Lessons

Lesson Info

Breaking Down the Charted Course

All right, let's, break it down. Let's. Go a little further. We've got the two ends of the spectrum. Now we have readiness on one side, we have vision on the other side and we have this whole conversation that's evolving. We have a customer that's evolving with us. And if you think back to that timeline boop boop boop boop boop boop. All of those little poops on the timeline are opportunities for you to serve your customer, their opportunities for your customer. Teo, buy from you. There are opportunities for them toe. Add a new piece to their collection toe. Learn a new idea to explore something different about themselves. And those things tend to take a three. Take the form of three different categories. The first is milestones. Thes air things that your customers kind of check off the list on dit might be as simple as having that go to necklace in their in their wardrobe, adding that one piece of jewelry that makes all the difference on a day to day basis, it might also be ah, milest...

one might also be finding that one special piece for their wedding day or first. Some other big event it might be finding or, you know, making a decision about a piece of artwork that hangs over the sofa that's one thing that's that they're going to check off their big list and that's a milestone and so our customers have all sorts of milestones and if you have, if you're having any trouble thinking about what milestones your customers might need to be checking off their list again, think back to interactions that you've had with customers in the past. Why did they buy this? How have they used it on what milestone has that allowed them to achieve? The next section is tasks, and these are things that are customers dio over and over and over again like rearranging the living room or figuring out what they're gonna wear that day and I hate to keep going back to living room or outfits, but those are the two easiest samples might be cooking dinner every night eso tasks are things that happen over and over and over again on when our product becomes an integral part of a task that happens over and over and over again our brand, our ideas, our vision becomes part of that task and our business becomes top of mind when our customer has a new need on dso figuring out what products you can create that actually become part of tasks is a key way to keep people buying from you and forgive me that the statistic is just complete lately left my brain, but I can tell you that loyal customers are much cheaper for your business than finding new customers all the time. I get questions from people saying, how do I find mohr new customers stop for a moment, stop trying to think of how you can find new customers and start thinking about how you conserve because existing customers that you have mawr because they're just they're so much easier they're already there and you know when you can create that marketing message that displays to them why they should be buying from you again, you're going to find that pays major dividends in your business, so task so things that happened over and over again and then finally, questions we've been talking a lot about questions today, but guess what? This is a new opportunity, another way that you can serve your customer customers ask different questions depending on where they are in that conversation. The same question that a new mother asks, or the question that a new mother asks is different than the question. The mom of a toddler asks the the woman who just had a makeover is asking different questions than the woman who's been, you know, you know really into the way she looked. Or expressing herself through the way she looks for years and years and years. So think about how those questions evolved on dollhouse say to hear that the idea is that we want to take our customer life cycle and extended as far as possible many businesses when they start very teeny tiny life cycles and there's maybe one milestone or one task between that point of readiness and that point of vision and when those life cycles are teeny tiny, you're constantly having to find new customers. But when you can extend the life cycle, then you're adding in additional ways to serve the same customer over and over and over again, so don't feel like you need to keep these milestones, tasks and questions in the life cycle your business currently has today might be an opportunity for you to think about how to expand the life cycle of your customer and serve them in new ways served them with similar products, serve them with the new collection, serve them with new ideas but always finding ways to extend that life cycle and create new points of entry new points of service for your customers so let's get some sharing going on here what are some milestones, tasks and questions that your customers are putting out there during the life cycle that there with you and in this conversation that your business is participating in well, I s o the milestones would be anniversary gifts or wedding gifts or what not. I make braille necklaces as well, and they're all different virtues. And so I always find that it's the most interesting. I think of my pieces because people really connect to them. I have a lot of different words that have meant something to me in this last year and a half um, so I sell a lot of curious and courage and kind and love. And do you get the feeling that your customers are commemorating something through that p and they're either doing it for themselves to remind them of that virtue himself, or sorry, or, um, they're giving it is a gift to someone, and it feels like a lot of those words balance is another one, teo it really resonates with people so great. Yeah, so that's a good opportunity for me to say to that these aren't three distinct categories that somethings, you