You Don't Want Customers

You don’t want customers. You want Believers. Customers make a decision with their head to do business with you and it is just as easy for them to make a decision to do business with someone else. Even if they are happy, they might think: “Let’s try somewhere else.” Believers, on the other hand, have an emotional attachment to your company. They feel part of your business and think you are an important part of theirs. Believers are very upset when a company they believe in goes out of business.

Why try to turn customers into Believers? Believers buy. They don’t just browse. Believers pay the prices you need to charge. Price is never the issue for them. Believers will buy just about anything you have to sell. Or, at least they will have a very serious look at it and listen carefully to what you have to say. Believers are loyal. Customers aren’t - not even satisfied ones. Over 20 years ago, Xerox research showed that “Totally Satisfied” customers were six times more likely to be loyal than “Satisfied” customers. But most importantly, Believers will be your advocates and recommend you to everyone else. Don’t underestimate the power of word of mouth advertising. Research from the London School of Economics found companies having a lot of people saying good things about them and very few saying bad things grew four times more.

So don’t set out to make a sale. Aim to turn a prospect into a Believer. Are any of your existing customers Believers? What did you do to turn them into Believers. How many more customers would become Believers if you treated them the same way?

Remember, the difference between having a customer and a Believer is what you do.