How fashion designers ignore their customers even when they think they’re not

Consider this story my friend and mentor, Cathy Wagner, told me…

It’s Party Time. You’re throwing a party at your house.  You know how busy that can be.  We’re talkin’ flowers, food, decorations, initiations, wine, cleaning the house, putting on a great outfit – whew.

A lot to do, right?

So you do all the shopping and the music’s ready and the candles are lit and you’re afraid no one will actually show up – we’re always worried about that.  And you’ve done everything.  Then your husband walks in and tells you it looks great and can he help?

Uh, yeah Honey.  The only thing you have to do is be in charge of drinks.  You tell him you’ll take care of greeting the guests, you’ll take the coats, and he will make sure they get a nice party drink – maybe even with a jaunty umbrella.

Hey says, of course dear.  Easy enough.

The doorbell rings, people actually show up, cool.  More people, nice music, OK.  Then you see your husband in the corner sitting on a bench chatting away.  You give him the evil eye but he doesn’t get it.  So you march over and stage whisper, Honey, YOU are in charge of drinks.  Why aren’t you helping anybody?

He looks surprised… I told them I was gonna be right over here are if they needed a drink they should just let me know.

There will be a lot of thirsty people at that party.

And yet, I see designers doing the business equivalent of his all the time! They meet with a customer once – or send them something in the mail or via email – and then wait to be contacted. They don’t want to “bug” the customer. She knows where to find me, I’m here if they need anything. The old “husband in a corner” technique.

Dead wrong.

“For every month you ignore your customer you lose 10% of your influence on them.”

What does that really mean? This quote from marketing guru Dan Kennedy is important for 2 reasons.

• In my experience, most customers don’t stop buying from you because they’re unhappy with your product. It’s usually nothing you did “wrong”. It’s often that they just forget about you. When the day and time comes that they need to buy _________________ (fill in your product here), you simply aren’t THERE and somebody else is.

• If YOU aren’t influential in your customer’s (or prospect’s) eyes, someone else certainly is.  You want to create yourself as the expert, as the go-to place for information AND products.  If you’re consistent with your marketing, you stay on your customer’s radar, and they start to trust you, you will have more sales. I guarantee it.

Are you ignoring your customers?  Could you be servicing them better by letting them know you’re available and ready to help?

What’s the fist step you can take to be more consistent with your marketing? Write it down and commit to doing something new — something different. Even if it’s only a small change, I encourage you to try it. Just test something new for a while and see what happens. You may be surprised by the results.

Have a great day,

Jane

P.S.  If you would like to hear more about how to do consistent marketing – for little or no money – please comment below and let me know!