QDIS Blog

Closing Keynote Address: Clues for Creating Customer Loyalty: A Systematic Approach to Doing More with Your Existing Clients
by John Jantsch of Jantsch Communications [ducttapemarketing.com]

John Jantsch gave a great talk about marketing in a way that worked for the AIIP audience.

The first thing he said was “Nothing in your business will change until you take action.” He talked about a lot of marketing ideas in terms that were new to me and in a way that didn’t come across as hard selling.

Although the talk was on customer loyalty John discussed other topics before getting to customer loyalty. He talked about defining your ideal client, identifying the right problem or need to address, and the need to develop a strategy before worrying about tactics. He discussed developing a marketing kit, and a system for lead generation based on advertising, referrals, and public relations as well as a “lead conversion system” involving discovery, presentations, and transactions. Finally, he talked about customer loyalty tool several ways to continually communicate with your clients. This included “drip communication”; at least once a month letting the client know something of interest to them and several other options for communicating with your clietns.

Here is a brief summary:

• think of your ideal client
• have a strategy outlining what makes you unique
• have materials that educate
• use the lead generation trio
• use a lead conversion system
• develop customer loyalty tools

General session IV: The Case Study of the Contented Client

Preston Smith of Business Information Services LLC

Preston talked about how he got started and how his direction has changed. originally wanted to design databases for politicians and business; clients were hard to get and the work was low dollar value. lots of competition and many programmer. Now does a lot of GIS demographic studies for schools.

Will Hann of Freepint and Willco

1. feedback: need to request feedback and then either do it or tell them why you aren’t going to do it
2. integration: vertical integration or supply chain integration
3. shakeout: there will be things you don’t want to do. avoid time consuming tasks; those that take a lot of effort without a big return. if it causes confusion, then separate it out
4. focus: sometimes difficult to focus after a shakeout. important to have the right business plan and the right people.

Debbie Schwarz of Library Associates

Started her business because she was bored and now specializes in recruiting and placement of information professionals.
A phone call from a law firm in SF changed her outlook and she has branched out into other industries. She shared her experiences; some don’t want to share information. There are those for whom everything is a rush or emergency. Malcontents are those who never seem to be pleased or you just can’t win over . Good clients become friends or mentors and are agreat source of referrals. Communicate with your clients and don’t take things personally. It’s about business and not about you as a person.

The conference was very informative and it was good to see folks i know and had met at past conferences. Hopefully my posts have piqued your interest and you will join us at the conference next year in Minneapolis, MN.

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