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The No 1 way to effortlessly connect with your customers

Especially if you’ve got a “complicated” product or service to offer is by talking to them.  You already know that, and you already know you don’t have the time to talk to all of your customers individually, no matter how much you might like to.  Yet emailing or sending a letter just isn’t as effective.  So what can you do?  Fear not my intrepid blog reader… I plan to answer that.

Imagine the scene, you’re in a beautiful hotel, in a grand conference room.

In front you can see a large group of interested people listening to what you have to offer, interacting and asking questions.

You’re really connecting with your customers, they’re nodding along as you talk, explaining the benefits and results they’ll get from your offering.  You’ve noticed everyone’s enjoying the option to network with the other attendees.   As you finish, people are already buying from you and this positive response is impacting on others in the room who were at first a little reluctant.

You can see others are coming up to you asking to know more, they’re thanking you for a great event.  You’re feeling good, the money is coming in, your list of happy clients is building, this is why you went into business!

Sounds an ideal way to Connect with Your Customers right?

Apart from the fact that it means you standing up and talking in front of a room filled with other people.  Because no one’s got a fear of public speaking, have they?  Glossophobia it’s called (thanks Google and Wikipedia).  In the States they say fear of public speaking is THE number 1 fear.  So folks would rather be abandoned, beaten, drowned and killed – rather than stand up and face a room full of people and start talking.

Then there are all the logistics involved, you’ve got to find and hire a suitable venue to hold the event.  One that reflects your brand properly would be ideal.  Lay down your deposit, after you’ve decided on refreshments, maybe a buffet breakfast or lunch.

Your attendees will have to travel, fight with parking and lose the additional time from their already busy day getting to and from your event.

There’s a bit of anxiety as you worry will you fill the room?  Will their be enough attendees to cover all the expenses this event is costing you?

Additionally, for those who wanted to attend but couldn’t make it (for a variety of valid reasons), you’re not going to hold the seminar again that evening, or the next morning, or on saturday afternoon – or when ever is most convenient for them.

In fact the next time you’ll be able to connect with your customers like that will probably be in a few months time, when you go through the logistics of it all again.  You already know that by holding these events regularly they’ll grow your list of paying and interested clients, but right now, while you’re elated you pulled off such a great event, you’re also exhausted by it.

If only there was a way to connect with your customers and create the same scenario, but without all those barriers.

And of course – there is.  You can hold your event virtually over the internet and connect with your customers that way.  Everyone can still interact, ask questions, raise their hands, nod their heads, network and buy with the click of a button even!

No one has to take time out of their busy schedule to travel to the event, and back again.  It opens up your reach to potential customers much further afield, and even internationally, if your offering suits.

You don’t have to worry about the logistics and expense of hiring a venue and best of all, you can record your event and make it available for playback to all of those interested customers who couldn’t make the live event, for one reason or another.  Meaning that you’re not missing lots of great opportunities.

You won’t be exhausted at the end of it, and if you don’t get as many people turn up on the day for the live event, you’re not out of pocket, and you can still connect with your customers that missed it on the replay.  Even better, you can schedule another one for the following week, and regularly hold such events for all of your offerings.

You’ve probably attended these virtual events yourself, listening to someone else  - why not use them to increase YOUR business?

Like the idea?  Watch out for my next blog post as I take you through the step by step of how to run your own successful on line event. Sign up to my blog, and that way it’ll be delivered straight to your inbox, and you won’t miss out.

Oh and one last tip, if you do have a complicated product or offering, and let’s face it most of us do have more benefits and services than is apparent, keep it simple.

No matter how complicated your product or offering might be, you want to connect with your customer so always communicate in language an 8 year old can understand.  It might sound a little young, but it works.

Have you ever had dealings with a Financial Adviser?  They have their own industry speak.

They’re regulated by the FSA some of the savings products available include ISA, PEP Transfer, OIEC, Unit Trust, and Pensions (inc SIPPS, Final Salary & Money Purchase).  But what does that mean?

Easily understood by someone within the financial services trade, or perhaps experienced investors, but for everyone else it’ll probably be gobbledeegook – as well it should.

How about if I said:

Put simply the range of products available include savings for right now or, for the future.  You can save in cash or other investments. Many of which you can save paying tax on.  When you talk to an adviser to find out what’s best for you, know that your adviser is regulated which means they have to follow certain rules to ensure your best interests are looked after.

Does that make more sense?

What technical language does your industry use that you understand but to the rest of us it’s just gobbledegook?  And if you’re dealing with computers in anyway, please, PLEASE, keep it under an 8 year olds language for me.  I still don’t know what RAM is!

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Image credit to FREEIMAGES..co.uk