Page 79 - Duct Tape Marketing

Duct Tape Marketing

prospects, you have a much better feeling that they are qualified to
become clients, and you can justify moving them to the next level by
offering them some more. Your prospect list is now ready for an offer
to become a client.

In many cases this requires a low-cost or trial service offering to
gain the ultimate trust needed to become a premium client. You may
need to create an introductory product or version of your service that
can be priced low enough to offer a low barrier to becoming a client.
Think of this as your foot-in-the-door offering.

Your Clients Become Premium Clients
So now we enter the expanding shape of our hourglass—our

marketing mix—as we move clients to deeper engagements and higher-
priced products. Clients become premium clients when they respond to
offers for repeat business, higher pricing, or custom services. You must
develop products and services with the intention of creating premium
clients. This may include membership offerings, upscale consulting
engagements, or even service agreements and products and services
from strategic partners.

Once your clients move to premium status, the focus is to also
find specific ways to turn them into referral sources.

Premium Clients Become Champions
Some amount of your clients will automatically become champi-

ons. These are repeat clients who voluntarily look for ways to promote
your business. In effect, this potent group can become your informal
sales force. With this group you need to develop promotions and offer-
ings that will help them refer business or even come to see referring
business as something that is of great benefit. Memberships and affiliate
programs that promote and reward loyalty will work well to motivate
this group. (In chapter 13 we will cover referrals in great depth.)

So let’s bring this concept together by looking at an example of

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