The Art of Genuine Interest

The art of genuine interest in marketing.

What is the most valuable gift you can give anyone? A gift that doesn’t require you opening your wallet or purse? A gift that makes them – and probably you – feel good?

It’s the gift of genuine interest. When you show interest by asking someone about them; their thoughts; their opinions; their interests; you make them feel important. And everyone likes to feel important.

Developing The Art of Genuine Interest

Dale Carnegie’s world-famous book ‘How To Win Friends and Influence People’, published in 1915, clearly explained this principle.

• He told us people didn’t like being taken for granted.
• He told us people like to talk about themselves and their interests.
• He told us people like people who listen properly to what they’ve got to say.
• He told us people like to feel important – that what they say or do matters! (I think that is why social websites and forums are so popular; it gives people a chance to vent their feelings and share their opinions).

And what he said still holds true today.

It’s the foundation of any relationship – whether business or personal (remember people buy from people). And if you don’t have a strong relationship with your customers, then you risk losing them.

And of course when a customer leaves, you lose the potential profit you would have gained from any future business with them.

How Many Customers Leave Because of Hurt Feelings?

I recall hearing at a motivational seminar that the greatest proportion of customers leaving a company do so because of indifference; effectively the company ignored them in some way. I daresay you’ve heard that as well.

I couldn’t remember the reasons and percentages for why customers change their supplier, so I Googled to see what came up:

Cease Trading / Die…………………………..1%
Move Away…………………………………….3%
Influenced by Others…………………………5%
Attracted to Competition…………………….9%
Dissatisfaction with Product/Service………14%
Indifference from Company………………….68%

Good quality customer service goes some way towards minimizing that feeling of indifference, but these days that really is not enough.

So, is your customer important enough to listen to? Do you value their opinion? Do you actually take the time to ask them?

Do you have a system in place that allows your customers to give you crucial feedback? And when you get the feedback do you acknowledge it and show your appreciation?

It’s all part of creating rapport isn’t it? But I wonder if sometimes we forget – or are too busy – to keep that connection going.

So, what do you do to make your customers and prospects feel good?

More on Genuine Interest and Marketing

Anyone involved in marketing will have come across the quote from John Wanamaker, founder of the Philadelphia store of the same name:

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, and the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

If you sometimes feel like this, then what I’m about to share will be an inspiration to you.

Ed Rivis, knows the true power of advertising and art of genuine interest – when it is done properly. What do I mean by done properly? I mean it is…

• Targeted at the right audience like a master archer focusing his arrow on the bullseye
• Written in the most effective style* – as an advertorial (an advert that looks like an article) so your reader is engaged in your message
• Contains an offer that hits the reader’s hot-spot so they can’t help but respond
• Thoroughly tested as a smaller advert before investing in larger, more expensive advertising space
• Measurable – either through coding or by using a unique response mechanism. You cannot test if anything is working if you have no way of measuring it.

Incidentally, Lord Leverhulme said…

“There is no need for advertisements to look like advertisements. If you make them look like editorial pages, you will attract about 50% more readers.”

Share your ideas and thoughts – I’d love to discover tips on the art of genuine interest I haven’t thought of or come across before… click the comment link below and tell about good – and bad – experiences you have had with companies you’ve dealt with and how it impacted on you.