ELECTRIC MARKETING: What I Learned From My Electrician
by Bob Miller
I wasnʼt trying to be educated about marketing ideas. I was just calling an electrician that I knew to do some work for me. But the lessons I learned were unavoidable, like a shock when you grab a live wire.
ONE: Market to get TOTMA
I called someone I knew. I knew this electrician from the BNI group that I attend in Rochester, MN. BNI is a marketing group that I had joined to market my services. But it turned out that I also became a buyer of someone elseʼs business. When I needed an electrician, who was the first electrician that I thought of? Mr. Electric (the electrician- not the magician!) That is called Top of the Mind Awareness.
It had been a year since I had joined the group. I never called an electrician in that time. A year. But, eventually, the need came up and I called. What about you? How long do you pursue your marketing efforts? Are you marketing to get TOTMA?
How is TOTMA achieved. Well, I think that it takes a little time to develop this. You should be consistently contacting your prospective customers or past customers. Let’s say that you were able to determine who your top 200 customers were…
(By the way, that is a really easy task with MagicBase Pro. One mouse click will sort your customers by income.)
Then, in a year’s time, you could send them a postcard and two letters for less than $300 in postage. If you only booked one show because of this, it would be paid for. But you don’t just want to be thinking about the first layer of marketing. You may potentially get shows because of shows. (I just had a customer call to book me for the FIFTH time in about 6 years. That was a referral from another magician- and it was worth THOUSANDS.)
So, marketing may cost you some time and money. But it is worth it.
TWO: Add an extra surprise or demonstration of professionalism
The electrician arrived at my door, and the first thing that he did was set down a doormat. The second thing he did was put boot covers on. Then he stepped into my house and explained that these were used so that he wouldnʼt track mud into my house. It was a thoughtful gesture that screamed “professionalism” to me.
What are you doing to demonstrate that you’re a professional? Is there anything that you could do that would be an added unexpected surprise for your customers? For example, when I used to have my custom printed business playing cards, I would give a free deck of cards to a client for hiring me for a corporate event. It was a gift, but it also would promote me whenever he used it to play cards. Or another idea is to do something extra in the show, like:
“I’m going to be adding one extra routine in the show because…” or “I have a free gift for everyone in the audience…”
A recent example for me was when a company hired me to come in to perform and speak at their team meeting. They had a magic theme and everyone had received a few simple magic tricks that the organizer had bought for them. After my show and my contractual obligations were completed, I told the organizer that I’d be willing to stick around and individually teach some of these people how to perform the tricks that they had received. I wasn’t required or expected to do this. But I did it to build good will and add an extra value to my services.
THREE: Do a great job
The electrician did a quick, good job of installing my plug-ins and switches. He even took a little extra time to fix a dead plug-in that was in a different room (at no charge.)
As a performer, the audience expects you to do a good job. Yes, but it is not always delivered by some performers.
Your best marketing tool is your show. Do a great show. Or as another magician has said, “The best way to improve your show is not to do crap!” Only do the best, grade A, Number 1 routines. Don’t experiment on your audience. Do stuff that you know will get the best response all the time!
FOUR: Evaluate other potential job possibilities from this customer
After the electrician had completed his work, he did a “free electrical and safety inspection of the house.” Well, who wouldnʼt want that? Itʼs a great service to the customer. But, of course, it is also a way for the electrician to spot any other potential work that he could do for me. That is a great idea!
Now, how can we as performers, do something similar? Is there any way that you can evaluate your customers’ future performing
needs? Let me suggest something that you could use to gain more information from your customer:
Once you get answers to your questions, you need to have a good database program that you can use to record this information. Because you’ll need to send out marketing materials later at just the right time when you know that they’ll be having their special event. MagicBase Pro is made for performers. You can download a free demo at www.MagicBasePro.com.
Use some of these questions as starting points to determine future performing needs. When would be a good time to ask your customer these questions? How about when you do the…
FIVE: Follow-up phone call
The day after the electrical work was completed, an assistant at the electricianʼs office called me to evaluate my satisfaction of the job. I appreciated the call. It wasnʼt an annoyance or an inconvenience. It demonstrated to me that they wanted to do the job right. And, if there had been a problem with the work, I wouldnʼt have been upset because I had an opportunity to immediately get it fixed.
