How Santa Claus Retains His Customers – a Business Strategy LessonStep 1: Be Consistent - Santa is consistent in what he says about himself and the image projected - a jolly character who rewards the nice and not the naughty. Other successful brands employ the same tactic. Ferrari has never changed its tune.  They are a brand for the rich AND the elite. They don’t advertise and they don’t approach customers. Customers run after them. They are snobbish, elite and rare. They have been firm that not everyone who can pay for a Ferrari will have one - you have to earn it. Take any brand that stood the test of time and you will realise that they have never changed their brand image since they started. Step 2: Stand Out – forever - you can see Santa Claus even when he is in the middle of a crowd. He stands out. Red suit, fat and white beard. How do you stand out? How do you become different in a good way? When everything is going black, go white. How did Justin Bieber end up being the hot property he is? He was the only male in the sea of teeny bopper females in the market. How did Eminem became the biggest rapper when he is white? He decided to speak about personal matters when all other rappers where talking about socially and politically relevant messages. Step 3: Be a giver too - The first thing a business person figures out is how he will make money, but Santa doesn’t do it that way. He figures out what a person needs first, what a person should get to be happy. Determine what your market wants to have, wants to hear and see. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. You are most likely to support those who cater to your needs and wants. When you feel you are the priority, you are most likely to prioritise that business as well. You will find that the only need stronger than food and thirst is the need to feel important. Step 4: Reward your customer - You know  why we love Santa so much? Because he knows us! He knows each kid on his list and he knows when a kid has been naughty or nice. He rewards the nice, so why shouldn’t you? Know your customer. Know their birthdays, anniversaries, when they made their first purchase, their favourite dish in your restaurant. Observe what is the color of the shirt he most often buys. Do they have a child? How old is it? Step 5: Treat customers well enough for them to become your salesperson - Santa knows that a customer has the power to get more customers for him. Santa’s primary customers are kids but these kids will grow up and will have kids. They will then have the power to impose on their children - that includes making them believe that Santa is real. You should be able to take care of your customers now to encourage them to get other customers for you in the future. It doesn’t matter if they make only one purchase from you. That one purchase is your opportunity to make the best impression and motivate them to recommend you to others. Step 6: Grow with them - Growing with your customer doesn’t mean you should change your positioning or your messaging, you just need to set up programs to keep them within your good graces forever. Just like Santa. He covered every aspect of his market. He has also established that he doesn’t die. He will always be there “for the kid in you that will remain forever.”  How great is that? You need to make provisions for your business to communicate to your customers that you will always be there for them. Step 7: Give them something to look forward to - Santa is supposed to only give gifts once a year but we spend the rest of the year looking forward to his day. If you know how to give and what to give, you can do the giving once a year and it will be looked forward to. Make your giving count. Make your brand count. Make it personal and relevant. Make sure you make your customers happy. Step 8: Ho ho ho - If there is anything about Santa that makes him timeless it is the sentiments, emotions and memories we attach to him. It transcends any marketing effort. It becomes about trust and respect and that is the highest form of connection between a customer and a business. Remember that selling is not just about what they need now, but also what they will bring with them after they make the purchase. Connect with them and you have your customers’ loyalty forever. Retaining customers is not magic or smoke and mirrors – it is simple common sense consistently applied to all customers? Why Santa’s business really has stood the test of time!
| While you are celebrating Christmas this year with your family – think about what the real meaning of this season is supposed to be about – while you are watching your child play with their $800 iPad or their $499 Sony Play Station – while you open the parcel containing the $1,500 set of saucepans that replaced your current ones that really were OK – while you practice swinging the brand new golf driver that replaced one that had served you well for many years and was still OK – and most of all while you are cleaning up after an extravagant Christmas meal and throwing half of that meal into the garbage bin – think of those who can only afford
GOLD WRAPPING PAPER Once upon a time, a man punished his  five-year-old daughter for using up the family’s only roll of expensive gold wrapping paper before Christmas. Money was tight, so he became even more upset when on Christmas Eve, he saw that the child had used the expensive gold paper to decorate a large shoebox she had put under the Christmas tree. Nevertheless, the next morning the little girl, filled with innocent excitement, brought the gift box to her father and said,  "This is for you, Daddy!" As he opened the box, the father was embarrassed by his earlier overreaction, now regretting how he had punished her. But when he opened the shoebox, he found it was empty and again his anger flared. "Don't you know, young lady,” he said harshly, “when you give someone a present there's supposed to be something inside the package!" The little girl looked up at him with sad tears rolling from her eyes and whispered: "Daddy, it's not empty. I blew kisses into it until it was all full." The father was crushed. He fell on his knees and put his arms around his precious little girl. He begged her to forgive him for his unnecessary anger. An accident took the life of the child only a short time later. It is told that the father kept this little gold box by his bed for all the years of his life. Whenever he was discouraged or faced difficult problems, he would open the box, take out an imaginary kiss, and remember the love of this beautiful child who had put it there. In a very real sense, each of us as human beings have been given an invisible  golden box filled with unconditional love and kisses from our children, family, friends and God. There is no more precious possession. What would he like for Christmas?
Christmas 2011 Selfishness Quiz 1. Cyclone Tracy devastated Darwin  in 1974 leaving 41,000 people homeless and killing 71. What day did Cyclone Tracy occur? 2. 26th December 2004 saw the Indian Ocean Earthquake and Tsunami causing death and destruction to 14 countries – most of them poor countries. How many people died? 3. An island 2,600 north-west of Perth and 360km south of Djakarta was found and named on 25th December 1643 by William Mynors of the East India Company. What is that island? Fax answers to (02)95534077 or email editor@focusofficesupplies.com.au This month’s prize Samsung CLP-325 Colour Laser Printer Your details: -
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Phone or Email: October 2011 Quiz Answers 1. A farmer has ten cows. All but six of them die. He has six left. 2. Sam’s parents have five children. Four of their names are Bab, Beb, Bib and Bob. The fifth child’s name is Sam.  3. Moses did not build the Ark – Noah did. 4. If you have one match and you walk into a room that has an oil burner, a kerosene lamp and a wood-burning stove – you would light the match first. Congratulations to Genny of RBS  Roofing the October 2011 Logic Quiz winner. Opt out? If you find this newsletter of little or no value please let us know by calling (02)95534255 and asking to be removed from the distribution list. |
