Humpty Says ' Low Cost Marketing Wins

Humpty Says ' Low Cost Marketing Wins

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When business results fall the marketers ask for more budget; but if money is tight can Low Cost Marketing, or even No Cost Marketing, be the answer for you? "Tell me more so I can evaluate it.", you rightly demand. Run alongside me for a few short paragraphs and I'll explain (with some help from my chum, Humpty).

The tale begins nearly 15 years ago now when I began to put into practise lessons learned whilst working with the great Howard Shenson. I had never actually met Howard, but I was a great admirer of his work and his early death from a heart attack had saddened and shaken me. Howard was a great researcher and had, on his own, found out what was special about what the very top earning US business consultants of his day did to build their practices. (Personal Earnings of $1,000,000 per annum and upwards.)

I had been invited to review Howard's ground-breaking book, "Shenson on Consulting". I was blown away except, having been brought up in the "where's your evidence for that?" school of science, I was a little concerned that we might be generalising too readily from research that was purely North American. I contacted Howard to ask if there was clear evidence that showed that what was true in the USA was equally true globally. His reply was typical of the man, "Let's find out". So I too became involved in the research in Europe and beyond.

The results indicated that Howard had been right. Where his work was known the highest earners were using "no cost marketing", where the work was not widely known, they would have been enormously better off had they done so.

Humpty intervenes

I can virtually feel Humpty, the inveterate lover of "operational definitions" tugging at my sleeve. He, and probably you, my reader, are both wondering when I am going to indicate something that is relevant to the price of fish. Now seems to be a good time. No Cost Marketing is the avoidance of what Howard would call, "paid for promotional puffery", which is replaced by a totally convincing demonstration of what you have to offer. It is here that Customer Engagement and No Cost Marketing come together. There can be no more convincing proof that you deliver superior customer service than when your delighted and loyal customers engage themselves in bringing superior customers - including, in some cases their competition - to beat a path to your door. It is the ultimate demonstration of customer loyalty, and is the real 'No Cost Advertising'.

Is that the end of the story? By no means - no cost marketing is only another stop on the exciting customer journey that is true Customer Engagement. The next opportunity that real Customer Engagement delivers is that of ethical Market Dominance.

This time I had better satisfy Humpty's need for definition immediately.

Market Dominance is when you are delivering products and services so matched to your engaged customers' needs that your competitors have no other choice than to spend time and money playing the game according to your rules. All the research has shown that competitors first try to copy the leader's tactics, but it's a hopeless task because it is the strategy that goes through the organisation that counts; they end up running rapidly but still losing ground to you.

And it does not stop there. Growth in the numbers and quality of your worthwhile customers gives you a rare opportunity to save more time and money and continue to hit your competitors below the waterline.

Even when you are good at Customer Service some customers are not worth the time and effort expended on them. Research shows that if you can create an Action Plan that will enable you to build your worthwhile business through engaged customers - and, of course, your own activities - you can afford to release those that are more trouble to serve than they are worth. These will be snapped up by your competition and they will carry the extra cost of servicing their demands.

Once Customer Engagement enables you to think in terms of Ethical Market Dominance you are in control of the only worthwhile game in town.

About the Author:
Professor Tom Lambert is an author, international consultant and avid researcher as well as Chairman of TripleIC Limited, the only company that is authorised to use the Lambert Protocol. This measures your company's Customer Engagement (the vital key to sustained success) and provides a clear route to "Action this day" for your growth. Come and meet the team at www.tripleic.com



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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