Month: August 2015

You’ve likely heard me say this before, but I can’t say it enough…

Being remarkable, creating raving advocates from your current customers, and then giving them an easy way to shout your praises across the internet is the most effective form of marketing in today’s digital world.

This sounds basic, I know, but I’m always surprised at how many businesses don’t make remarkable customer service a priority in their business.

Here’s an excerpt from Stop Marketing. Be Remarkable! to remind us of the surprising power of remarkability on our businesses.

How Remarkable Service Trumps Traditional Sales and Marketing

Many business owners see customer service as a type of damage control and think of marketing and sales as the engine that drives company growth. Meanwhile, successful companies like Tony Hsieh’s Zappos get away with spending very little on advertising and instead use remarkable service to create mind-boggling growth.

These types of companies are making one simple decision which sets them in a league of their own when it comes to creating long term success, growth and equity, making them the envy of every entrepreneur on the planet.

They’re making customer-centric service their primary product and therefore, their primary marketing strategy. Early adopters of customer-centric service will turn raving fans into effective online promoters. They won’t need to come up with out-of-this-world, Thomas Edison-caliber products or marketing ideas in order to create explosive sales and company growth. Their very business will become its own advertisement.

Zappos’ “Entrepreneurial Suicide”

In 2003, when Zappos was going through the roughest financial period of their early years, Tony Hsieh made some cuts (in between fundraising rounds) in places many experts thought would certainly cripple Zappos’ growth.

Rather than continuing to spend a large amount on advertising, Tony did something completely out of the ordinary and decided to cut most of their advertising and marketing budget.

He shifted those resources and invested them in creating a remarkable customer experience. As it turns out, this act of supposed “entrepreneurial suicide” catapulted Zappos’ growth and revolutionized the way businesses were being run.

After making that groundbreaking decision, Tony grew Zappos from $70 million to $184 million over the course of just 12 months.

Over the next few years, Zappos continued to grow, going from $184 million to over $1 billion dollars in sales. This total growth from only $1.6 million to $1 billion took less than ten years.

Now here’s a question to consider… Is there anything earth shattering about selling shoes?

If you were to slip and fall in the shower, hit your head on the toilet and come up with the idea to sell shoes online, would you charge out of your house and run wet and naked down the street screaming: “Eureka!, Eureka!”? Probably not.

Selling Shoes Wasn’t a Remarkable, Innovative, or Outstanding Business Idea

If shoes were all Zappos had to offer, they’d have been priced out of the market by monster companies like Amazon and other online retailers who were willing to simply offer a lower price.

So how did Tony Hsieh grow Zappos so big so fast? He did it through remarkable customer service and turned ordinary satisfied customers into raving promoters and brand ambassadors who shared their positive stories through some of the largest social media platforms on the planet.

As you’re trying to grow your business, consider the story of Tony Hsieh and Zappos. You may be surprised what happens when change your focus from Marketing to Remarkability.

Be Remarkable!

Mike

Images courtesy of: Stylists Bootcamp; Jonathan Savage | Addicted2Success.com