Flip the Funnel: How to Use Existing Customers to Gain New Ones

CONTINUITY

In media terms, we’d call this the antidote for going dark on our customers, in other words, maintaining a consistent dialogue with one’s consumer base. As mentioned in Join the Conversation, this is the ability to create a systematic process and contact management system that ensures and encourages frequent and meaningful dialogue with your consumer—on their terms.

At the very core of the definition of “branding” is the word “continuity” or “consistency”; in this context, they are one and the same. It is absolutely imperative that we remember that business does not occur in staccato. For some reason, our acute inability to present a smooth, integrated solution to our customers runs starkly in the face of how they live their lives. Our mission is to ensure that there’s always a trail of breadcrumbs that leads us to our customers and back again. I often refer to this as connecting the dots or establishing (and reestablishing) meaningful connections if and when they’re needed.

Along the same lines as keeping the fires burning is the need for sufficiency. What’s the minimum acceptable level of contact, presence, interaction, and/or commitment we need to stay in the game and maintain some kind of workable dialogue and business momentum? Clearly, every company and industry is different, but these are vital questions that must be addressed and ultimately answered—preferably long before they actually need to be.

Companies that maintain consistent rapport with their customers ...