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How Providing World Class Customer Support Can Make Your Business More Profitable with James Schramko
Episode 2030th August 2023 • The Online Hustle with Jake Hower • Jake Hower
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Jake Hower:

This is episode 20 of the Multimedia Marketing Show.

Jake Hower:

Righto, in this episode, we're bringing on someone who has been

Jake Hower:

spoken about in numerous episodes by both our guests and also myself.

Jake Hower:

That is none other than Mr.

Jake Hower:

James Schramko from Superfast Business.

Jake Hower:

Now James has in the past run a hundred million dollar companies in Mercedes

Jake Hower:

dealerships in Sydney, Australia.

Jake Hower:

But he's gone on to build a super successful online business being super

Jake Hower:

fast business, where he provides a number of different services around

Jake Hower:

traffic generation and retention.

Jake Hower:

And then on the other side of the coin, he also runs some training forums,

Jake Hower:

including fast web formula and silver circle, which is a business I guess you

Jake Hower:

could say a business mindset mastermind.

Jake Hower:

James employs about 80 people in the Philippines has a

Jake Hower:

multimillion dollar annual income.

Jake Hower:

Purely from online business and servicing the needs of his customers.

Jake Hower:

Now, what we're bringing James on today is not to speak particularly about

Jake Hower:

multimedia marketing strategies, more about customer engagement and retention

Jake Hower:

strategies, which I believe is a very.

Jake Hower:

Key point to serving your customers well, so we will go into depth in this episode

Jake Hower:

about how you should be treating your customers, how you can rise above the pack

Jake Hower:

by providing amazing support, both before a sale is transacted and then throughout

Jake Hower:

the entire lifetime as a customer.

Jake Hower:

So let's get stuck straight into that episode right now.

Jake Hower:

James, how are you?

Jake Hower:

Good.

Jake Hower:

Thanks.

Jake Hower:

How

Jame Schramko:

you going,

Jake Hower:

Jack?

Jake Hower:

Really well, actually.

Jake Hower:

And I'm actually, I'm very glad to get you on the show for a proper episode.

Jake Hower:

We got you on for an impromptu episode in episode 4.

Jake Hower:

5 to debate the different forms of content marketing with Dan Andrews and

Jake Hower:

Dan Norris, and that was fantastic, but it's time to get you on and

Jake Hower:

actually delve into some really good insights around obtaining customers.

Jake Hower:

And then of course, keeping them.

Jame Schramko:

Yeah you're the only guy I know who's got episodes with 0.

Jame Schramko:

5 in them.

Jame Schramko:

Is that like it was only half as good or something?

Jame Schramko:

Yeah, I don't

Jake Hower:

know.

Jake Hower:

It was it was certainly very much as impromptu and it was I guess a little

Jake Hower:

bit outside of the normal schedule.

Jake Hower:

So I didn't want to make it five.

Jake Hower:

So 0.

Jake Hower:

5 is the way to go, I think.

Jame Schramko:

I'm pleased to have the limelight all to myself

Jame Schramko:

without having to fight this time

Jake Hower:

interestingly enough you were probably one of the first

Jake Hower:

people I booked in an episode with bats as I said at the time I wanted

Jake Hower:

to get a few episodes under my belt so I could do this episode justice.

Jame Schramko:

And how's the show going for you?

Jame Schramko:

It is

Jake Hower:

going fantastically well.

Jake Hower:

Our listeners are really enjoying it.

Jake Hower:

All the guests have been able to pull in different insights.

Jake Hower:

And certainly I know personally, I've been able to apply a lot of the

Jake Hower:

strategies taught my own businesses.

Jake Hower:

And I get the feedback from listeners out there that they are able to do the same.

Jame Schramko:

I think what you do so well is you take concepts from

Jame Schramko:

different places, you apply them, roll up the sleeves and do it,

Jame Schramko:

and then you share your results.

Jame Schramko:

I think you're a natural at this.

Jame Schramko:

I love seeing how successful you've become in such a short time.

Jame Schramko:

And I imagine this will be a super famous podcast in a year from

Jake Hower:

now.

Jake Hower:

Here's hoping, I guess all we can really do behind the mic is to

Jake Hower:

provide value for our listeners and it's the listeners who will be able

Jake Hower:

to, decide where the show goes.

Jake Hower:

So that's a, that's fantastic.

Jake Hower:

Now, what I'd love to speak to you about today, you're obviously

Jake Hower:

a business growth expert.

Jake Hower:

And while the premise of the show is content marketing and using the different

Jake Hower:

forms to bring in leads and customers, what I truly think is very important

Jake Hower:

with this is focusing a little bit more on the mindset and then utilizing.

