Cuddling after the sale

Let’s play a quick game of translation:

After sex, not staying the night or indulging in cuddling, pillow talk and whispering sweet nothings is another way of saying “I’m not that into you. To avoid awkwardness, I can’t show affection to you because it will encourage a deeper emotional connection that I either do not want with you or am not ready for”

It’s one thing to have mindshare with your customers. It’s a whole other to have their heart. Brand insistence and advocacy occurs when a customer’s perception of a company/brand goes beyond the practical and enters into the realm of cherished life experiences. Brands like Lexus, VW Bug, Starbucks, Levis and McDonalds have all had tremendous success by demonstrating incredible savvy with connecting with their customers emotions.  Since AFTER the sale is the time to build that connection, why are so many companies so quick to jump out of bed with their customer once the sale is made?

The process of reaching optimal value of a customer has only just begun at the point of the initial sale. At this point, this customer probably has:

1.       Cost more money to obtain then they spent (or close to it)

2.       NOT raved about your product/service to their sphere of influence

3.       Reached optimal value through repeat purchases

When companies have a structured, objective strategy on how to communicate with each customer or potential customer at each phase of this cycle designed to push them to the next level, great things happen. These post sale outreach efforts must be innovative, focused and go beyond your typical loyalty program discount mailings and 24 hour customer service/tech support.

Imagine a restaurant empowering it’s top brand advocates to dictate selected operational aspects of the restaurant such as future menu items through exclusive sampling and voting privleges?

Probably one of the most successful marketing projects I have had the opportunity to execute thus far in my career was a press release public relations campaign for this catalog retailer and cookbook publisher. All of their cookbooks contain only recipes submitted by their customers. We were able to utilize this fact to obtain a substantial amount of publicity across the country in the local newspapers of customers across the country. Several of the customers obtained full page spreads spreads in their leading newspaper’s Sunday Life section.

The benefits of this campaign were priceless. Because the publicity was obtained in both the company’s target demographic and existing customer’s backyard, the connection with that community was invaluable. Moreover, it conveyed a message that the company valued it’s customers and a lifestyle that they hold dear. Something very few other marketing tactics could achieve.

A little cuddling can go a long way.