A subscriber just sent me an email asking…
“Brad – how do EASILY I grow my party entertainment business FAST, WITHOUT SPENDING ANY MONEY?”
Well…. with anything in life… You cannot get what you want FAST, CHEAP and GOOD!
BUT… there are 3 ways to grow a business that have stood the test of time and don’t necessarily require you to spend tons of money in advertising.
THE THREE WAYS TO GROW YOUR BUSINESS ARE:
- Get More Customers
- Raise Your Prices
- Keep your existing & past customers; and get them to buy again, buy more and keep buying.
For the purpose of today’s talk – lets just address the one that MOST entertainment businesses focus on & WHY this is incorrect – ONLY GETTING MORE CUSTOMERS.
The downside of ALWAYS & ONLY putting attention & focus on getting MORE NEW CUSTOMERS is like the the old saying that goes like this…
“Make new friends, but keep the old.
One is silver, the other gold.”
Of course, a long-term customer is of way more value than a single show booking customer, and it’s a lot less expensive to keep a current customer than to acquire a new one. That should be obvious.
To most entertainers (and businesses in general for that matter) they have no customer retention strategy in place – no way of keeping in touch with past customers and no plan of action.
So they simply use the same methods they have always used to get new customers and keep on getting 1 hit gigs.
If you think about it – a customer who has booked you before already knows, likes & trusts you. There already was an exchange of money and hopefully they not only liked your show, BUT LOVED IT. So there will be a relationship forming.
This is the starting point of building a lifetime customer vs getting paid and running like you robbed a bank. Most entertainers do just that – perform… get paid… and split! Never to reach out again… unless the customer calls the entertainer back.
If this describes you… STOP IT…RIGHT NOW!
Promise me you will stop just doing a gig, getting paid & never keeping in touch with that client. I promise YOU – this alone will help you book more gigs.
At the very east after the gig, the following should take place:
- a THANK YOU CARD should be sent (via regular snail mail, handwritten with an autographed photo and/or small token gift).
- From there – you should be keeping in touch AT LEAST once a month via your INK & PAPER PRINTED NEWSLETTER… AND your digital email newsletter. YES you send both.
- There should also be additional touches to reach out & let him/her know whats going on in your business, how you can be of help in the future, etc. The MORE you stay in touch the harder it will be for them to forget you and you will achieve TOMA! (Top Of Mind Awareness)
LOOKING AHEAD…
Assuming you implement a customer retention strategy, one of the best things about having a lot of customer retention is that you’re able to build a more accurate view of who your customers really are.
On one hand, this data is vital to your customer retention efforts and gives you the tools to create personalized and targeted promotions to maximize your chances of success.
But, more importantly, this will all assist you in your future acquisition efforts; you will know exactly what kind of people are most likely to become loyal LONGTIME customers — who they are, where they hang out online, what motivates them to buy and what kind of messaging they best respond to.
NOW A WARNING… if you neglect your customers, this represents an incentive for them to shop with your competitors.
In fact, statistics show 61% of consumers take their business to a competitor when they end a business relationship, which is why retention is vital to the success and growth of your company.
By implementing the best possible customer retention plan for your business, you can set yourself apart from your competitors.
Let’s be honest: who doesn’t want the reputation of being a business that takes care of its customers? It’s impossible to overstate the importance of this kind of brand profile.
