Now I know what you are thinking! But, allow me to shed some light on the topic of the role seduction plays in helping you generate more referral business. In the context of business, seduction has nothing to do with sexual attraction or leading someone astray and has everything to do with enticing your customers to think about you even when they are no longer in your establishment. If you are a business owner or service provider it’s always nice when someone comes to see you based on a kind endorsement from an existing customer.

Businesses love to grow their customer base through referrals because it’s sincere, it’s powerful and best of all it is the least expensive way of developing new patrons.

So, how do you generate more referral business by having your customers thinking about you?

If you have taken any sales courses, one of the first principles that is taught, or should be taught, is the Italian economist Vilfredo Pareto’s 80/20 principle.

This rule as it pertains to sales would say that 80% of your revenue or income is generated by 20% of your customers. So, why is this important? You and I have the same amount of time in a day. How we use that time is important because “time is money” and there is a limited amount of it.

Customer Revenue

When customers are in your business you provide them with the best service you can because you want them
to return and you ‘hope’ they will tell others about their fabulous experience. If you want to turn ‘hope’ into reality then you’ll need to use the psychology of seduction on your customers.

The saying “time heals all wounds” is basically saying, “time makes you forget.” Once your customer leaves your business, and as time goes by, their experience with you fades from their memory. Life begins to take over again and with mobile devices, emails, chats, pings, schedules, work and on and on…. the memorable experience they had in your business may soon be forgotten. That is, until something makes them think of you again. One thing that can do that is a visual reminder of their visit with you, for example, a product with your company’s branding on it, a sample of your products, a discount coupon or a business card – some positive reminder of the experience they had with you.

Customers have an expectation that you to treat them well when they are in your establishment but what they are not necessarily expecting is for you to continue to treat them well when they are not in your presence receiving a service. This is where the psychology of seduction is very important. If you are able to get your customers to think of you more often by being at the forefront of their consciousness they are more likely to tell others about you. When was the last time you received an unexpected hand written card in the mail, not email, but actual mail, like with a stamp and a card that said something like, “Hi, I was just thinking about you today and wanted to let you know. Hope all is well! See you soon!” How did the card make you feel?

If you haven’t received a card like that, how do you think you would feel if you did? Pretty special I would imagine, especially in this day and age when so much communication is done by sending a text which requires so little effort. Whereas here someone took the time to buy a card; hand write a note saying that they were thinking about you; buy a stamp and drop it in the mail. That is a lot of invested time for a simple and yet very powerful message.

Emails and text messages just don’t have the same impact. What if you did this from time to time for your customers? How would they feel about you? What would they say to others about you?

There’s just one problem, you don’t have enough time in the day to keep writing these powerful cards that will remind your customers about your business. As much as it would be nice to do this for all of your customers it’s simply not practical. Not only is it impractical but it wouldn’t make sense for you to send a note to every customer, even those that only came in once, saying that you were thinking about them.

This is where Pareto’s 80/20 law comes into play. You will need do a little analysis and figure out who are your top 20%, typically the 20% who spend the most at your business or visit you most frequently. Once you have identified that group you can begin to think of creative ways to give them something extra when they are not with you, considering they are responsible for 80% of your revenue.

Some ways to do this are by sending them small gifts throughout the year or, depending on their value to your company, consider taking them out for coffee or lunch or throwing an customer appreciation reception. However, even just taking the small step of sending out a card with a short thoughtful note will have a powerful impact.

Thoughtfulness does not require a big budget!

Reminding your customers about your business when they are away from your establishment creates the seduction that will keep them coming back. Perhaps equally importantly it will keep your business name in mind when there is an opportunity to give a friend a referral. If you want to have more referral business then begin by implementing the psychology of referrals today!

 

Alecks
Aleks Vranicic, L.E. VP Sales
& Technical Training Vitelle Labs