Have you been following us on the Customer Value Journey? Have you figured out how to generate awareness, drive engagement, build subscribers, and increase conversions? Fantastic! Now that you’ve gone through the first four steps of the journey with us, it’s time to move on to the really good stuff—step 5 of the customer value journey-excite! Learn how to EXCITE your prospects and/or new customers and get them revved up to do business with you.
It’s All About the Brand for Step 5 of the Customer Value Journey-Excite
In step 5 of the customer value journey-excite, you’ll really get to capitalize on the brand and voice you worked on to prepare for the first step of the CVJ. You want those prospects you converted into hot leads in the last step to feel 100% confident that YOU are the one they want to buy products from or work with. That means they need to know what sets you apart from the competition and why these differences work for THEM.
Let’s take Pixel Fire, for example. We have two important things that set us apart from other marketing agencies: 1. We base everything on the concept of Engagement Equity, meaning we focus on giving VALUE rather than just making the sale. 2. We have an in-house staff that answers phones, meets in person with clients, and is always ready to have a one-to-one talk if clients are in need of training or have questions. Our in-house staff also allows us to put on a lot of fun events and get involved in the community—something our competitors who have mostly remote workers are not able to do.
What sets YOU apart? Are you a florist who knows which types of flowers those with allergies can safely have in their homes? A landscaper who has in-depth knowledge on how to choose, plant, and nurture trees? A defense attorney who spent 15 years as a prosecutor so you know how to work with (or against) the ‘competition’? Whatever that competitive edge is, now is the time to use it to get your leads excited about working with you.
Make sure they are the right clients for YOU
Of course, none of this is going to work if you’ve curated prospects and leads who aren’t the right fit. This goes back to leaning on what you accomplished at the beginning of the journey. If you did things right, those you’ve led to step 5 of the customer value journey-excite will be aligned with your core values and your way of doing business and they’ll be on board with what makes you different from your competitors. If you’ve tapped the wrong market, everything will fall apart in this stage. (But no worries—you can learn from your mistake and go back to start the journey over!).
Crafting the ask
If you’re familiar with our Engagement Equity Power Players, you know that one of the most important is THE ASK. You can give value all day long, but if you never ask your leads for anything, they simply won’t know HOW to take the next step. Sure, it might seem obvious to you that you want your leads to sign up for a program online or tell your customer service rep to schedule that estimate, but it might not seem that way to them.
So how do you make a successful ask? Here are some tips:
- Know what you’ve earned. The size of your ask depends on how much value you’ve given and how well you’ve prequalified your lead. If you haven’t been able to give a lot of value and you don’t know your lead’s budget, it will be a mistake to try to sell them on your largest product or service package.
- Practice the platinum rule. We all know the golden rule: treat others the way you want to be treated. But Engagement Equity asks us to take that one step further and treat others the way THEY want to be treated. That means one of your leads may like one service package while another client is better suited to a different one. It might also mean you have to use a soft-selling technique on one and really challenge another.
- Know when to back down—and when to push. Part of making the ask is knowing early on if it’s going to be unsuccessful. Maybe you’ve asked for too much, maybe your lead just isn’t ready yet. The point it, you need to see the signs and back off. This might mean taking this particular lead back to step 4 or it might mean you just need to invest a little more time in them. On the flipside, there are other leads who just need that extra push to say yes and get excited about the next step.
In step 5 of the customer value journey-excite, the excite stage can be one of the most fulfilling parts of the entire journey. But remember, you’re not done yet! Even though you’ve turned your leads into clients, you still have more steps to make them into raving fans. Need assistance with any of the steps of the journey? Our team would love to help!
