Dear subscriber,
So I’m wining and dining this beautiful Italian laydee.
We’re inside a swanky whiskey bar in the city.
The ambiance is perfect, and the conversation crackles with energy, humor, and flirtation.
Everything’s peachy until… we order our drinks.
Here’s how that went down:
Our waiter saunters over to our table to take our drink order.
My date scans through the drink menu and starts frowning like a disapproving parent reading their child’s dismal school report card.
She looks up at the waiter and asks, “Do you guys have so-and-so Vodka?” (I can’t remember what brand)
“I’m so sorry, we don’t carry that brand”, says the patient waiter, “But we have this and this brand and yadda yadda…”
Yup, they didn’t carry her precious vodka brand.
Suddenly, she goes from “sweet and nice” to full-on prima donna mode.
“I really, really want a vodka but I just can’t drink any other brand but so-and-so brand. Pshh, I’m just going to have to order something else, aren’t I?” she mutters under her breath while shaking her head.
I was a little taken aback.
It seemed over the top and out of the blue. Even Mariah Carey would have been appalled at her level of petulance.
Well anyway, to her credit, after she had her little paddy-waddy and begrudgingly ordered – gasp – an alternate drink, she apologized to me for her behavior.
“I’m sorry about that,”, she says all sweet and innocent.
“That’s okay don’t worry about it,” I say.
What?
Sometimes ya just gotta flat-out lie – like telling a new mother her baby’s adorable even though it looks like a pickled onion.
Well anyway, at some point during our date we get to talking about my writing. “So, Kelvin, where do you get your ideas for your content?” she asks.
I told her what I tell you, Freckles – I get my ideas from everywhere and anywhere.
“I could write about what just happened here with you ordering your drink”, I tell her.
“Oh, really?!”, she says.
Yes, Pumpkin, really.
So, dear subscriber, as you can clearly see… I’m writing about it.
But before I extract some business-related value from that little story to spoon-feed you, may I give you single gentlemen a little dating advice?
Alright.
Listen up:
Many doe-eyed guys on a first date will look at their date and say, “I’m glad you’re not crazy like all the other girls I’ve dated.” What these schmucks don’t get is this: the first date is just the free trial. You don’t get the “crazy” until the paid subscription.
However, some girls, like this Italian broad, reveal glimpses of their true selves even on the first date.
Pay attention, gentleman.
That’s all I’m sayin’.
Onward.
Now, I’m sure there are some lessons to be extracted from said story. Hmm, they just aren’t coming to me immediately. Hmmmm.
Look, cut me some slack, Jack, I’m freewheeling it here, okay?
Hmm. Hmmmm. Ah, here we go!
I got summin’.
Lesson #1
I’m gonna start with our waiter. This guy was nice. Too nice! You see, this waiter unwittingly helped my date bring out her inner diva even more. By apologizing, he was implying that they were in the wrong or had made a mistake. This put him on the back foot and my date (let’s call her Princess) on the front foot.
What this waiter should have done is politely say this: “I get it, you like what you like, but we here at so and so like these brands.”
That reply would have thrown her off balance. It would have kept her inner diva in check.
Listen: As a business owner, you have your line of products. That’s it! Take it or leave it. Don’t pander to entitled customers.
Lesson #2
A difficult customer is like a difficult woman – they’re not worth the trouble. This reminds me of a wise old saying:
A bulldog can whip a skunk any day of the week. But sometimes even a dog realizes it is just not worth the stink.
Listen:
Whether it’s money or honey being offered, if the person is difficult, my mantra is clear: don’t accept. Life’s too short for unnecessary drama.
Sail onto smoother waters, my friend.
Lesson#3
Brand loyalty is not dead. I have never witnessed such brand loyalty before. Princess was not gonna budge. The founder of a rival brand could have served her free vodka on a silver platter, and she’d still be waving it off.
Simply put:
A customer wants what they want.
Often, trying to sell them something else will be an exercise in futility.
The moral here?
Try and create that type of brand loyalty in your customers.
Imagine your product or service being so good that even the thought of trying your competitors’ products doesn’t cross your customers’ minds.
One way to do that is to make your product or service so good they won’t leave.
Easier said than done?
Is Papa Maverick the King of email?
Of course it’s easier said than done.
But fret not, my fellow marketer.
There’s a hack. An easier way. A way that gets your customers attached to you without you having to create the perfect product.
So what’s the big secret?
You do what brands like Apple, Kellogg’s, Dove, Kleenex, and Google have done.
And what is that?
This:
You become part of your customer’s everyday life.
Consider this: Not a day goes by when you don’t see or use Google, right?
Right.
Probably no brand has done it better than Apple. Apple has created a product that you take everywhere you go. Throughout the day, you keep looking at this product incessantly (the average owner of this product checks it 58 times a day), and if you lose it, you’ll fret like a newborn pup that’s lost its mother.
Question:
What’s the difference between heroin and an iPhone?
Answer:
The iPhone is far more addictive.
That may just be true. But I wouldn’t put it to the test, Freckles.
Now, how can YOU become part of your customers’ everyday lives, huh?
It’s very easy.
Two words: Email, dopey!
Yes, email marketing is how you do it.
Show up every day in your customer’s inbox with a ton of value, and you’ll quickly become part of their everyday life.
And the moolah side of things?
Sell them a solution to their problem.
Take their order.
Rinse and repeat.
Yes, yes, this is another one of those “easier said than done” cases.
But this can surely help: The Maverick’s Email Playbook
Your friend,
Kelvin
Email Marketing Maverick
