Bridging the Chasm from Lead to Loyal Customer

Bridging the Chasm from Lead to Loyal Customer

by: Julie Chance

Bridging the Chasm from Lead to Loyal Customer: A Step by Step Guide for Developing Awareness, Building Credibility and Acquiring Customers

Have you ever watched a documentary about climbing Mount Everest? If so, you will undoubtedly remember one specific segment of the journey where the climbers cross a chasm, one carefully placed step after another, using aluminum ladders strung end to end. For me, just the thought of it is enough to cause an anxiety attack!

There is a similar chasm between your product or service and your potential customers, even if it is only in the potential customers’ mind. And for them, the thought of crossing that chasm is enough to cause a severe case of anxiety.

Picture a group of your potential customers, standing at the edge of a chasm on Mount Everest and you and your product or service standing on the other side. It is your job and the role of your marketing efforts to help potential clients cross that chasm one step at a time. At this stage, your immediate objective is not to get them to purchase. It is simply to get them to take that first step out onto the ladder, followed by one more step, and than another until they reach the ultimate decision to purchase.

It is as ludicrous to expect a potential customer to reach a purchase decision in one step as it would be to expect a Mount Everest adventurer to cross a chasm in one step. So how can you begin to move your potential customers across the purchase chasm?

• Step One Awareness and Knowledge: Before someone can purchase a product or service they must be aware of it. They must also have knowledge about what problems the product or service will solve for them. They must be able to picture in their minds the benefit they will receive from using the product or service, and that picture must be enticing enough to motivate them to take that first step.

At this phase, your objective is to make potential customers aware of your product or service, generally through mass media type activities, advertising, direct mail, articles, public speaking, etc. and then to get them to take the first step by requesting additional information. You might offer a brochure, free report, newsletter subscription or other informational item in exchange for contact information. The key is to offer something that:

* Is of value to your potential client

* Provides him or her with additional knowledge about your product or service and how it will solve his or her problems

* Poses a very low level of risk or obligation on the part of the prospective customer.

• Step two Liking and Preference: Awareness alone is not enough. Potential customers must also have a positive disposition regarding your product or service. Potential customers must trust that you will deliver what you say you will. Several years ago there was an insurance company that did a tremendous job of building awareness through television advertising. However, the ads were so obnoxious that I’m sure the company ranked quite low on the liking, preference and credibility scale.

At this stage, the objective is to get those potential customers who took the first step to take a second step by requesting additional information perhaps a video or booklet, calling for a free consultation, signing up for a free seminar or teleconference, purchasing an ebook, etc. For example, a trainer might gain credibility and allow potential customers to ขsampleข their product by offering free, hour long presentations on topics related to their area of specialty. Again, the offer must be of value to the client, and should pose a slightly higher level of risk, obligation or commitment on the part of the potential customer.

• Step Three – Conviction and Purchase: The final step in the process is getting those potential customers who have begun the journey across the chasm by requesting information and then following up on the information requested to actually make the decision to purchase. In this step, personal, oneonone selling becomes the primary method of achieving the objective. And, if you have developed a relationship with the potential client throughout their journey, this step should be as simple as reaching out to take their hand as they reach the end of the ladder and step off onto the ground. And reassuring them that they have made the right decision by embarking on the journey.

While the process is simple, implementation takes a committed and consistent effort. It may take as many as five to 15 exposures to your product or service for a potential client to move through the process and cross the chasm from lead to loyal customer. They key is to plan those exposures so each one:

•Matches the level of the process where the potential customer currently is (i.e. direct mass media activities to potential customers in the awareness and knowledge phases, and use personal selling with prospective customers in the conviction and purchase phases).

•Builds on the previous exposure, automatically moving people through the buying process one step at a time.

To begin the process of helping potential clients bridge the chasm to loyal customer ask yourself these questions:

1. What are three to five ways I can have an initial contact with members of my ideal customer group?

2. What can I provide as a free offer in exchange for contact information to get people to take the first step?

3. What are two or three intermediary steps I can encourage prospects to take?

4. What are the key promotional tools that I will use at each step?

About The Author

Julie Chance is president of StrategiesbyDESIGN, a Dallas based firm that helps small businesses and service professionals Map A Path to Success by bridging the chasm from Lead to Loyal Customer. For more information or to sign up for our free Marketing Tips Newsletter go to http://www.strategiesbydesign.com or call 9727019311.

[email protected]

This article was posted on November 16, 2003

by Julie Chance

A Laymanกs Look At VoIP Should You Or Shouldn’t

A Laymanกs Look At VoIP Should You Or Shouldn’t You?

by: Dennis Schooley

ขAs business people we manufacture shin pads, or we distribute cat food, or we evangelize, but should we be considering VoIP? Will it make us more money, or save us time?ข

So what’s all this VoIP hype anyway? I mean we all know that our voice can be delivered to the four corners of the globe over telephone lines. (Actually, I missed that part of second grade math where they taught us that a ball has corners, but everybody says it, so I’ll accept it). Alex G. Bell, the second most famous resident of Brantford, Ontario, right after Wayne Gretzky of course, led us down the voice transmission path.

We’re also fully aware of the Internet. Otherwise where would we get our sports scores, weather reports, horoscopes, and genealogy fixes. So why do we care about the realtime transmission of our voice, in telephone quality, using Internet protocol (VoIP)?

Presumably the whole concept was created to deliver some benefit to us technoignorant dwellers of the house of the masses. As business people we manufacture shin pads, or we distribute cat food, or we evangelize, but should we be considering VoIP? Will it make us money, or save us time? Will it make us more efficient as a Manufacturer, Distributor, or Evangelist? If the answer to those questions is no, then we shouldn’t even think about it. So let’s explore those questions. After all, it’s all about results.