know, lots of banks over laugh, it's just three different ways to think about it. And so immediately when you say like someone is, they buy a piece to remind them of a particular virtue. I can imagine that the purchase being made because it's it is commemorating a very specific thing but that they're also trying to incorporate that virtue into their daily lives and so it almost becomes like a task then for them that constant reminder of curiosity might be something that they're using on a day to day basis teo affect the way they act the way they think the way they approach the world so that's and that's my hope for yeah exactly awesome who else milestones tasks questions we have definitely have some of those coming through did you want to start with a comment and then I will I have a question yes actually might take second roll down this is actually a continued line of conversation so earlier just jessica nichols said that her mindset that she gets all the time is that I love your photographs but I don't have any more room on my walls for your art and then she follows that back up again and says I really don't understand how to get these people to buy my art more than once how much art from one person can people really having their home she's a fine art photography by the way I know jessica okay just ah a lot yeah yeah that's a great question and I'm not sure that there's a hard and fast answer for that one jessica but you know I think going back to the gift idea and perhaps thinking about gifting in terms of a task that people have on a regular, like, how many gifts do we have to buy during the course of a year on dh? So I think maybe making the jump between thinking of finding more wall space for your beautiful photographs, also including ways to talk about gifting, for people on that fine art can be a gift, it could be a very meaningful gift for people. S o I think that that's probably that would be the number one thing that I can think of right off the top of my head is a hard question. It's a good question, certainly our customers do have many in many businesses, customers have a finite lifespan with us on dh that we're not constantly going to be able to get them to buy from from us, which is fine, obviously, but yeah, so I think incorporating gifting as part of the tasks and thinking about how that can encourage people overtime to make more purchases, a referral source, you know, she has friends that come over to her home, I love the art on your walls. Oh, well, you know, maybe they maybe they could earn money by being a referral source, I don't know yeah idea totally possible, you know, one another way to kind of leverage that idea or leverage. The referral idea in general is to be thinking about those feelings that we were just talking about. Well, how are people trying to feel based on what it is that they're purchasing from you? What feelings does your art create in someone's home and reinforcing those words? Those emotions through your marketing through your regular client customer communication, s o that you're those words are the words that are on the tip of your customer's tongue because when, when then bake, they have that really easy way to talk about what it is that you have done for them. They're more likely to talk about your work with other people. Another comment from craft oka to our ota ku, we rotate are on the wall, so as long as you have storage space, when you can get way, have moon glow eighty two who says some of the tasks tucking a child into bed, every night's waddling a new baby and rocking a baby to sleep. Tell me time and moon glows milestones custom quote for a new baby. While hanging for a nursery or crib quilt to match the nursery had great so and then just continuing to emphasize we want to think about those milestones from the customer's perspective, but oh, my gosh nailed tasks that was so good, I love that cool, so we're gonna work. We're gonna move on to the perspective map now on, and I said at the top of the segment, this is my absolute favorite exercise. I use this with all my customers, all my clients, if you've ever worked with me at all, I'm quite certain that we've done this exercise. So tara, just just again interrupt. Yeah. Tara gentilly dot com slash map, right? Yeah, you can go and get on your newsletter, but also get this you can get through this exercise it's included in the workbook, but with on that paper, you can also download some training from me specifically on the personality of audio training. Yes, ok, so the perspective that this is all about understanding how your customers talk, what they're doing, what they're thinking and what they're feeling when you're not in the room, because here's the thing here's the problem with customer feedback. Most of the time, when our customers air giving us feedback, they're telling us most often what they think we want to hear, how many how many people I want to I want to hear out online how many people have had that problem? Your customers tell you exactly what they want you go and make it and then no one buys it wei don't want that to happen in instead of always relying on incoming feedback that way we want to go out and get that feedback when its most valuable, which is in those converse stations that our customers air having with their friends, their family, their colleagues that, you know, maybe at work at home, out at school when our customers air having those kind of conversations there actually showing you or they're actually revealing tio what it is that's actually going on in their head, what they really need, what they really want. And so that's the point of this perspective map and this could not be easier. Okay, so first of all, I want you to think about your customer having a conversation with a friend or family member at a coffee shop. If you don't go to coffee shops picked something else, pick