We Found Your Customers

If you've been wondering where your customers went, we have good news.  The same goes for all business owners and entrepreneurs who want to know how to communicate with more customers.We found your customers.  They are all on their mobile phones.   This is now a simple three part process and you've done it many times before: 1) Get their name and phone number (better yet--a business card), 2) Get permission to call, and 3) Have something that is valuable and relevant to their needs when you call. 

The North American wireless market is approaching saturation.  A new eMarketer report, The Mobile Future, gives you a great look ahead and useful facts about all of those people who consider their phone as valuable to take everywhere as their wallet.

Frequent visitors to the Duct Tape Marketing Blog Channels tend to be the sharpest marketing minds in the world, so you will be quick to get this connection between the wallet and the phone.  Everything the customer needs to buy from you is in their hands.  Focus on that and get going! 

How have you reinvented your business lately to interact the way people prefer to be contacted?   First of all, does your database have space for each person's mobile phone and do you make a point of asking for that number? Does your own mobile phone have a speed dial directory where you can put at least 100 names and numbers?  How about this as a goal for the rest of the year:  "Make sure I have 100 customers, referrals or friends who know me well enough to recommend my business.  Then have a system and purpose to contact them all on a regular basis."

Fundamental truths and powerful principles of CRM tell us "different people want to be treated differently" and you need individually-addressable communications in order to have a dialogue, which becomes a relationship.  A phone number is a great, unique number for a customer, prospect or member of your referral network--better than any other kind of computer-generated unique number.  There's a lot more to CRM; however, it will mean more to you faster if you learn the principles and just follow them in ways that make sense and build business every day. 

Comments

[Lewis Green]

Georgia,

While I agree our b2b customers depend greatly on their mobile phones, I wonder whether we should be making sales pitches to them using the technology. Most of my clients use their cell phones for business communications while in their cars and would not be pleased with me calling them with a sales pitch. In fact, I recommend that my clients reduce the use of telemarketing and use other communications channels to approach potential clients. Once we establish a mutual relationship based on needs and solutions, we then use the telephone to set up meetings but not to make pitches. Is current research available indicating mobile phones represent successful sales and marketing tools to interest potential clients in our products and services?