How to Run a Champion Customer Challenge Module 2

[Audio] Hi and welcome to How to Run a Champion Customer Challenge module 2.

Module 2 – Pick the Goal of Your Challenge.

[Audio] The different types of challenges you can offer are only limited by 2 things: Your Goals Creativity.

[Audio] Businesses go in the wrong direction when they focus on the creativity part of the equation first. Small businesses with limited budgets come up with creative financing tactics for marketing and implementing their challenge. Salesmen and other creative types immediately start thinking about the different types of challenges your company can offer. This is putting the cart before the horse. You need to start planning a challenge by thinking about a specific goal you are trying to accomplish before you get into the details..

[Audio] This may sound a little backwards. You may be thinking about what type of event or contest would be best for your customer. If so, that is great. It is always important for you to keep the customer experience in mind. However, your main reason for running a customer challenge is to accomplish some type of business goal. Accordingly, the first step towards deciding on what challenge program or style you will use is concentrating on a very specific result. Don't set a vague goal, like "attracting new customers". Instead, shoot for a precise target, such as "adding 50 new customers who purchase our Product X". You have a better chance of hitting your target when it is well-defined..

[Audio] Maybe your business is thriving. Things are going great and you have just enjoyed your best quarter ever as far as gross sales are concerned. You would like to set up the next quarter for success, and you are already thinking how you can surpass the record of gross sales you just posted. Obviously, you will be focused on any type of sale; low margin, high margin, accessories, etc., since all sales contribute to gross sales. Because of this, the challenge you create will be different than if your goal was to focus on increasing your margins. In that situation, you would focus on high margin merchandise. The structure of your challenge would have to be different, because your goal is different..

[Audio] As a small business owner, you probably already have thoughts about some type of goal or result you would like to achieve. Your head may be bursting with multiple ideas. Before you leap into one goal, here are a few ideas of common business goals you may want to achieve: Increasing client retention numbers Enhancing the customer experience Attracting new customers, first-time sales Developing qualified leads Creating a client-based community Increasing gross sales.

[Audio] Building excitement for your company Creating brand awareness Increasing gross margin Collecting testimonials and customer success stories Launching a new business, product, or service Improving customer satisfaction levels Combination of the above goals.

[Audio] It is always important to attract new business. However, it is much more difficult and costly to bring in a new customer, than it is to convince a past or current customer to make a future purchase. This is why retaining as many of your customers as possible is so important..

[Audio] Sometimes businesses do a poor job of educating their customers. They may be very good at selling products, and not so good at creating a deeper connection with the customer. You can conduct a customer challenge that encourages people to get the most out of a particular product or service to accomplish both customer education and connection. For example, challenge participants who come up with the most creative and efficient product uses can be awarded prizes, discounts, or free services. You can also award prizes for challenge members who create "how-to" videos which show them using your product in the field. By engaging customers in a creativity challenge for using your product, you'll enhance everyone's experience and crowdsource education content at the same time..

[Audio] The vast majority of businesses focus a great deal of their time on increasing their customer base, so challenges with a focus on bringing in new clients and first-time buyers are some of the most common types..

[Audio] Your best customer was at one time nothing more than a lead. Businesses need an endless stream of qualified leads. Even if you offer the best product in the world, if you don't have qualified leads and interested prospects, you can't make the first sale. However, prospects who participate in one of your challenges can automatically be considered a 'hot' lead since they've shown tremendous interest in what you offer..

[Audio] Social media is huge these days. It seems like nearly every business has some type of Facebook page. Consumers also love physical meetings where they can interact with company representatives as well as other prospects and customers. You can create these virtual and real world client communities through a successful challenge..

[Audio] When your gross sales are big enough, your gross margin can be low and you can still show a healthy profit. This is one type of challenge that can be intertwined with others to deliver several desired results..

[Audio] Have you ever heard so many good things about a company that you were excited to take a look yourself? If you can create a " buzz" about your challenge, you can impact first-time sales numbers, gross sales, customer retention, and other important business metrics..

[Audio] Successful small business owners do a good job of creating an identifiable brand. They don't simply build a business, begin marketing and advertising, and wish for the best. When you have a company logo, tag line, and mental image associated with your company, those are aspects of your business that create your brand. Your brand is what people think about you. It's how your business is perceived. Serial entrepreneur, blogger, and best-selling author Seth Godin defines a brand as "the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer's decision to choose one product or service over another." Customer challenges, especially when offered regularly, can help elevate the perception of your brand above your competition's..