something where the whole purpose of being there generally is good conversation get that in your head be thinking about that. My favorite place for good conversation is a fantastic little coffee shop in astoria, which I'm going to be mentioning tomorrow as part of the pricing talk out think about where you love to go for conversation who you love to have a conversation with an imagine your customer there imagine your customer with a friend or family member I want you to be a little fly on the wall and on your workbook in that first quadrant the upper left quadrant want you to write down what you hear your customers saying what do you hear your customers saying? So let me try and give you an example here when my customers tell me what they need uh they tell me I need help getting the word out I need help getting the word out and what they mean is well, if again if only they could reach more customers if only more people knew what they were doing. But when I sit down and eavesdrop when I hear them talk like I love going to conferences and being the quiet one at the table during the networking or during you know the after hours party or the after hours go out and get coffee um I like being the quiet what? At the table and I sit and I listen to my colleagues my friends talk amongst themselves about their business and I try and not interfere in that conversation and instead of I need to get the word out what I hear them say is things like, well, people don't really know what I d'oh or people don't I have to spend so much time answering emails from new questions of customers potential new customers because they don't understand the process or they don't understand what I'm trying to help them achieve where they're coming to me with the wrong problems so suddenly could be a need that I need to fill is not how to get the word out to more people it's how to help my customers get mme or out of the marketing that they've already that they're already doing it's helping them get mme or out of the potential client relationships they've already got in the fire and so that's how I hone in on that particular need and then I could write a block post about it I can create a product around it I could do a free call around it now that's my business um and I actually have a feeling that in your businesses thes distinctions might be even mohr disparate so what are your clients saying in conversation with other people? The next one is do what your clients doing and we spent all more well we spent most a big chunk of the morning bring that camera study you guys wrote down what it is that your customers are doing so this is another opportunity to kind of use this inn in the framework to put this down on the map so that you've got it all in the right place but we want to concentrate on what our customers air doing on a daily basis so so far may give you an example I think your customers or your potential customers are standing in front of their closets for way to lob every morning because there wanting to put together a now outfit that is really unique really them may be a little out there, but they're constrained by the choices that are in front of them and the result of that is a lot of this in front of the closet for way longer than they want every morning and so that's a particular behavior that they're using our that they're doing on a regular basis all right? And so you might write down all sorts of these all sorts of these things research I find to be a anak shin that a lot of people's clients are doing for whatever reason taste it and they research and the research analysis paralysis. So what are your clients doing on a daily basis? The third part of this is think what your clients thinking about and not just what are they thinking about what's that internal monologue that's going on in their brains because a lot of times what comes out of their mouth it's not the same as what's going on in their heads? So what are they thinking about when you know what your customers are actually thinking about you have a very almost visceral way t get into their lives because when you can say, hey, I know this is what you're talking about, but I know you think this instead suddenly you've got a huge amount of trust built up because they really feel like you understand them because d'oh, because you've taken the time to figure out who your virtual focus group is and try and get more of those people in and understanding the think part of that what they're thinking but not actually saying is big the final piece here is feel how are your customers really feeling? And this is the part of the exercise where I always like to bring up that these are all necessarily negative feelings and that what people say do and think also are not always negative they're not always needs they're not always oh, I wish this r o I want that in fact sometimes there's a really positive things they might be really excited and that's why they're going to look for something to purchase they might be really just elated that a new baby has been born and so they need to commemorate that and so you're feeling sometimes they're going to be negative for sure, but a lot of times they're positive it's not always about you, you know, dealing with that negativity piece, speaking of being sales, you're feeling bad about bill being sales e oftentimes it's when people are fixated on negative emotions on dh have noticed that advertising is often fixated on negative emotions that they feel bad about the way they talk about their products when you can understand how it pause, your customers feel positively you khun reframe your marketing messages into things that make people actually feel good about what it is that you're offering so that's the perspective map say, do you think feel loved again to get him to get some answers from you guys on this? Uh, anna, can you tell me what