We all spend time everyday talking to people, although while I have to admit that normally most of my conversations are done via email, recently I’ve spent quite a few hours on the phone, as is reflected in this mornings phone bill. It’s been a topic of this blog before in a slightly different guise, but yet again I find myself being drawn back to look at the art of relationship marketing.
Perhaps the phrase ‘relationship marketing’ is another buzzword created by bored office workers. Incidentally, I’ve just discovered a rather amusing website www.theofficelife.com, where words such as “alpha pup”, which is used to describe trendsetting young people, or “apple polish” which means to suck up are posted by office staff, who clearly have their own way of communicating between themselves. I’m only glad that in my office we tend to talk pure ‘local’ so everyone knows what we are on about.
I digress slightly, relationship marketing. What businesses all over the globe claim to know everything about, after all if they didn’t would they actually have any customers? Marketing and relationships are all about effective communication, and at the heart of a good piece of communication is a dialogue. This is not a new thought. In 44BC the roman philosopher Cicero constructed a series of rules to help people understand the art of a great conversation - they look a bit like this:
• Speak clearly
• Speak easily, but not too much, give others their turn
• Do not interrupt
• Be courteous
• Deal seriously with serious matters, gracefully with lighter ones
• Never criticize people behind their backs
• Stick to subjects of general interests
• Do not talk about yourself
• Never lose your temper
These, I think, should also be followed at dinner parties, but that’s for another blog. Cicero in his conversational rules has also highlighted, possibly not by chance, the importance of building a relationship with the person you are having a conversation with. In marketing terms, aiming your pieces of communication at the customer who understands your product, your message and wants to start a relationship with you as their retailer of choice. I’m a consumer so I’m not going to give you the option of saying ‘customers don’t want relationships with companies’ -because I do. What I want to know is as a business do you want a relationship with me, or are you just interested in making a sale?
In Cornwall, independent traders have a huge advantage. Why? It’s very rare that in consumer market place a customer can have a direct relationship with a person. Take Nike (yes again), I am100% more likely to have a relationship with the Nike brand than a Nike person – fact. Nike’s brand as discussed in the last blog, doesn’t fit me – that brand isn’t about me its about Nike. However, I am 50% more likely to have a relationship with the staff at Rowes who delight me every time I go into my local shop. In the same way that brands stimulate communities, human relationships that are fostered with understanding, patience, tolerance, support – you know the deal, create their own communities and translate into loyal customers and more sales. There are several retailers I know in Cornwall already doing this exceptionally well and generating sale after sale after sale in exactly this way. They understand customer affinity and are reaping the rewards in return repeat custom, which is by far more cost effective than trying to generate new customers.
I’m not going to bore you with more on this because I could literally go on all night, relationship mapping, loyalty schemes, satisfaction, customer partnering, the list is really endless and its all about understanding the people who are buying your products and trying to link in with those that for what ever reason aren’t. If you want to know more about marketing, we will be running a series of workshops in May that will deal with all these topics and more. (jclake@cornwall-learning-partnership for more info).
I want to leave you with this thought, relationships require work. They are about thought, require developing, need ‘actioning’ and in there somewhere require a sense of mutual attraction, as well as commitment. Einstein, slightly paraphrased said that we are in a strange situation here on Earth; the one thing known to man is that he ‘is here for the sake of other men’. Are you taking advantage of that?
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