#094 - Feed The Ones You Have

Hello boys and girls, ladies and germs. Welcome Welcome Welcome, Welcome to episode 94 of the Sprinkler Nerd Show! I'm going to start off this episode with a quote a heard recently from Seth Godin.  People use the word marketing to mean the word advertising, or they use it to mean the word hustle or hype, but it's none of those things, it used to be those things. First of all, your customer knows more than you do -  about alternatives - about their own feelings and about their desires... Number tow, the internet is really smart, and it can find someone cheaper than you who does with you say you do with two clicks!  And number three, we're not listening to ads like we used to because we have so many other choices. Instead, we listen to our colleagues we listen to what other people in the world are saying... So what marketing is now, is really simple - it's building a true story that other people get a benefit from talking about - they find some sense of identity in engaging with your story - that's what marketing is - and you need to get rid of all the people in your work who think their marketing is the other thing cuz they're causing you to make bad decisions So - mash up this concept with building better relationships with your customers, and you get, FEED THE ONES YOU HAVE. You can't adopt any more children until you feed the ones you have. What does this mean? - You have 100 customers, maybe 500 customers, who have paid you in the last month, and your first thought is, where am I going to get more? I don't have enough. Where can I find more people, and more business. - And this becomes the self-sacrificial thing that only makes it worse because we start focusing all of our energy and attention of the things that we don't have, while we're not acknowledging and having gratitude for the things that we do have. And when we do have it, and we pour into it, it helps us find the next path. - You probably have customers who haven't bought from you in 6 months. You start up their irrigation systems, you winterize their system, and that is it. SO - shoot them an email (video email) and say, "hey John, it's Andy, just checking in. Is there anything we can do to support you? No strings attached, no offer, no discount, no hook, just a genuine email, like you would send to a friend. - Maybe you have a customer for 10 years, and this is the 10th season you have winterized their system. You know what I would do, I'd get out my phone, record a video, and say thank you.   - I know you have clients that you haven't talked to in a long time. So, spend some time engaging with the, just to remind them that you are still here, and use one of those principles of a relationship.