Swans, Kookaburras and Ducks
Most marketing experts agree that databases can be divided into 3 distinct groups:
• The people who have an intimate knowledge of what you provide and who adore you so much that they send referrals to you hand over foot without your even having to ask.
• The people who understand what you provide, and do like you, but they don’t often think to refer unless you ask them. They need gentle prodding.
• The people who are not yet “on board”, who may not even have bought from you yet, and who probably wouldn’t refer you because they just don’t know you well enough.
You could call these database segments A, B, and C, but we find that a bit boring and impersonal. We called ours Swans, Kookaburras, and Ducks, but it’s the same thing.
Why I Picked the Bird Theme
Before anyone thinks I am belittling my clients by referring to them as birds, let me explain the story behind this! In 2003, when I first developed the concept of strategic alliance networking (which I called Speed Business Networking), based firmly on relationship building rather than deal building, it looked very much more like people standing around having a very good time. Rather than looking like a networking session, it looked like what it was, authentic business friends engaging with each other with mutual respect, in a nurturing and fun environment.
During one of these my husband arrived toward the end, to find me, glass in hand at 4 o’clock in the afternoon, laughing and chatting and having just the best time with a group of business buddies. He said to me, in front of everyone bless his socks, “What are you doing here swanning about?” (Yes, we’re still married, and it’s a good thing I have a strong sense of humour!)
I thought to myself “swanning about – what a delightful way to describe networking when it’s done the right way” and from there the idea of “Swans” was born.
So Who are “Swans” and When and How Do I Communicate with Them?
Swans had to describe my very best friends in business, the people that I just love to pieces, and whom I feel loved by in return. They’re the people I have coffee and meals with, and invite to my home, and share my life with. They’re the people I will go to the ends of the earth to refer business to and who do the same for me.
We didn’t pick each other because of any deal we could see. We didn’t pick each other because of perceived “usefulness”. None of those things are a valid basis for friendship. We picked each other simply out of mutual admiration and recognition of shared values, principles and philosophies. When we eventually grow old and retire, it’s likely that we’ll still be friends.
The deals, referrals, and other support that have flowed from these relationships are a natural function of what happens when people who like each other spend time together. And it can’t be faked.
Swans are precious, and there aren’t many of them. We treasure each other and we take every opportunity for a quick phone call or coffee, or even write off a whole afternoon for a terrific lunch and chat. Invariably we discuss the businesses we’re so passionate about, and have enormous fun working and creatively brainstorming together to help each other.
Something like 80% of referrals comes from our Swans. It’s only natural that we’ll spend at least 80% of our networking time with them – and it sure doesn’t feel like networking in the conventional sense of the word. When I’ve spent time with one of these wonderful people I come away thinking “It’s people like these I went into business for” and feeling inspired and motivated to do even more.
I have a sub-group of Swans that I call “Black Swans” after our official State bird. The Black Swans are people I’ve actually formed strategic alliances with. These are people who impress me not only professionally, but personally. Because I spend so much time with them, I come to know their business intimately, almost as well as my own, and I enthusiastically represent them to everyone else I know. Likewise my Black Swans know me and my business. They know with absolute confidence that I help sales people and business owners to increase their revenue probably better than just about anyone. So when my Black Swans have clients who need to grow, or who need guaranteed winning sales people, they don’t hesitate to recommend me.
Literally, we are helping to build each others’ businesses.
Kookaburras
Kookaburras are people whom I like, and whom I’m pretty sure like me too. They might not have bought from me, but they could in the future. They’re happy to recommend me, but I do have to remind them.
How do I remind them? Simply by keeping in touch. 2 months is the maximum I will go before getting back in touch. More typically I’m sending little titbits of news, announcing events, or sending our monthly ezine “Business Strategies for Success”. About once a month we call them for a quick chat if they’re around, and we might suggest meeting either in their office or for coffee.
Importantly, we’re never in any way pushy. We’re friendly, we’re warm, we’re informative, we’re caring. All we’re saying is “this is us, and we’re here if and when you want us”.
