Last week I talked about developing relationships with complementary organizations, and how they are the key to positioning your business as the best choice amongst a gaggle of competitors. Complementary businesses are focused on the same prospects as your business at an earlier moment on the timeline, and prior to the Life Transition intersection where most of your competitors are figuratively gathered.
Developing mutually beneficial relationships with these businesses means that they will recommend your products and services to prospects who are highly qualified. Using the example of an engaged couple, they would visit a jeweler early in their preparations to get married. At the lower level of a business relationship, the jewelry store will have the business cards or brochures on their counter for couples to take that promote other companies that will be visited in the future. At the highest level of the business relationship, the jewelry store owner and staff would highly recommend the services of a business they trust to assist the couple with the success of their wedding.
A key concept is for you to work with trusted professionals who are reputable because of their excellent customer-focused orientation, are respected by their peers and clients, and their recommendations are warmly welcomed. The result of nurturing a mutually beneficial relationship with a trusted professional is you will be associated with a strong center of influence that refers qualified prospects who already trust you to offer the best Life Transition solution to their wants and needs.
As you develop more relationships with complementary businesses that cater to your prospects at a Life Transition intersection prior to the transition point you serve, you will create an ongoing stream of referrals. You will also begin to position your business as a trusted source because of the regular recommendations from other trusted, complementary businesses.
Years ago, before the Internet became a powerful marketing tool, I noticed that many of my clients served engaged couples as a common customer. They were all advertising in the same media with about the same message as their competitors and waiting for the couples to contact them. I worked with them for about a year to fine-tune a program that got the names of newly engaged couples and asked them to complete a checklist of the items they were still planning to purchase.
The couples were mailed a packet that included a checklist, useful information, and coupons from the businesses I worked with, and my clients received a useful database of names and the items the couple still needed so they could be contacted directly. Each of the businesses worked collaboratively to preempt the marketing efforts of their competitors, and the competition didn’t even know what was happening because we didn’t use conventional media to promote it.
This is a more complicated method to work in cooperation with several businesses in a strategic alliance. However, you can develop simpler Life Transition relationships working one-on-one with complementary businesses. Once you grasp the power of harnessing Life Transitions in your business and how you can become a part of your prospect’s life prior to their need for your goods and services, you’ll easily identify ways to keep customers loyal to your business and create a greater lifetime value from your customers.
To identify the complementary businesses that you can start working with, think of your most valuable target customer group and put them in the middle of a piece of paper with a circle around them. With the example I’ve been using, “engaged couples” would be in the center and circled. Now draw spokes radiating from the center circle and list all of the different categories of businesses the couple and their families will visit to prepare for their wedding. For example, the engaged couple will be visiting jewelers, restaurants, photographers, bakers, reception centers, etc.
Now that you have a list of non-competing and complementary businesses that serve your target market, the next step is to imagine the sequence or priority when each of the businesses would typically be visited so you can identify the businesses that will be seen prior to visiting your business.
Make a list of the specific businesses in each of the categories and identify those organizations that have the best reputation, and have built the strongest relationships with their customers. You will want to approach the best companies at the top on your list. In next week’s article, I’ll wrap up this series by sharing seven specific steps that you can take to make effective use of your prospects’ and customers’ Life Transitions.
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