Do What You Always Do, and You'll Get What You Always Got

There used to be a computer game called 'Leisure Suit
Larry - Looking for Love in all the Wrong Places.' How
appropriate that concept is to the vast majority of
businesses: they are looking for customers in all the
wrong places.

There is a famous true story about a Chiropractor who
built a million dollar practice, sold it, then went
right ahead and built another million dollar practice.
He generated more new clients each month than most
Chiropractors manage to generate in a year.

When asked what his secret was he answered: "I don't
know how to get 100 new clients in one go, but I do
know 100 ways to get one new client. I just use them
all."

What can we all do to build our businesses in this way?

There are a five 'key strategies' every business should
be making maximum use of:

1. Product excellence: if you sell poor quality goods
and services, you will probably find it hard to get new
customers. The power of negative word of mouth is
mighty indeed.

2. Customer service: bend over backwards to please
your customers and they will bend over backwards to
recommend you to their friends. Get it wrong and
prepare to incur their vindictive wrath.

3. Persuasive offer: people like to be sold to. The
more you can dress your product or service up in fine
silk and satin garments the more they will want to buy
from you. Even if what you are selling is exactly the
same as Joe Schmo down the road, if your is better
dressed, yours will impress. What is this finery I am
talking about? Benefits. Wrap up what you sell in its
Sunday-best benefits suit and it will take on an aura
of quality that is irresistible.

4. Customer contact: relationship marketing is the
buzz-word at the moment, and that pretty much sums it
up. I can never understand why so many businesses think
they are exempt from this astonishingly powerful
marketing technique. Rule number one for every
business, whether it is a local baker, a mom and pop
grocery store, an Internet marketing company or a
multinational corporation is to collect the names of
the people who buy from you. If you don't do it, every
customer (or even browser) who walks away from you is a
lost opportunity. You are literally throwing money
away.

5. Added value: also known as the 'irresistible
offer.' A guy called Bob Stupak turned a run down
slots-parlor in Las Vegas into a fantastically
successful hotel/casino. He went on to build The
Stratosphere hotel resort at the end of the Las Vegas
Strip. He used all of the five key strategies, but in
particular was a master of the irresistible offer. He
said: 'pay me $396 right now, and I will give you two
nights in a deluxe room, unlimited free cocktails, free
champagne, free show tickets, restaurant discount
vouchers, AND $1000 of MY money to gamble with.' Of
course, it worked a dream.

Each of these 'key strategies' is vital to any business
if it is to succeed and thrive. But, assuming you have
followed each and every one of them faithfully, you
still have to get new punters through your door every
day. And word of mouth - no matter how powerful it is -
is only one way of getting new customers.

The true value in the story about the Chiropractor is
in the powerful concept of doing new things all the
time.

Most businesses, if they bother to promote themselves
at all, follow a very narrow path. They do the same
things over and over, and wonder why they keep getting
the same results.

"If you do the same things today as you did yesterday,
don't be surprised if tomorrow never comes."

Every business should set aside some time each week to
find a new promotional idea. Many of them won't work,
but when they do ... boy, listen to the till going ka-
ching!

There is a bookstore in my local town. The owner has a
truly awful position, tucked away off the main street.
Most bookstores rely on bestsellers to drive traffic
into the store, and passing trade. This guy doesn't get
much passing trade. Yet his business is thriving.

How does he do it? He has a deal with the local cinema
and offers cheap movie tickets if customers buy the
novel. He takes time to visit local schools and does
book readings - and he gives the schools a cut of the
profits. He gets every customer's name who comes into
the store (wherever possible) and sends out a monthly
newsletter with great special offers. He does dozens of
other things too, but most importantly, he multiplies
himself.

Knowing he has a small store in a side street, the one
thing he lacks is a highly visible shop window. Most
people would be put off by that fact alone and give up
- or never open in that position in the first place.
Not this guy. He looks for ways to joint-venture with
as many shops in the High Street as he can. He offers
the other shop keepers free ads in the newsletter in
exchange for a small window display. He puts flyers in
the books he sells for other stores in exchange for
window space. He creates special displays for other
stores with books relevant to what they sell (travel
books for the travel agent, for example). The result is
that this tiny little back-street bookshop has more
High Street shop windows driving traffic his way than
almost any other business in town. And in doesn't cost
him a penny.

This is the real secret to getting new customers:
thinking outside the box. And it applies to just about
any business you can think of.

"Do what you always do, and you'll get what you always
got."