Geoffrey Moore introduced the concept that a product must cross the chasm of market acceptance in the ‘Technology Adoption Life Cycle’ in his book Crossing the Chasm. In his next book, Inside the Tornado, Moore talks about the tornado of market acceptance that lies like a siren beyond the chasm. It appears that VoIP is clawing up the far wall of the chasm, but we don’t know for sure whether it will find that toe hold to crawl out, and catch the swirling tornado winds of fortune. All indicators are that it’s going to happen. Dorothy and the Tin Man are holding their breath.

Perhaps the most significant indicator is that the ‘businessprevention specialists’, a title I usually reserve for lawyers, but in this case is applied affectionately to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the Canadian Radiotelevision and Telecommunications Commission (CRTC), have begun the task of investigating what should be regulated in the world of VoIP. The FCC has already delivered a ruling on a VoIP product offered by AT&T. That fact in itself should make us all take notice that there must be something good coming, or they wouldn’t be showing up at the dance to make sure the band isn’t too loud.

Larry Stocker, of Schooley Mitchell Telecom Consultants in Kansas City says, ขif my clients’ interest in VoIP is any indicator, then I think there will be a big increase in the provision of the service. We have quadrupled our number of assignments in the last six months alone, for clients that wish to select the right VoIP service, at the right price, from the right supplier. That seems to be a good indicator of market acceptance.ข

Another good indicator would be the number of suppliers, including the tierone Telco’s that have entered the fray to provide VoIP in their own particular flavor. That fact should cause us pause. It should cause us to challenge the original premise that ‘talking over the Internet will be free’, and that there will be no long distance cost any more. If that were the case, would all of these big companies the renowned leaders in the telecom world be scrambling to get to market to provide the service? Maybe it’s just their way of giving back to society. I’m more inclined to think there are huge profits at stake.

And now you say, ‘but I’ve already got the Internet, why isn’t it free’. Well first of all, you’ll need some kind of device that delivers ‘telephone quality’ over the Internet. Remember, I said ‘real time’. Those $20 microphones just don’t do it. In addition, have you ever tried to put someone on hold on the Internet, or call forward, or take a voice message – you know, the things that businesses do everyday.

Presumably that’s what all these suppliers are running the relay for – to sell you that ‘stuff’ at the end of the race. Whether they sell it to you outright, or whether you rent it from them for a monthly service fee isn’t the point. The point is that there is a cost to get access, as well as proper business applications. Included in the cost, which will be recovered through charges to you, are signaling, routing, protocol, and interface technologies. Oops, that’s not layman’s talk.

ขPresumably that’s what all these suppliers are running the relay for – to sell you that ‘stuff’ at the end of the race.ข

In addition to the access ‘stuff’ as a layman would say, there has to be access to the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), or I would never be able to call my mother. VoIP calls have to terminate on everyday telephone sets because I’m pretty sure my mom doesn’t have a VoIP set up at her house. She doesn’t have a bankcard, won’t stay in a hotel that doesn’t have ‘real keys’, and still loves her dial phone (definitely in Moore’s technology buying group called Skeptics or Laggards). There is no way I’ll be talking to her over her Internet connection – she doesn’t have one, and never will. So this VoIP thing will have to access the normal phone system. That’s where the FCC and CRTC step in. Their position is that if the PSTN will be accessed, then access fees will have to be paid by the providers. And up goes the cost.

In his book, Implementing Voice Over IP, Bhumip Khasnabish, says ขThe goals of VoIP implementation are to achieve (a) significant savings in network maintenance and operations costs and (b) rapid rollout of new services.ข

O.K., so it’s not free but there should be ‘significant savings’ if that holds true. Assuming those savings will be passed on, it should make me more money through cost reduction. Presumably these ‘new services’ will be designed to save me time, make me more efficient, or provide easier access to my target markets. Just think if one step can be eliminated in the manufacture of shin pads, if distribution channels for cat food are more streamlined, or the Evangelist can find more heathens to convert.

Bill Webster, another Schooley Mitchell consultant in Calgary, Alberta says, ขthe key is to assess the reliability and quality of service. If the quality is what you need, and by the way, it’s improving every day, then a costbenefit analysis is required comparing your current access to VoIP. Often times VoIP is the winner. As new services with VoIP become available over time, that win will be even more evident for the regular business person.ข

So there you have it. Should you or shouldn’t you, as the title queries? It seems that the answer is akin to; should I or shouldn’t I, when Alexander Graham introduced the telephone concept in the first place. I’m pretty sure that everyone, at least those that are alive today, eventually got one. Bell had to deal with laggards too.

It seems that this is the way the market will develop if the supply and regulatory indicators hold true. VoIP is not out of the chasm yet, but when this many suppliers enter the arena, then functionality is driven up to deliver the ‘better mouse trap’, price is driven down through competitive alternatives, reliability (the bugs are worked out) is driven up by the same forces, and you have emergence.

It seems that if you take Webster’s advice and prepare the proper costbenefit analysis, you’re likely going to be getting your kite ready for the VoIP tornado.

Copyright Schooley Mitchell Telecom Consultants 2004

About The Author

Dennis Schooley is the Founder of Schooley Mitchell Telecom Consultants, a Professional Services Franchise Company. He writes for publication, as well as for schooleymitchell.blogging.com and franchises.blogging.com, in the subject areas of Franchising, and Technology for the Layman. www.schooleymitchell.com, 8883116477, [email protected].

This article was posted on February 13, 2005

by Dennis Schooley