Why your customers MUST promote your brand ?

Why your previous & existing customers are NOT promoting your brand ? 

When previous & existing are customers are not promoting , their own loyalty is also at risk.

Its is a very serious issue. 

- may be they are not satisfied (not meeting basic need) 

- may be they are not happy (not exceeding expectations) 

- may be they think there is something better available 

- may be experience was not engaging 

- may be experience was not memorable 

- may be it was not emotionally touching 

- may be they considered price was more than value it delivered

- may be your promise was more than what you delivered 

Reasons could be any and many. Company can not afford to ignore these reasons. It is not that it saves your marketing cost but it is for the very purpose to know whether your enterprise is doing the right things in a right way. 

Before you get financial results at the end of the year , knowing what your customers are doing for you in the market is an indicator of financial results one can expect. 

Like political parties would like to know mood of the nation before election & take last minute corrective measures, entrepreneurs also must know & act on mood of the customers. When the mood is like the points stated above challenge for entrepreneurs is bigger. 

Make it a mission that every customer MUST recommend your offerings by becoming brand advocate.  There are few companies that enjoys this kind of reputation. 

Totaram’s Tea – Lesson for Every Brands

I encountered Totaram's Chai ( Tea ) in Surat while I was travelling in Karnavati Express to Baroda earlier this week.  This tea vendor boarded the train from Surat and started selling his so called branded Tea as Totaram's Chai. Rest all Tea vendors were selling Masala Chai and  this guy was selling Totaram's Chai.  Immediate differentiation and visibility. 

How to make your difference known to your target audience even if you are selling commodity products ? Totaram is the answer. 

I inquired to my fellow passenger  - What this Totaram is all about ?

He was so over whelmed with the brand that he told me - you just had a tea but now you taste this Totaram's tea and feel the difference. { he recommended } . He didn't stop with just recommendation but even paid for my tea and refused to accept money from me.

When you are selling WOW!!! experience and customers r your brand advocates, customer will go to any extent to  make their peer group consume that WOW !! experience. When we have WOW !! experience we love to tell others and even want others to experience similar WOW !! experience to make them know our taste and reach. 

Brand Advocates are passionate about the brand. They become the seller and aggressive seller of their passionate brands.

Its all about little innovation and one can make even commodity a reputed brand.  Tea was marginally better than the one earlier I had but  sheer way of his selling style and branding differently than mere Masala Chai (tea), this Totaram has become favourite of the commuters.

& ofcourse he was selling tea 20% costlier than other commodity masala chai.

Bottomline:

- Little thinking and innovation can make even commodity a branded product. Simple product like ready made Tea can be made branded by giving a brand name , making & selling with passion.

- Brand Advocates are more aggressive than even brand sellers

- This kind of commodity brands can fetch premium in the market

- It gets noticed and become talk of the town. Even media reports about the same 

- Customers become sellers and media becomes PR agency - all for free.  Just offer WOW !!! Experience. No need for wasteful advertisements. 

Unfortunately there was only 1 Totaram from among 10 tea vendors.  Same applies to all products and services.  Wowers are rare breed of entrepreneurs and they are the winners. Two kinds of businesses never face bearish phase - entrepreneurs doing unethical practice and the other who are offering wow!! Experience.

One of the ways to Win Brand Advocates

U r not MRP Controlled , U r not in Comparable Services, no one can check or make out how much U can charge and still U charge very reasonable, two things happen:

1) Win Customer for Life

2) Brand Advocate for Free

Happened with me at Garage in Borivli, Mumbai.