Are you an Internet marketer…or do you hope to be someday soon?
Then let me ask you a question: what is your relationship with the people on your e-list?
In my experience, the most important factor determining your success in Internet Marketing or virtually any other business…is relationships.
Specifically, the relationship you have with the people on your customer and prospect list—known in traditional direct marketing as your “house file”.
There are 4 ways at which Internet marketers and other entrepreneurs relate to their lists.
The first 3 ways doom you to mediocrity and modest returns. The 4th can empower you to create an online business that delivers extraordinary value to your subscribers and makes you rich in the process.
At the lowest level of seller/buyer relationship, Internet marketers think of the people on their subscriber list as “prospects”.
Technically, that’s correct: these people have identified themselves as having some interest in what you offer, but have not yet purchased—and that’s the definition of a “prospect”.
But philosophically, it’s a poor way to think about the people on your list.
Why?
Because a “prospect” is someone whose name and contact information you own, and from whom you hope to extract money by selling them a product or service.
That’s a mercenary and self-centered view. It puts you and your profits—not your prospects and their problems—first.
The next step up from viewing people on your list as prospects is to think of them as customers—either actual customers (those who have purchased) or potential customers (people who will make a purchase).
“Customers” is a slightly better viewpoint than “prospects”.
A customer is someone who spends money with you, so you naturally value them more.
On the other hand, you are still viewing the people on your list as “purchasing entities”—individuals from whom you get money now and hope to get more money in the future.
The typical businessperson constantly thinks of more ways to sell more products and services to more customers.
This unfortunately creates an opportunistic view that cares more for the marketer’s profits than the people on the list as people.
The third level of relationship with the people on your e-list is to think of them as clients.
While “customers” buy products, “clients” are people to whom you strive to deliver extraordinary service and value.
As a result, when you see your online subscribers as “clients”, you respect them more and treat them better.
They reciprocate with loyalty to you and an increased desire to acquire more of your products, services, help, and advice.
The best relationship you can have with your house file is to think of these people not just as clients, but as friends.
Businesspeople deliver value and service to clients, but do so for the money.
Friends help friends not for the reward, but because they are friends.
When you think of your online subscribers as your friends, your mindset becomes positive, helpful, and generous.
You think, “What do my friends need? What can I do to make their lives better, make them happier?”
And when you think that way, the creation of all sorts of useful, valuable, and innovative products and services your subscribers want and need follows.
Also, when you treat your subscribers as friends, they begin to think of YOU as a friend.
Sales become more frequent, purchases become larger, and closing becomes easier.
Why?
Because people like to buy from people they like—and when they become your friend, they like you.
How to evolve your relationship with the people on your e-list from prospect to customer to client to friend?
Here are a few suggestions:
1 – Care about your readers.
The best Internet marketers are genuinely passionate about helping their subscribers improve their lives – and that passion comes across in every e-mail communication they send.
2 – Talk to your readers.
Write like you talk. Use a conversational, natural style. Your e-mails and e-zines should sound like you are talking to a friend and telling him something important.
3 – Be a straight shooter.
Always tell your readers the unvarnished truth. Don’t sugarcoat or hold back. Only by being totally honest and open do you gain the reader’s trust and loyalty.
4 – Let your personality shine through in your e-mail.
Be the real you. If you’re cranky, it’s OK to sound cranky in your e-mails. If you’re a tightwad, tell your readers you’re cheap.
Also, write from the heart. Let your personality show in your e-mails and newsletters, warts and all.
5 – Give extraordinary value.
I sell information products online. But in many of my e-mails, like this one, I give away content for free right in the e-mail. There is nothing to buy – the information is free.
Do these methods work?
My first year online, where I took very little action and viewed my subscribers as purchasing units from whom I desperately wanted to extract money, I made—even though I offered quality content for sale—$19,683.45.
Now, I view my subscribers as friends. I care about them. I let them into my mind and share what’s in my heart. I give them all I can. And our online sales are on track to exceed a quarter of a million dollars this year, as they have for several years now.
All because my relationship with my e-list moved—as yours should—from the lowest to the highest level, from the most mercenary to the noblest.
“We’re all benefactors,” said Mark Cuban in an interview with Selling Power magazine. “To succeed, you not only need to be able to get along with people…those people also have to feel like they’re getting something out of the relationship.”
Bob Bly is the author of “World’s Best Copywriting Secrets” and has written copy for more than 100 companies including IBM, Boardroom, Medical Economics and AT&T. He is the author of more than 75 books and a columnist for Target Marketing, Early To Rise and The Writer. McGraw-Hill calls him “America’s top copywriter”.
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