gone.

In other words, if the dates don't get eaten, I don't get more. They sit in the cupboard. And, if I let them sit there until they go bad, I may never buy any more.

Are your customers eating your dates?

We are often so focused on getting someone to make the purchase, that we forget about supporting them to actually use what they buy. You aren't in business to just make a quick buck, to have someone buy once and then disappear. You are here because you want to make a real difference for people.

Making a real difference in someone's life often takes more than one interaction. A single Medjool date, and I would have been back to pastries and chocolate. A consistent supply of them, and my health and diet change significantly.

Plus, there's a significant bonus for you.

You may not have realized this yet, but a business becomes profitable because of repeat sales from the same customers. It's not that the first sale to someone isn't profitable (it should be), but the time and effort it takes to really walk with someone while they build trust with you and your offer, until they become a customer- you can't rush that.

And so, at the same time you are looking for new customers, you can be supporting your current customers to eat, and come back for more. For their sake, and for yours.

How are you helping your customers eat your dates after the sale?

Helping them eat the dates is important.

Keys to Serving the Feast

• Plan at least a three-course meal.
  
  Whatever your business, you can begin to think of a helpful sequence of offers for your customers. Like with many healthy meals, you start out with something smaller and digestible to get their juices flowing, and then something more filling, like a soup, before moving into a main course.
  
  An example of this would be a service business that offers first a book, or audio CD, then the next step would be an introductory class, leading to a more in-depth class, and finally ending up with perhaps individual consulting of some sort.
  
  What three, four, or five course meal can you plan for your customers?
  
  
• Let them know how good it is after they've bought.
  
  When someone makes a decision to purchase something, but hasn't used it yet, it's really easy for 'buyer's remorse' to spring up. Make the effort to supply a new customer with testimonials, encouragements, and recommended ways to use whatever they've bought, so they can become engaged more quickly, and start receiving benefit. It's when they start to receive benefit that they relax again into trusting the decision they made.
  
  Otherwise, buyer's remorse may keep them from ever using what they bought, even if they never return it. It may just sit on their shelf, collecting dust.
  
• Treasure hunt time.
  
  Lead them through using your product or service. Maybe two or three weeks after they've purchased it, if it's a book, you can point out something on page 49. If it's an audio, ask them to listen to track 3, or a 3 minute segment starting at minute 14.
  
  By pointing out something specific, they get curious. They'll go looking. And, once they find it, they'll start to get value.
  
  
• The bonus?
  
  If you help them to eat your dates, and they love them (and they will, because you have such delicious dates), there is a much higher chance that they'll rave about your dates to other people...
  
  ...who will then come to start nibbling at your feast. The more, the merrier!
  
  Enjoy!

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 small business owners around the globe succeed in business without losing their hearts. Get three free chapters of the book online: http://www.heartofbusiness.com