And as we’re getting to know these people better, we’re looking for the Swans amongst them: more business friends to welcome into our inner circle.
We spend about 15% of our networking time with our Kookaburras.
Ducks
Ducks don’t know me very well, and I barely know them. Maybe we just don’t “click” or maybe we just need more time to get to know each other. I can’t get inside their heads and force them to like me – all I can do is to stay in touch, keep letting them know I’m here if they need me, and wait.
Often Ducks turn into Kookaburras and sometimes even Swans, but in any case we would be very silly to spend a significant portion of time with a group which represents almost zero business and zero referrals.
I am not going to communicate with the same warmth to the Ducks because that would be presumptuous of me. You know what it’s like when someone you hardly know greets you like a long lost friend? That awful stomach churning feeling that you get when someone is pretending to like you? Don’t gush over your Ducks – you’ll send them quacking to another pond altogether! Simply stay in touch and they’ll come to you if and when they’re ready.
You Don’t Have to Call Millions of People!
Believe it or not, a single sales person can easily and comfortably manage a data base of 1000 with just 1 hour a day (accounting for weekends, public holidays and annual leave, where you make no calls).
Do the math. To keep such a data base “warm”, you’ll need to make contact every 11 weeks. So you’ll call each of those people roughly 4-5 times a year. That’s around 4500 calls divided by approximately 230 working days, or 19 telephone calls each day. It takes roughly 1 hour to make 20 telephone calls because by the time you get to the second cycle of the same people, they already know you and the call is merely a courtesy call to let them know something new, or tell them there’s an informational brochure or email coming, or whatever. Half the time they won’t even be there and you’ll just pop something in the mail, fax or email instead.
The point is, your relevant message is in this person’s face, in a nice way, regularly enough that if the need arises it is YOU that they think of first. You don’t have to “sell” to this data base, you just need to communicate regularly, consistently, and personally. You need to build a relationship. In fact if you try to “sell” this data base, you may just burn it, instead of keeping it warm. Far better results are gained by using these calls to build relationships, not to sell!
The statistics on appointment “hits” from such a database are very interesting indeed:
1st call - Less than 1% will see us
2nd call - 2-3% will see us
3rd call - About 7% will see us
4th call onward - More than 60% will see us!
You can see why I just love data bases! And you can see why I don’t feel the least temptation to stop calling! Used well, data base “massage” is the ultimate way of making sure that when the need arises, that person will call YOU!
If your sales people don’t already use their own or the company’s data base, use this topic to discuss issues around putting a data base together. I have had one sales person tell me there was no point having a data base because people only bought from him once (first home buyers, very low end of the market).
Of course this is nonsense because many people he saw could not yet qualify for finance, yet if he kept them "warm" and provided good advice, could qualify in 12-24 months' time. In addition, the people he had sold to (as well as the people he was keeping “warm”) would be the best possible sources of referrals because they would know similar people. He was turning his back on the easiest sales he could possibly have made. Did he change tactics? No, he was too stubborn and too dumb to take good advice. Did his sales go up? Doh!
I guess he didn’t care. He was making about $150,000 a year. Thing is, he was robbing his company of millions.
Next discuss with your team what messages they are going to give to their different segments. How often will they meet with the A-listers? They’ll be contacting the whole data base roughly every 11 weeks, so what series of promotional/informational products will be matched with each communication? How can they use that consistent, persistent, personal communication to build trust and rapport with that data base?
Keep in mind that that information may only indirectly relate to your product or service. For example in the case of the fellow I described above, there would be no point just sending information about his product to people who’ve already bought it because they will never buy from him again. Instead he should have been sending information about how to increase the value of their home, and reminding them about referrals, asking them to identify friends who could be customers and passing information on to them, telling them about a support service that would engage people before, during and after their purchase in order to build loyalty and referral streams, announcing information nights, etc.
This is the exact same process we used to take a down-and-out consultancy to 1.3 million dollars in contracts in just 6 weeks. Used strategically, you can use this process to dramatically impact on your sales also!
Why the Gold is In the Data Base and How to Dig it - To learn more about this author, visit Christine Sutherland's Website.
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