your customers are saying when they're talking about maybe needing to go? Teo a baby shower that's the one quadrant I actually am having the hardest time good, I'm not even I like the feeling part is just like flowing out of me and maybe the doing carpet, the saying, I'm like, okay, so let's make this more specific I brought you because this is an exercise that you can use on your business as a whole to think about your brand and to think about your overall marketing messages, but it could also be something that you used about very specific things, very specific needs, very specific parts of the conversation, a particular milestone task or question, and so I'm going to pose a situation to you, and then I bet you could tell me what people are saying so I am imagining conversation between two girlfriends at a coffee shop and the one and the one says oh so and so is having a baby baby and her baby shower is next week but I have no idea what to get her fill it in what kind of conversation ensues? Um oh my god, I was just at insert name of indie fare here our boutique there is this there is this brand called an apple it's so cute there was this like nom nom babe and then this like onesie with the tie on and it was awesome was ridiculous I think would be perfect. Okay let's kind of mate let's rewind a little bit and think uh because where I thought you were going and this is really good I was just at insert name of big box store and everything looks the same and are you know, our girlfriend is so unique, so individual and although I can't imagine buying something from that big box store for for this occasion because it just doesn't fit and it's not his personal it's not his personal yeah, anything else you can imagine her saying in that conversation? Um yeah, I think it just kind of elaborate on what you were saying about like yeah she's so unique why would we get her something not a million other people can get and something not like um does is made locally or you know that that injects a lot more personality and uniqueness than just yeah and I did and how about I don't want to be that person at the baby shower that has the same gift that three other people have that's always awkward yeah that's great on dh so I had something else I was going to say about that and it will come back to that if I could remember it to be like specifically imagining their conversation and regard tio us or if it was just kind of a little more general I think that's why I was having the yes so not in not specifically about you or your business but about the kind of that more general conversation whatever that need is the milestone the task the question yeah so before positioning myself yeah I'm sorry I didn't make it out no it's fine yeah ok yeah oh I know what it was that I was going to point out to you too so another thing that she might end up talking about is not just buying a one z right but putting toe together a whole gift basket and so there is an immediate opportunity you as a business can not only suggest your own work but khun suggest the work of other people as well other items that make a lot of sense with your product there again you've added value too the sales conversation so that might be something that happens on your block it might be something that happens on pinterest great items that go with anna apple onesies put together the perfect baby basket right? So that's an opportunity and you pulled that out right out of that conversation okay, I'm gonna write that down yeah definitely write that down yeah, go ahead. Well, I was thinking that like whatever um like a baby shower or a birthday or whatever what? I've always heard it oh my god, I don't I don't think I'm going to buy against I don't know that that I don't know them that well, thank god I don't know should she leave is right you know people much rather get a gift card then to get a gift that they don't want, you know, that's what the conversation is like is it like that all the time and that's how I feel too? I always say to people like, don't give me anything if you didn't make it normally say that you know so there's a positioning opportunity there in that you can offer but you can kind of deliver the message that this is an opportunity for self expression through gift giving as well so it's not just finding a gift that matches the receiver's personality but allowing the gift to be a form of self expression as well for people that you know it's for me because I'm a deejay some giving them this turntable design yeah so it's it's like that connection tio it's like a personal thing for the recipient but also from the giver too so it's like a really awesome little relation excellent so we're going to go through the last batch of great my questions and then we'll move on to your questions okay, so the questions on here directly or the next page eleven in the workbook directly relate to this perspective map so what I like to do with this map is, you know, schardt the journey that I'm going to take not exactly, but I like to make connections between points and so the first two questions what feelings lead to what actions and what thoughts lead to what sayings are all about connecting the dots so you don't even have to answer this question you literally could take your pen and connect things I see this particular feeling causing people to act this way or I see this particular thought leading people to say this and as I mentioned earlier, those things may not be the same just because you think something doesn't mean that's what's coming out of your mouth, so can you relate those too two things together on your perspective map? So what feelings lead to what actions on what thoughts lead to what sayings megan, I know you've done this exercise before, so I'm gonna put you on the spot and ask you what connections you see in your perspective um so most of my