I DO have a valuable marketing point in this post, so please bear with me…
Last night, one of my more hyper-responsive customers (Tom) stopped by my house for dinner. He’s been a VERY successful coaching student for approximately 8 months and was passing through the area, so I offered to cook for him.
No problem so far, right?
Except, I really, really, really can’t cook (for other people). I don’t know why.
Something always seems to go horribly wrong. And I’m not just being modest or polite… I mean horrendously wrong as in you want to be sure there’s an ambulance near-bye.
It always starts with the best intentions.
Last night I started with Black Bean chili. I was just gonna heat it up from the can. But I burned it beyond recognition. It was burned so badly, Sharon made me leave it outside on the porch to try and air out the house before Tom arrived.
There was also brown rice, of course. How hard is it to steam brown rice? Apparently VERY. Because even though I make rice myself about 3x/week, this particular batch just didn’t want to make.
I put it in the steamer for well over 90 minutes, checking every 20. (It usually only takes an hour). God knows why, but the damn rice just wouldn’t cook. It was INVINCIBLE .
Despite the mounds of steam, and the fact that all vegetables steamed perfectly well (as they had a hundred time before), this particular batch just sat there like a rock. As in, I may has well have just gone outside and scooped up some gravel to pour the burnt chili over.
Finally, there was the salad dressing. I was going to blend up some garlic, ginger, soy sauce, and a little water. (Usually works really well). But for some reason this came out too thin, so I thought I’d fix that with a little Guar Gum.
Result? Disgusting Garlic puddling. Yummmm.
You may think I’m taking dramatic license for this post and exaggerating for effect. But I’m not. I’m quite realistically describing what happened.
I can’t imagine how Tom could be saying anything to his family today besides “Uhm… I don’t know why, but Glenn tried to kill me”.
When I went upstairs with Sharon at night she said “Honey, I have to say that was about the worst cooking I’ve ever, EVER had in my life. What possessed you?”
OK, now back to marketing your business.
Tom will stay with me regardless of the bad food. So will your most hyper-responsive customers… you’re entitled to make a mistake once in a while.
When you’ve truly established a hyper-responsive customer, your job has more to do with NOT UNSELLING them. There’s a natural momentum the customer wants to maintain. They want to continue the relationship and grow/consume more with you. It’s only natural for people to want more of a good thing, right?
But…
It really IS possible to “kill” (UNsell) your customers.
I see it all the time.
I used to supervise coaches and psychotherapists who constantly complained to me about the unreliability of their income, not having enough clients/patients, not knowing why clients constantly left before accomplishing their goals.
But when you really listened to their stories, you inevitably saw something the coach/therapist did to UNSELL their client.
Sometimes it was blatant, like confronting the client too hard before developing a solid foundation in the relationship. Other times it was subtle, like constantly coming 1 minute late for the appointment. (The difference isn’t the 1 minute, it’s who waits for whom, and believe me personal service clients have a whole different experience when they’re forced to wait for you instead of feeling that you’re all set, prepared, and looking forward to seeing them)
In the products business, it’s slightly under-delivering a few times in a row (they’ll usually forgive it once), after you’ve established a history of excellence and delight/surprise.
Why would a marketer do this?
Human nature, really.
We always want what we don’t yet have. Which means we’ve always got our eye on “the next level”, too frequently forgetting about the people who got us where we are now.
You can guard against this by honestly asking yourself 3 simple questions…
- Why do my best customers stay with me?
- What have I STOPPED doing for my best customers, which I simply need to reinstall in my business?
- What have I done recently which could UNSELL my most hyper-responsive people?
OK, now, who wants leftovers?
G 
www.HyperResponsiveMarketingSecrets.com
PS – This isn’t the first time I’ve cooked people out of my home. Terry Dean’s spent a weekend with me on more than one occasion. It’s kind of fun to see him squirm (he’s so polite) and ask “Um, Glenn, how about we get Chinese Food again tonight?”. And Perry Marshall’s due to stop bye for lunch next month when he’s passing through. When I offered to make vegan cooking for him, he said “that sounds like fun”. We’ll see!
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Dad. I would have eaten it! Welllll, maybe not the rice. Woof! Wag, wag
Well, I hope your relationship is strong enough for him to have been able to tell you (politely of course) that the meal was…uh…well… I’m not really that hungry.. How about ordering some pizza! Organic even….
So wouldn’t the corollary be to make sure your clients know they can be brutally honest with you (ok, maybe not brutally)
but at least they can feel comfortable enough to tell you how they “really” feel.
Very entertaining post with an excellent lesson woven in. Maybe instead of cooking you should check out foodler next time.
I suspect that many times relationships founder over a communication issue; specifically, that most people avoid the elephant in the room instead of addressing it head on.
All consultants are going to have times when they are too busy or an emergency arises that gets in the way of a deadline for another client. The best way to deal with that is to be very straight-forward, telling that client that if it were THEIR emergency you would put them first so you know they will understand why you had to reschedule them.
I have never had a good client complain in that situation. My feeling about selfish clients is that they are best fired to make more room for other good ones.
Have you considered having your dinners catered?
You could think of it more of a Weight Management System rather than bad cooking!
Great Story, I actually laughed out loud!
Great story Glenn… I needed that laugh today!
Good reminder to keep our priorities straight, underpromise & over deliver.
Thanks!
Couldn’t you get Terry Dean to bring a pizza? He’s famous for that…
Teach Sharon to cook
Glenn,
In South Louisiana we have a very high interest in great tasting (if not healthy) cooking. I have been cooking for competitors for years, hoping the cholesterol would improve my business. Now I have a better idea: How much for you to cater lunch for my competitors?
If I’m ever lucky enough to get an invite, I’ll do the cooking.
I’m pretty good at it. And might be a lot better when I’m cooking for other people.
That is just too funny. Mostly because I resemble that story. I may be female, but that doesn’t automatically translate to being even a passable cook. People are never sure how to respond when I say that my children learned how to cook out of self preservation. They are all great cooks as a result.
Here is a tip for those with kids of age to cook, that are still also holding down a job. The kids generally get home earlier than the parents. The kids also typically want to bolt out the door the moment supper is done. Make a deal with your son or daughter (yes, boys can do well at this as well). They cook supper when they get home, you do the clean up. Supper is ready when you get home and the kids can bolt once they have eaten. Everyone wins.
Glenn, to be honest I didn’t think there was any hope of turning that meal into something positive – but it seems like everyone else is enjoying it!
Fortunately there was food at the hotel, and the conversation more than made up for those culinary delights… and you’re certainly right about the hyper-responsiveness factor – so long as we don’t add hyper-vegan cooking lessons to the mix then I’m as happy as ever!
This was a great post, very humorous, while being extremely informative. Maybe your wife can prepare a meal for your next visitors
!
Perry Marshall would eat anything.
Joe … to the contrary, he thoroughly enjoyed my home made Kale and Ginger juice today (I brought the food from the local Chinese place though)
Like I said.