I am a proponent of building a customer/client community. I am a big fan of word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing. I believe that the best way to grow your business is to have your advocates become a voluntary ‘sales force.’
It just makes sense: Your customers know the benefits of what you do better than anyone else. Your customers trust you and like you. Most importantly, they give you their attention. This is the key. I have so little attention capacity and I am very particular about who I give my attention to. When I, or any customer, willingly gives you attention – that is an asset. A business can make a lot of money with that asset alone.
Don’t misuse it. Attention is the golden goose. You customers value you, they respect your opinion and, when you communicate with them, they expect that communication to add value to your relationship. If you abuse the access they’ve given you, if you fail to respect it, you will kill the golden goose. Never seek a dollar of revenue today at the risk of diminishing the basis of trust you have developed. It’s not worth it.
The moment I feel that you don’t hold my relationship with you as sacred, I am done with you. Most people I know feel this way, even if they don’t express it. By the way, when if you fail to live up to that bond with me, you not only lose the opportunity for me to spread positive word-of-mouth, you’ll probably lose my business as well.