In this article, I review the following sections:
- Journey
- Feedback Loop
- Learning to Fish
- Taking Stock
- Domains and Hosting
- Website Design
- Shared Vision
The Journey
The industry teaches us that the customer journey is linear, finite, and ends or changes around the point of sale. The industry can continue with this practice, but I redesigned my process and approach. Doing so allows me to move towards creating a new market with less competition.
There’s less noise over here.
I changed how I work with a business owner from transaction-driven to relationship-driven. This is about the long-haul. This is about the journey.
This is about the process. This is about investing the sweat equity into cultivating an empathetic understanding of one another. It is about accomplishing our goals. It is about growing our businesses together, forever.
Rather than invest time thinking about how to maximize customer acquisition through automation, what would it look like for us to invest more time upfront in locking down our relationship, on a personal level?
The lifetime value of one customer far outweighs a one-time customer.
One of my responsibilities is to facilitate a process for you to identify your goals, map out a plan to achieve those goals, and empower you with on-demand access to the technical capabilities to execute on that plan.
I want to make it easier for you to grow your business.
I want to make it easier for you retain the customers you acquire.
In order to accomplish these two critical goals we must rethink the way we manage our relationship. This journey is not linear. There is no finite start and stop.
There is a commitment to continuous improvement over the lifetime of your business. As a business owner, I have the same lifelong experience ahead of me. Since we are both walking in the same direction, perhaps it would behoove us to align on this journey of lifelong learning and continuous improvement.
It starts with communication.
Feedback Loop
You do not need to pay me to communicate with me. In fact, it is only through our communication will I be qualified to serve your needs. The only way to discover your needs is through communication.
I encourage you to communicate with me via email, text, and phone call. Feel free to drop me a note using the chat feature at the bottom right of my website. I want to learn your preferences.
If you find yourself unsure about something we discussed or you have questions about the purpose behind why we are doing x instead of y, reach out to me. If you have questions it likely means I missed something that you can help us realign with by speaking up. I am not perfect, but through our collaborative efforts together, I am confident that we can get pretty darn close.
The concept of the feedback loop is important for you to establish with your customers as well. How might you open the lines of communication with your customers?
Learning to Fish
A recurring theme in the way I work is autonomy. I want you to become autonomous in the ways in which you navigate the free market. You should feel independent in your decision-making. I do not want you to feel as though you are dependent upon a consultant or service provider to make strategic decisions or changes to the ways your business functions.
If you adopt the lifelong learning mentality it forces me to do the same. I want to build and grow our businesses together, forever. If I teach you everything I know today it forces me to continue learning to ensure that I stay ahead of the curve. Your business will always have problems to solve. Once you solve today’s problems, tomorrow will bring new challenges. I want to be the reliable person you can count on when it comes time to solve the next problem.
Take Stock
When the time comes for us to begin our next engagement, I want to hit the ground running. There are several steps that you can take on your own right now to ensure that you remain autonomous in this process.
If your goal is to become less dependent on third-party providers then I encourage you to take this important step of assessing your current situation by taking stock of the assets in which you already own.
Domains and Hosting
I learned several valuable lessons over the last few years. One of those lessons is how important it is for you, as a business owner, to always have autonomous control over your domain names and hosting account.
When you give this control to a third-party you never know if something unexpected takes places in their life which prevents you from making updates or regaining access to your assets. Setup your accounts in your own name. If you don’t know how to do this, let me know. We can walk through it together. It takes a few minutes, and then it is done. You can simply add a new user account each time you want to bring on a new developer, designer, marketer, or third-party provider.
Website Design
Your website is a living, breathing, organism.
It is no secret that you can get a new site up and running for a few dollars. I encourage you to move forward with these platforms if you feel so inclined. I am more interested in helping you continuously improve your site’s design. Who is your customer? How are you making it easier for your customer to obtain your value proposition?
I no longer take on large website projects. A business owner must have a strong foundation to launch from, but then it is a matter of continuous improvement overtime. Leveraging a free tool such as Google Analytics enables you to measure which campaigns and site edits result in which trends. Analyzing your data for these insights empower you with the knowledge to make actionable improvements to your site’s architecture.
There is no quick fix. There is no expensive product that instantly gives you the solution. There is only a commitment to the grind. This levels the playing field for the underdog.
Shared Vision
As you begin to rethink the way you grow your business, I encourage you to be bold. Have the courage to standout and rise above the noise of your industry.
The future is bright, but only for those willing to invest in the autonomous control of their business.
Good luck.