people through the artwork that they get and it's always my mission to kind of inspire them to make their own so they buy it one two maybe cheer up that corner but it's also to kind of get them started on the road of maybe I should take up that old javi again because this looks fun and I would liketo have fun so it kind of snowballs them into becoming a collector of art but also then a creator of art on their own fantastic that's great. Anybody else see immediate connections on the perspective map? Yeah um people are saying that they need to figure out what to wear and then just automatically going into confidence and showing that their unique and in their creative beautiful I love it great connection. All right. Next question is what consequences are there to the actions that your most valued customers take? What consequences are there to the actions? So I mentioned earlier so hard that I think your customers are probably standing in front of closets a lot and one consequence of that might be always going to the same old standby outfit or another action I bet you see people making a lot is wearing all black because it safe, you know, you pick out those same black pieces that make you feel a tte least, like you're not sticking out, that you're not a sore thumb on dso that's, probably those air, some negative consequences that people might might take because of the actions that that they're doing on a daily basis. You could always think of the flip side, too, and and imagine your customers putting together amazing out if it's because of the amount of time that they put together and really bringing attention to putting pieces together that they never put together before so there's that as well. What other consequences do you guys see? Sasha? Actions consequences my things air so kind of abstract that I've had a little bit of difficulty with this. Okay, well, let's talk about that because I'm sure people at home are feeling the same way. Okay? Well, at first I answered this. What are the consequences of the actions that you're nbc's take? I was thinking the consequence of taking a class, like what more like the actions as a result of that involved with my work? Yeah, like that. So? So there was like there have been a number of people said, like, oh, I go into the coffee shop and everyone says, I'm glowing. Like you look different that's great so they're more connected there more um available basically for life yeah, and then I then I just went to thinking about what's the opposite of that and that people would feel sort of disconnected and in a rod and bored and kind of right okay? And so that might be the consequence of a new action like kind of being in the same old routine all the time yeah, being in the same old routine and really was that the core of all of this in terms of like what they're thinking or feeling is that there's something wrong with me? Basically I mean that's kind of I don't know if that's what they're saying that their friends but that's what they say to me when they email me is like I thought that there was something weird about me yeah, well and there they just used the word thought so they're thinking that long before they actually contact you but what you've just done there is really draw a connection between the whole dang map, right? And so you I could see this feeling leading to this action leading to what they're saying leading to what they're thinking and you know well matter where you start on that so that's that's great thank you um all right, what thoughts would you like to re program for your most value customer I keep coming back to the jewelry example because it's just so easy for me but you know ah thought that megan wants teo re program for herman most valuable customers is that they're not stylish or that they can't put together an outfit that's very interesting and her products helps them re program that thought so that you can wear the same old sam old put an amazing necklace on and suddenly boom you are feeling stylish and hip and put together again and then the last question is how would you like your most valued customers to feel instead of the way that you wrote down that they're feeling on the map so not the positive ones but thinking about the negative one how would you like your most valued customers to feel instead do you want them to have clarity instead of confusion do you want them to feel stylish instead of frumpy do you want their house to feel welcoming and homey instead of kind of drab and dreary how are you reprogramming thoughts for your customers or how do you want to re program thoughts for your customers what we got going on on the internet well you know they're totally into it that's for sure because they're talking conversations are going back and forth did you have anything can you just check him in in the live tab where triscuit who has been very active so far today is saying consequences unique natural special sexy confidence new fresh sure badlands yoga feel beautiful instead of flawed, strong and open instead of tents and stress love that yeah and so I would encourage it sounds like a lot of people are thinking in terms of the perspective map after someone buys their product I want also, which is great and I also want to encourage you to rewind that bit. Andi think about your customer before they've ever encountered your product as well before they've ever encountered your business. What are the conversations that are happening? How are they acting? How are they thinking? How are they feeling before they've ever had any contact with your custom with your business at all? Um so that pretty much wraps up segment two for me do we have questions? Let's? Just take a couple questions if we have any we've got some waiting on line. All right? Let's, go on. Okay, cool. Um all right. So cheryl's e says my customers thinking well, they approach me