Why Marketing Is Like A Leaky Bathtub

Find out how to stop your customers from leaking away - and how this can actually increase your sales whilst slashing your marketing budget.

In the bath we have our pool of customers.

When we want more customers, most business owners instinctively want to turn on the marketing tap.

But there’s a problem.

You see, the bath leaks. The bath of business always leaks, no matter how hard you try to stop it leaking.

Why? Well, it’s a fact that you’ll always lose some customers. People move areas; get married; have babies; travel overseas. There are all sorts of very valid reasons why a customer might stop doing business with you, and these sorts of events are completely out of your control.

But the good news is that you can affect the rate at which the bath leaks to some extent. This means that you have the opportunity to keep hold of your customers for as long as possible.

The problem is, most companies prefer to ignore this leak. Rather than address the problem and fix it, it’s easier or more convenient to throw money at turning the tap on.

This generally involves spending money on advertising. Yet unless they’re very astute (or very lucky), the results of such campaigns generally falls short of expectations – and it’s expensive.

So let’s concentrate on fixing those leaks instead.

How? The top two methods are:

1. Customer service: consistent and excellent.

2. Communication: regular and ongoing.

The great thing about focusing on these things is that they will delight your customers and make them go WOW.

By turning customers into raving fans, they’ll tell their friends all about your fantastic business, and the tap on the bath will turn itself on!

If you embrace this approach, you’ll be attracting more new customers, and maybe even make some considerable savings on your advertising and marketing budget.

Why is customer service important?

Your customers and prospects are judging your business every single time you interact with them. They don’t just look at glossy brochures or websites to suss you out – they base their opinion of your business when you’re talking on the phone (or when they get your voicemail); writing by email; face-to-face and at meetings, and so on.

Therefore my approach is that every single interaction you have with a client or prospect is marketing.

So have a look at every single aspect of these interactions, to make sure they’re working for you as hard as they can.

Why should I keep in touch with my customers?

After all, they’ve always come to you when they’ve needed you, right?

Well have a look at the following statistics:

Why businesses lose customers:

4% Natural attrition (moved away, passed on, etc.)
5% Referred to a competitor by their friend
9% Competitive reasons (price)
14% Product/Service dissatisfaction
68% Perceived Indifference

Source: Statistics from Professor John Gattorna

Yes, 68% of customers are lost because they don’t feel valued or cared about. Out of sight IS out of mind, that’s why it’s important to keep in touch with them – regularly.

How you do that is a topic for another day, but for now just remember to communicate regularly and provide consistently excellent service. That’s the best marketing approach any small business can take, it’ll boost your repeat business rate; and your referral rates. And it won’t cost you an arm and a leg either.

So leave the tap alone and fix that leak!

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PS. I've written a whole book about The Leaky Bathtub - find out more here.

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Would you like to use this article?

Yes, you can use this article with your clients, prospects, and your database. You can use it on your website, on your blog, or in your newsletter... whatever you like! Just so long as you leave it exactly as it is, and don't change it in any way. That means including any hyperlinks, exactly as they are. You can omit the photograph and caption, but no changes are permitted to the rest of the text.

If you include any text, photographs or links on the page on your own products or services, please do that separately from the article itself. (Using a horizontal rule is a convenient way to do that.) That way, your clients will be able to clearly identify your services.

If you have any questions about any of these requirements, please email me (cornelia@fxmarketing.co.nz), I'll be happy to help.

Also, if you use the article, you must include this text at the end - as it is here, word for word:

Article written by Cornelia Luethi.

Would you like to read more free articles and resources on marketing strategies, marketing measurement, copywriting, sales techniques, sales conversion, website strategies and online marketing? Check out http://www.fxmarketing.co.nz for practical small business marketing ideas that work - even with the smallest of marketing budgets.

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Website Owner's Manual (ebook)

Have you ever wondered if your website could be working harder?

Great, you've got your website up-and-running, but are you wondering if there's anything else you should be doing with it?

But all those computer words and technical jargon just put you right off doing anything more with it.

Does that sound familiar?

Then the Website Owner's Manual is for you...

The Leaky Bathtub will show you how you can stop your customers from leaking away.

Does marketing feel like you’re throwing money down the drain?

You know you need to do marketing to grow your business – but what should you be focusing on?

What’s actually going to deliver real results?

Find out more >>


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