[Transcript starts at 1:13]
Hello, hello, hello my podcast people and thank you for joining me for yet another episode of my favorite podcast. So today we are talking about how to create repeat customers. I actually did a post on this last week, Courtney. Thank you. Uh, I just saw my girl Karen for my old broke back. Um, it's getting better.
It's getting better. Shit happens. Um, and, I wanna talk about creating repeat customers because it's been top of mind. And Karen actually dropped off some amazing ribs last night. This alone, that action alone is not enough to, you know, would not be enough to make me a repeat customer- customer. But it does tie into, wow I'm tongue-tied.
That action alone would not be enough to make me turn into a repeat customer, but it does tie into what I want to call the trifecta of creating repeat customers. So just real quick, why repeat customers? What do I want that? You know, well, duh. This is absolutely, said it in the little intro, can be the lifeblood of your business.
Otherwise, you're literally just getting transactions. You're not getting customers. Where they're just in, they never come back. We do not want that. Your business will likely fail if that is the case. We want people to come back. Actually, Ramit, I love that guy. You know I do. Um, he had a long ass sales page.
He just put out a new program called Endless Audience, and a long ass sales page about it. And he writes really good copy, but he was just talking about how it's kind of like the 80 20 rule, roughly, where 80% of the things are done by 20% of the other things right? So 80% of the income is happens- generated by 20% of the customers.
His numbers was, I think he has 41,000 people, maybe something like that, that are like repeat customers that have contributed to the majority of his um business and the majority of his financial success. Now, maybe that sounds like a big number, but if we've put in perspective, like look at how many eyes has across all of his platforms where he has hundreds of thousands of people on every platform.
He's on Instagram, he's on Twitter, he has hundreds of thousands in his email list. And yes, there's overlap there, but 41,000 of those people are the ones that are really sustaining the business, and it's because they are repeat customers. They're buying more than one thing.
Um, actually what episode, maybe two episodes ago, something like that, I was talking about two ways to make more money. Um, it was in the episode about, um, the paradox of wanting to help more people. And there's really two ways to make more money, which is you can sell more stuff, sell more stuff to the same people. Or you can sell more stuff to, or you can sell stuff to new people, real realistically.
Right. So we can increase the revenue per customer, or we can look to acquire new customers. Yes, we're looking into, you know, a combination of the two, uh, but selling the same, selling new stuff to the same people can be very, very good. I talk about it kind of a little bit di- a little back- I talk about the opposite actually a little bit more in that episode.
So this episode we're talking about the flip side of that, which is selling more stuff to the same people, solving more of their problems, getting them to be repeat customers. I think there are three integral things that you must have as a business owner, as a, or as a business in order to create these repeat customers.
Those three things are competency, care, and convenience. In that order. Right. In that order. Competency very simple. You gotta be fucking good at what you do. Can you get results? When you're running business and then you actually are running a business, not having a hobby, you want people to pay you, you have to be able to get results for them.
Can you get results? Be a master of your craft. Quite frankly, I think there's a lot of people out there that aren't succeeding, they're not that good at what they do. Maybe that sounds a little bit harsh, but I'm here to give it to you straight. Uh, if you're a new grad, if you're in school, the most important thing, even if you're not right, but definitely for those two demographics, the most important thing to be focusing on is delivering that result and being able to become, or becoming rather a master of your craft.
Can you get results for people? Can you solve their problems? It's not about being slick with your marketing. I use James Clear's quote all the time: clever marketing can sell once, but only a good product can sell twice. You gotta be able to get the outcome that people want. I think that, you know, we just spoke about the, um, beginners, if you will, but, so I was talking about this with Karen, this applies to people that are not beginners.
You need continued improvement over time, continuously striving to be the best. Don't get lazy, don't get complacent. I think about what hotel was it that I stayed at. When I was teaching for Rock Tape a few years ago. I went and stayed at like a Ritz. And I think it was a Ritz down in like, uh, kind of San Diego maybe, but right before there area, LA Jolla, I don't know.
And I was like, this place is not that nice. It's not. Because I think they got complacent. They're resting on their, they're relying on their name and like they're relying on where is the physical location. But I was like, this room is kind of old and maybe that's the demographic they cater to. Old money. Probably. But I remember I actually stayed in a hotel in like the middle of fucking nowhere, but it was all brand new.
It was all updated and I was like, this is actually nicer. Yes, the place in La Jolla had better views cuz of location, but there was a complacency to it and then I was like, man, this shit's really expensive for this. So not getting complacent as you go. Always striving to be the best, always wanting to be the best at what you do. Always wanting to get the best results for your people. That is to, in my opinion, the most important of this trifecta, which is that competency piece.
The second part, tying into the ribs that Karen brought is, do you care? You gotta care. It's funny, when I worked for Rock Tape, uh, there was a, like a spoof project that Alyson and a few of the people made, and it was, um, what was the name of the tape?
It was a, they made a whole video about it and the whole thing was basically treat like you give a fuck. It was called Thug Tape, right? That's what it was called. Thug Tape. And it was a little video like, you know, we had a lot of fun back then. It's the truth though. Treat like you give a fuck. That's it. Do you care?