going out of their way to say that they love me and my unusual artisan jewelry but they have too much jewelry jewelry already how does cheryl v transform that into a sale? Does that make sense? Yeah, um that's a very good question so they go out of their way to approach her and they say they love what she has but that they have already too much jewelry yeah I want to be going to different shows no, I yeah I mean that's a very particular kind of customer who is already a collector and collectors never have too much of anything on so I might I might actually kind of take that conversation in a very joking manner in you know, in a humorous manner and say come on there's no such thing as too much jewelry on dh here's my mind's different here's why minds unique here's why mine doesn't fit the rest of it here's how mine fits a whole really in the in the collection that you have and you can probably take a gases toe what that what all that collection holds you've been around the block you've been to shows you know what other people are selling what's unique about yours that you can use teo show her how to fit that conversation in or how to fit that piece into her collection but also think about customers who are maybe beginning collectors as well and think about people who are just beginning to dabble in this market not that you know one is better than the other but you but I think you know, realizing that that's one very particular kind of customer on that there are others out there is probably really helpful that's interesting we do have jack the goldsmith who is in hawaii and he is also a jeweler and he is also going to put him insert himself as the man's perspective and as well so we do we'd love to hear from you and going through all these exercises, but he also has jewelry is very expensive one thousand two eight thousand dollars, he says he's having to close his shop because of lack of business and trying wholesale art sales and consignment troubles with the economy lives in hawaii and mostly dependent on visitors I'm moving from quite a big island and start over I need help. So what about thie maker who's in a very touristy area? Yeah, so two things you've kind of got to most valued customers going on there there's always locals that are in the market now often locals don't have the same budget the tourists I do, but you can be thinking about them too, and thinking about opportunities to serve them in a way that dozens kind of take away anything from your art from your craft your you're not you don't want to compromise on your values or your perspective, but there are ways to serve locals perhaps at a lower price point or with differ it means in the same vein on then in terms of tourists talk to them, talk to the tourists and find out why're they why're they visiting why were they there? What are they celebrating? What are they trying to get out of this vacation have those conversations with them and I think you'll find that there are certain themes obviously that happened over and over and over again about why people are visiting hawaii, why people are there to begin with andi tapped into those reasons why as a way to make a connection between your work and what they're wanting to accomplish because at the heart of it, what they're trying to accomplish is commemorating that trip purchasing a reminder of that trip. But what does that trip really mean to them? It doesn't mean a new start in life after a wedding does it mean the continuation of a wonderful life because of an anniversary doesn't mean, you know, it's a vacation after they grabbed me after they got their phd on they want to commemorate that and all the feelings that go along with each of those scenarios if you can have those individual conversations with customers and I think in this way you're very lucky you're one of the people who isn't necessarily after scale. You're after having kind of a very high level value conversations with your customers so you can actually work a customized value conversation into each of those into each of those interactions so that you know your customers are getting exactly what they need to get in terms of message and so for any of you guys or anyone else out online who's doing kind of high end commissioned or just, you know, real luxury goods, that opportunity tohave a one on one buying decision means that you can kind of almost do the perspective map on the spot and draw the connections you need to draw between your product and the needs that your customer has. This has been awesome so far, but what are we going to get into when we get back? Yes. So what we're going to do when we get back let's talk about holes, not drills, and the idea here again, as I matches at the very beginning, is that experts love their products maker's love their products, crafters love their products, artists love their products on dh it could be very tempting to try and sell our goods on the merits of those products because we know the materials we know the process, we know the craftsmanship, but instead, what we really need to determine is what our customers air trying to accomplish through our products and how we can get them to do that and how we can talk about it in language that actually makes sense to them all right, when I give you a gift here you're you've been giving us so much so much, um, triscuit actually says her or his biggest takeaway so far is taking that time to talk to friends and friends of friends and people watching at business. Ain't so. Thank you and here's, a little love. Crafty cat says. Terror is right on, you know, and it's, so cool, full on then, on twitter using the hashtag c l craft derailer, meyer says. I'm watching from europe, and I will stay up late today because of terra, genteel and then finally, kari curry says, this is so inspiring. I can't wait to get my encaustic photography sat shop up.