[Audio] If you sell $ 1 million worth of products this year, that may look good on the surface. However, if your total expenditures are more than $1 million, you won't be in business very long. While new business owners often look at gross sales as a sign of success, smart small business operators understand that their gross margin has to be accounted for as well. This type of customer challenge could focus on driving sales of related items and accessories. The challenge participants who purchase the most high-margin items in a specific period could be rewarded with future discounts, free products, free services, and other buying incentives..

[Audio] In the first module of the course, the importance of social proof was highlighted. In many cases a positive referral from a friend, family member, or coworker is all that is needed to get you a new customer. Even if your challenge underwhelms, you should be able to harvest several "happy customer" stories. These testimonials can be captured in the form of video, audio, or text. They can be used off-line and online. One testimonial about how good your product is can effortlessly drive sales, profits, and new customers for years. Make sure to capture a smiling picture, as well as contact information, of everyone who leaves you a positive review..

[Audio] Driving customer and prospect engagement is a great way to start a new business or spin-off. This is true for both off-line and virtual companies, no matter what is being sold. When you are rolling out a new product or service, you can offer your challenge to current customers as well as market prospects..

[Audio] This is tied to improving client retention rates, as discussed earlier. However, a challenge can also foster new sales through word-of-mouth advertising. The more people who are happy with your product, the more company ambassadors you have out there speaking positively about your customer experience. One way to do this is to provide pre-challenge marketing material at the point-of-sale. This could be a simple brochure or flyer handed to your customer when a purchase is made. With an online business you can advertise your challenge throughout your website, including on your checkout page. You should be building a list, whether you have a virtual or off-line company. It is very easy to get your customer challenge rolling by alerting your list members that you are working hard to improve customer service. Let them know they can help you do that by participating in your challenge while earning some type of award, service, or product..

[Audio] You can easily achieve multiple goals with a challenge. For example, you could be launching a new business and attracting new customers at the same time..

[Audio] Here are a few customer challenge case studies and ideas for accomplishing some of the business goals just covered..

[Audio] Summit Fitness is a health and fitness center in a small city with just 20,000 residents. They ran 4 regularly scheduled weight loss challenges annually. Those 4 events attracted 10,000 participants each year, the equivalent of half of the entire town! ( NOTE: some participants joined more than 1 annual challenge.).

[Audio] This small-town gym collected $ 80,000 in revenue annually from challenge entry fees. Their brand awareness was elevated, they collected new members who pay monthly fees, and their supplements, snack bar sales, and personal training sessions got a boost. This single challenge, held 4 times a year, delivered multiple business benefits..

[Audio] Successful SEO copywriter Kate Toon offered an e-course to help small businesses improve their search engine optimization ( SEO). She wanted to increase the number of sales of that course. So she decided to offer a 10-day challenge that would show small business owners how to implement a different SEO task daily for 10 straight days. The course was offered for free, as a way to build a list she could market future offers to..

[Audio] She scheduled 4 Periscopes, recorded a few videos, and sent daily email updates. At the end of the challenge, participants received a free downloadable SEO handbook. She conducted a survey at the end of the 10 days, and turned the challenge into an e-book she now sells..

[Audio] Her flagship SEO course increased in sales, she added 800 people to her email list, as well as 271 Facebook fans to her community page. On this first challenge she sold 45 copies of the e-book she created, increased brand awareness in a very crowded field, and produced marketing materials and testimonials she can use forever..

[Audio] Crowdsourcing has increasingly been used lately to harness the creative ideas of prospects and customers. As far as a challenge goes, you typically attach a specific period of time for your market or audience to offer ideas on products and services you can sell, how your offerings should be used, marketing ideas and materials, etc. Similar to a contest, you may want to show rankings, votes, and winners..

[Audio] Companies who have successfully used challenges to crowdsource content include Starbucks ( My Starbucks Idea) and the RSPCA, which ran a challenge to find the world's happiest pet via social media. Make sure you clearly define some type of reward or prize for the participants of your challenge. After all, you are the main beneficiary, with your marketplace creating new marketing materials and ideas for you. You could offer future discounts or a free product or service for all participants. For some customers, just the prospect of having their name and picture spotlighted on the company Facebook Page is reward enough..

[Audio] Facilitator Instructions:Ask your participants if they have any questions about what you just discussed..

[Audio] Action Steps: 1. Go online and research what types of challenges your competitors are offering. Then look at what your own customers struggle with most and where you get the most questions. Then generate some ideas for your own challenge that will help your customers conquer one part of their biggest obstacle in a specific, realistic time frame. Take notes on the pros and cons of each idea. 2. What goal(s) do you want to pursue in your challenge? What will the focus of your challenge be and the timing?.

[Audio] Debrief: Ask for volunteers to share their Activity's responses..