PT in general really brought this into, you know, my orbit and put this on my radar. Do you care about your people. For most, for the most part you care? People get better, right? Physical therapy is the best first career, but it's oftentimes not like super rocket science for the most part. And do you care?
That I think is what actually helps people get better is they're going into, into a place and people are caring about them and they're like, wow. You know, I see it with my mom. My mom does home health stuff and she has people that, you know, she was working in hospice for a bit and she was like, people would be given a month, two months to live, and they would live for years.
And she was like, I see it time and time again. She's like, because someone cares about them and someone you know is now talking to them, it makes a difference. So as it relates to caring, this is going to look different. Right. And I think that there's something to be said about having the discussion, even discussion with yourself between showing people that you care versus making people feel cared about. They're actually different. Because when you show people you care, that's largely based on what you like and what you would do, which isn't wrong, but it's not as well received as doing things that make people feel cared about. That second one is kind of listening and thinking about what does this person actually want?
The Golden Rule I, I brought Nick Strack onto the podcast and she, they rather just, threw the Golden rule in the trash, and I was like, I fucking love this. Right? This whole do unto others as you would have done unto yourself. I don't like that because maybe I don't, they don't want what I like. It's do unto others as they would have done unto themselves.
I love that. Fucking ask 'em, what do they want? That is how you're gonna show people that you care, or better yet, make people feel that you care. Right? Make people feel cared about. So this could be a zillion different things. I actually did a poll, um, a few years ago on Instagram and I made a word cloud.
I love making word clouds. I'm made word cloud from it. And the, the, for those of you that don't know a word cloud is you put, uh, phrases into our input data, into this generator. It's like, you know, make a, like a, you make a csv, you make a a Google Doc if you want, doesn't matter. It's a list of data. You put it into this generator and it pulls out the most common words, and it makes a, a graphic of them.
The words that come up more are bigger and the words that appear less are smaller. So it's weighted on based on that, and I think it's really cool. So things that popped up a bunch, or were bigger on that word cloud, were handwritten. People love them a handwritten letter, I'm not trying to do that, but people love a handwritten letter. Uh, person, personalizing, remembering, responding name.
Those things kept coming up, which to me speaks to the fact that people really appreciate when you give them your time. That's the biggest thing about a handwritten letter is that it's, it, it implies that this person took the time. And we all know inherently time is our most valuable asset. It's our most valuable resource.
So if someone took the time to do this, they care. Um, so Karen dropping off ribs yesterday. Ow! Hit my hand on the desk. Karen, dropping off ribs yesterday, I'm like, you didn't have to do that. We're talking online. She's like, do you like pork? And I was like, yes. And she was like, I'll be there in 15 minutes.
And I was like, what? What? But when she's treating as well, I can just tell that she cares from the, the time she takes and the way she listens and what she does, and just, you know, when you get around someone, you can just feel it. Right. Are they listening to respond? Are they actually listening? What does that energy exchange feel like?
Are they receiving it in some way? Which becomes an art, I will say, does become an art when you are a healthcare professional. That you receive their energy, but you don't take it on. Very, very big art. Very, very difficult. And a large part of why I stopped treating, because I did take it on and I was like, I can't separate it, and I'm tired and I'm sad and I'm overwhelmed and I'm don't like this.
So, big thing there. This is the second part of the trifecta caring. With that, we're thinking about giving people your time. Do that in whatever way you want, but I think that that's probably the, if we think about all the things that maybe people feel cared about, giving people your time is going to rank the highest.
And then third is convenience. I had a DM conversation on last week, um, with a young man and he was talking about, uh, switching- he was asking me what I thought about switching from this app he was using to switching over to like Google Sheets or something like that. And I was like, I don't think people really care.
Like they want results and they want convenience. Is the app inconvenient? Is it hard to use? Are Google shits- google shits. Are Google sheets convenient for people? That's what they care about. It's not that it needs to be super fancy or anything like that. People want results. They want the outcome, right? That's that first one, that competency. Uh, and they want convenience.
I have had people have five figure launches with no official landing page. With no massive funnel, with no massive email list, but they had all three. They're so fucking good at what they did and what they do, they- people know that they care about them.
They have massive, massive trust with their audience cuz their audience knows that they care. And then it was convenient the way that they were delivering it. Um, the actual thing, there was convenience there. But this is also why I put convenience as the third because I think people are more willing to forgive convenience if the first two are there.
So, like I said, this people didn't have necessarily a specific, um, sales page, which would've made it more convenient. The delivery method was good. I'm thinking about specific examples here. Um, but I know when people have things that are a bit more clunky, but people are willing to forgive that because of the first two.
All right. This actually makes me think about, um, I've done presentations before about what, um, builds trust and it's competency, benevolence, and integrity. And people are actually more willing to excuse errors and competency if there's benevolence and integrity are there. When people know that you have their best interest at heart, when people know that you're an upstanding person, if you make a mistake, they're okay with it.
