Business is relationships and relationships are everyone’s business.
7 Keys to An Authentic, Sticky Relationship
If you want customers to form a relationship that is fiercely loyal, stick by these keys.
- Show up whole and human.
- Talk in your authentic voice.
- Tell your own truth.
- Have room for folks to tell theirs too.
- Don’t try to tie ideas up in a bow.
- Half the show is in the comments.
- Be helpful, not hypeful. . . . Make everything about them not you.
People make relationships with other people, not with businesses.
Liz Strauss
Work with Liz.
The Water Goes By, But the River Stays
A brand is a promise.
It’s like a river, we visit to relax; we might not say what brings us back. It could be the view, the quiet, the crystal clear water that moves by slow and deep. Yet we return with an expectation.
We come back to the river because we trust that those qualities we value will be fundamentally the same.
Small changes over time are often enjoyable. The trees may grow, flower, change color. The animals may come and go. The water moves by and slowly changes the terrain. Still we find the beautiful, peaceful place we came to enjoy.
It’s a familiar and consistent experience despite any subtle change.
A sticky brand is like that river.
A sticky brand changes subtly over time yet, the core values stay familiar — that customers trust in the experience goes without saying.
Without that core consistency, not only is a brand not sticky. It’s really not a brand. A brand is a promise we can rely on.
Liz Strauss
Find out more about working with Liz
Do You Ask Questions?
Questions lead to answers.
Watch a small child learning about the world. See a bundle of questions.
Watch a great listener, and you’ll see the same thing.
A great listener is curious about the person who is talking, curious about the information, curious about how the ideas fit together, and why they are of interest to the speaker.
Curiosity is easy.
- It forms a bond between speaker and listener.
- It gives a conversation focus..
- It demonstrates value and respect for the speaker.
- It shows self-confidence and trust. .
- Genuine curiosity draws people into a conversation.
That’s why curiosity is sticky. Sticky is curious.
Liz Strauss
Find out more about working with Liz
Which Would You Trust?
You’re about to enter a contract with a new partner. The partner suggests that the contract might work one of two ways.
- The prospective partner offers 15% of net receipts, which is defined as all product shipped out of inventory minus amortization of development, cost of samples, and marketing and fulfillment costs — including rental of warehouse space.
- The prospective partner offers a flat 10% of retail price on every product that leaves the warehouse, except those given as samples.
The partner shows how the first will yield a higher return to you. Which do you choose?
In my experience when offering authors a publishing contract with a similar choice — a complex metric that will yield a higher return and a simple metric that will yield less — Almost all opt for the simple deal.
Simple is easy.
- It’s easy to understand.
- It’s easy to trust.
- It’s easy to judge its value.
- It’s easy to explain to others.
- It’s easy to verify that the promise is being kept.
That’s why simple is sticky. Sticky is simple.
Liz Strauss
Find out more about working with Liz
