How to entice customers to work for you

IT IS time for marketers to look beyond the customer-centric marketing model.

It is time to start looking at customers as brand ambassadors and lead generators.

This new way of marketing covers three areas: marketing, sales and service.

From a marketing perspective – modern day marketing has changed. We can still influence what people say about our brand, but we can no longer own the conversation.

We need to start embracing a brand dialogue as part of our marketing approach.This means driving positive brand conversations. Sixty percent of people will recommend or buy from a brand based on their perceptions of the brand, only 40% of this behaviour is driven by perceptions of the brand’s products.

To gain new customers we need to delight our target markets by creating great experiences, we need to personalise customer interactions, and accelerate innovation by streamlining our marketing.

From a sales approach, for companies and brands to stay relevant, we need to start looking beyond our products, services and differentiators, and to answer a call to make our customers’ lives better and easier.

Did you know that 57% of a customer’s decision-making process is finished before their first interaction with sales?

To engage customers like never before we need to connect with customers earlier to shape their vision and we need to try and guide them through their purchase journey.

It is also essential to create great buying experiences.

When it comes to service, it is time for us to know more about our customers than they know about us.

We need to understand what our customers prefer and need from us to promote our businesses and brands.

The fact is that 59% of customers are prepared to try new brands to get what they want from a customer service perspective, and as much as 71% of customers feel that companies and brands do not do enough to keep their loyalty and business.

To engage our customers as brand promoters, we need to start enhancing their satisfaction with world-class experiences at every opportunity.

We need to grow customer loyalty through efficient operations and add value in every interaction to drive increased sales and revenue.

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