Do you ever ask for evaluations of your performances? Do you ever ask for feedback or check for customer satisfaction?
One of the marketing features built in to MagicBase Pro is a Referral Form. One click and you can print an evaluation form with the customer’s information merged into it. I use it all the time.
An evaluation does a number of things for you:
Performing Needs Evaluation:
1. Do you belong to any group, company or organization that ever has meetings, conventions or performing needs?
2. Does your company ever have training workshops? When and where? 3. Do you have young children? What months are their birthdays? 4. Do you have a child who is graduating in the next four years? 5. Do you have a child who is getting married soon?
1) It demonstrates to the customer that you are serious about your commitment to provide customer satisfaction. That will go a long way if there ever is a problem. 2) It gives you feedback on any problems in your show. So it helps you to become a better performer. 3) It gives you an opportunity to get valuable referrals. Referrals are like gold. A good referral can generate many shows for you. But you have to ask for them. And then you have to use them; post them online, or include comments in brochures, or send them out in your mailers.
So you know that you should get some type of customer feedback. Now, what type is best to use, written or verbal?
WRITTEN: A benefit of the written is that you have a permanent
response. So, if you get a good quote, then it is easy to retype it as a website entry or a brochure clipping. But it does take more effort for your customer to complete it and mail it to you. (Always include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for this purpose.)
VERBAL: Although easy for the customer to respond to, it can be scary
for the performer, if there is a chance of getting a bad review. But it’s important to get this feedback, especially if it’s bad!
Now, it is not permanent, and so it is more difficult to post a verbal commentary online, unless.. you record it with your portable video camcorder or phone. Video and audio testimonies on your website are very powerful. They are very convincing to your prospective clients. So, use them!
SIX: Request an email address
During the follow-up phone call, I was given an opportunity to receive a discount coupon from Mr. Electric for giving out my email address, and opting in to their “occasional emails.” When they asked me this, I was very impressed at their combination of support and thorough marketing skill.I gladly gave my email for a discount coupon. I knew that Iʼd be hiring them again. And I had no worries about email spamming because they had already demonstrated their professionalism.
Satisfied customers should always be asked for their email address, if you don’t already have it. Usually, this is information that I get from a client whenever they call or inquire about a show. But asking them for their email is not the same as getting permission to use it to market to them. For that, you need to ask their permission.
Now, once you do get their email address, you should definitely use it by sending out occasional emails. It’s totally free – once you get set up with an email auto-responder system. If you’re looking for a powerful way to maintain regular contact with many customers automatically, then I strongly recommend that you try 1 Shopping Cart. They have a low cost demo at this link: http://www.1shoppingcart.com/app/?pr=1&id=74266
SEVEN: Send a Thank-you note
Within a couple of days, I received a hand-written thank-you note from the electrician. It included a business card. It was a real nice touch. I often send out thank-you notes to my customers. But I do it more out of duty because I know I should. But receiving one reminded my of the nice feelings that it can create in a customer. It creates an emotional connection.
Did you know that it is very easy to send out Thank-you notes from MagicBase Pro? There is even a downloadable form on the website (MagicBasePro.com) that has a basic Thank-you Note template.
The business card included with the note from the electrician was a nice, subtle way to say, “Pass this card on to a friend.” I’d recommend that you do that too.
The Thank-you note is also a place that you could give the customer the option, one more time, of signing up for your e- newsletter.
So, that is what I learned from my electrician:
1. Invest in marketing to get Top of the Mind Awareness. 2. Do more than is expected to surprise the customer. 3. Do a great job to get customer satisfaction. 4. Investigate other sales opportunities with the customer. 5. Do a follow-up phone call to discover possible problems. 6. Get an email address and use it for future marketing. 7. Send a Thank-you note to create an emotional connection.
I hope this true story was helpful to you. Wishing you profitable performances!
Bob Miller is the creator of MagicBase Pro Integrated Marketing Software (www.MagicBasePro.com) and he has a monthly enewsletter for performers called Profitable Performances (www.ProfitablePerformances.com). It contains marketing and performing tips and ideas.