Right. So if we flip it to now the business side of things, competency, um, care, and convenience, people are more willing to forego that convenience if the first two are there. I'm thinking about myself, I'm thinking about Karen as well where actually, we, both of us used to go up to San, uh, Santa Monica to get a haircut.
She still does. I have since switched down here. Um, but I was willing to forego some of that convenience because the person I was going to was so fucking good, the competency factor, and she genuinely cared. Like she cares about how I looked. And she would see me on Instagram and she'd be like, you're wearing a hat a lot.
You probably need a haircut. Which if you're watching the videos, you see that I have a hat on. Cuz I need a haircut. Um, so I was more willing to forego that, um, convenience factor. What I want to bring in from the post, as I, I said earlier in the episode that I did a post about this was a little bit different.
So I think that in general, you need to have those three things, right? You need to have competency, care, and convenience. That's how you're going to create that repeat customer. With the post and I tend to be speaking more to the online audience cuz I'm posting. I think there are three additional factors that we can look into or should look into, and this is gonna be three H's.
Helpful, hopeful, and happiness. In the post I said two things. I said pain is the greatest motivator for short-term change and hope is the greatest motivator for long-term change. I'm adding in this episode that happiness is the greatest motivator for continued action. So if we're looking at creating repeat customers, what we wanna do is solve their problems, right? Pain is the greatest motivator for short-term change. Give rid of those pain points. Two, give them hope by showing them what's possible if they keep going, that's long-term change. And then three, contribute to their happiness. That's the greatest motivator for continued action. They can continue staying with you, continue utilizing your services.
I think that if we're thinking about offers that are, um, in response to continued pain points or recurring pain points, so things like a haircut, things like having an accountant, an accountant going to the physical therapist or the chiropractor, examples that all I've used, those fall into the three Cs. This is like largely all you need to focus on is competency, care, and convenience.
When we get into services that are more lifestyle changes or things that may be cons, may be considered a luxury purchase, which some would offer, and I am some, that PT is a bit of a luxury purchase.
It's also a grudge purchase. But if we're thinking, luxury purchase, so the best example I can think of here in my own life is volleyball. That is a luxury purchase. I think it's a necessity, but some would argue otherwise. Then I think we're gonna lean into more of these three Hs. Right, which is gonna be helpful, hopeful, and happiness.
We see that first one helpful. That's basically the same for the first C, which is competency. Can you solve the problem? And in this case it's an H, helpful. So if we relate it to volleyball and we break down these three Hs, then yes, it has to be able to solve the problem. I wanna get better at volleyball.
Cool. Can you solve that problem? Can- do you have the competency? Are you good at this thing? We see the overlap. The hopeful part. And I actually, did I, what did I do with this? I think I maybe wrote it in an email. Um, maybe to the Mafia. The hopeful part is showing people what it's like, what things could be like if they kept going.
And this actually legitimately happened in class where Steve brought, Steven is the coach, he brought, um, as two of these very advanced, um, they're younger girls, like 18, they're going to college, um, which is one of the closest of volleyball that you can have this mix and match and like still play, play together.
Playing with them was awesome because the level wasn't so far that we are like super beginners and they're super advanced, but I could see if I keep going and I keep at this and I keep training with this guy, I could get maybe close, not all the way to where they are, but I can get closer to that. Right?
There's hope there. And then the third H, happiness. This shit makes me so happy, and I know that it makes other people happy, but it's how he's setting things up. It's how he's structuring things. It's how he's, it's the happiness that he is bringing to the practices, to his whole business that makes you want to keep paying him.
I will pay that man until he stops coaching volleyball. I love it that much. It's the three Hs. It's the three Cs and the three Hs.
So as it relates to creating repeat customers, which I really do believe is the lifeblood of a business, yes, we do want, um, acquisition, right, customer acquisition, but customer retention is imperative.
The way that we do this ethically, it's not about twisting the knife on pain points. I hate that. It's not about using fear-based tactics. I double hate that. I see it, and I just, it just makes me feel bad in my body, right? It's not about any of those things. It's not about getting greedy. We'll probably do an episode about that where people get some success, they get greedy, and it's the downfall of their business.
We're seeing it right now. We saw with all the layoffs that are happening in tech, where tech got greedy, got greedy during the pandemic, did too much, hired too many people, and now they're laying them all off. Um, The way that we create these repeat customers, the three Cs, competency, care, and convenience. For a service that doesn't have continued acute pain points, right?
Where things like if it's not, you know, haircuts and accountants thing of PTs, chiros, things where like these problems keep coming up or they may come up eventually, again, you're going to a mechanic. Then we look at the three H's and that's gonna be helpful, hopeful, and happiness.
Alright, I'm gonna wrap it up there.
Two episodes in a row that were like less than 20 minutes. This is good. I like this timeframe. Sometimes it's longer, but I could keep it short today. Nice and concise.
As always, endlessly appreciative for every single one of you. If you're picking up what I'm putting down, if you're feeling this episode, you wanna drop me some stars, you wanna leave me a little review, I would love it. Why? Because I love it. I love reading it. It is just really nice to stay connected with you. So if you're feeling it, thank you. Okay. That's all I got for you.
Until next time, friends, Maestro out.
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