Jake Hower:

Content marketing, but then also strategies that you can help to, maximize

Jake Hower:

the value of the content marketing in the first place to obtain and retain

Jake Hower:

customers, which you do extremely

Jame Schramko:

well.

Jame Schramko:

That's a handful.

Jame Schramko:

I'll see what we can come up with.

Jake Hower:

So for those listeners out there who may not have come

Jake Hower:

across your three podcasts already, do you want to give them just a

Jake Hower:

brief background of who you are and

Jame Schramko:

what you do?

Jame Schramko:

Sure.

Jame Schramko:

I think there's actually four podcasts for everyone on the call, including Jake.

Jame Schramko:

Seriously though, I've got this business called superfastbusiness.

Jame Schramko:

com and the main specialty is in working with.

Jame Schramko:

Internet business related matters so i have a internet business coaching forum

Jame Schramko:

called fast web formula where people can congregate with others i've got a

Jame Schramko:

high level business mastermind which is really good for six figure businesses

Jame Schramko:

who want to take it to seven and that's a smaller group but really focused on their

Jame Schramko:

business and a lot more access to me and that's the business coaching side of.

Jame Schramko:

The business and then there's services on the other side where we do WordPress

Jame Schramko:

website development and traffic SEO related services to help promote those

Jame Schramko:

websites that's pretty much a three pronged business now but it used to

Jame Schramko:

be a lot broader than that and as I continue on I keep refining and

Jame Schramko:

streamlining and focusing on the areas that are the real sweet spots for me

Jame Schramko:

and the best thing about the way that set up is that I have pretty much the

Jame Schramko:

same customer in each of those three corners and that works really well.

Jake Hower:

Yeah, you've as you say, keep refining it, but I guess there

Jake Hower:

are a couple of common themes which run through your entire businesses.

Jake Hower:

And I guess you're really fantastic at the strategy side of business.

Jake Hower:

But also, as you say, you're able to promote products and services, which your

Jake Hower:

customers naturally progress through.

Jame Schramko:

Yeah, everything I've got is based around what

Jame Schramko:

people have asked me for.

Jame Schramko:

So it's really solutions based.

Jame Schramko:

It's James.

Jame Schramko:

Could you have a look at this or help us with that?

Jame Schramko:

Or do you know, blah, blah, blah.

Jame Schramko:

And by only working with customer solutions that people actually

Jame Schramko:

want, it's been helpful for us to get up and running quickly.

Jame Schramko:

We're not, I'm not classified as a startup in a weird and wonderful

Jame Schramko:

market that doesn't exist before.

Jame Schramko:

And I'm sure it's great for people to do that and they can

Jame Schramko:

own their whole market if, okay.

Jame Schramko:

It didn't exist before.

Jame Schramko:

However, I'm just working with really established market.

Jame Schramko:

Business growth has probably been around for hundreds and hundreds

Jame Schramko:

of years, maybe thousands.

Jame Schramko:

I'm not sure, but websites have been around for at least what, two

Jame Schramko:

decades now and traffic and SEO people are always going to want

Jame Schramko:

more customers for their business.

Jame Schramko:

So they're just fundamental needs and I've worked in that

Jame Schramko:

space and the best thing is that.

Jame Schramko:

I have this call customer philosophy this really is one customer of this

Jame Schramko:

business who could potentially experience each part of the business and i took

Jame Schramko:

this idea from my old job which was running mercedes benz dealerships and.

Jame Schramko:

I realized that there we just have one customer but the managers used to fight

Jame Schramko:

over the customers if it was their customer and i'm like hang on your

Jame Schramko:

service customer bought their car from our sales team and they financed it from

Jame Schramko:

our finance department and when they need to change the spark plugs they buy the

Jame Schramko:

spark plugs from our parts department we have the same customer so i actually

Jame Schramko:

called it one customer and i presented this thing to a was a business development

Jame Schramko:

thing for teaching people how to be general managers and i presented this.

Jame Schramko:

Presentation called one customer and was this idea that the customer is actually

Jame Schramko:

in the middle and we should work together to communicate effectively with that

Jame Schramko:

customer to take a lifetime approach to that customer and if we never abuse that

Jame Schramko:

customer they will stay with the business.

Jame Schramko:

Forever and that we don't give me a reason to go somewhere else and we can all

Jame Schramko:

share that customer and that's developed into my concept of the chocolate wheel

Jame Schramko:

it doesn't matter where someone comes into the business but i can work their

Jame Schramko:

way right around the whole business units and that still the same customer

Jame Schramko:

so when i draw a map of my business.

Jame Schramko:

It's a big circle, like a target, the customers in the middle, and then the

Jame Schramko:

pieces of the pie around that are the various business units from the business.

Jame Schramko:

And then the outside of circle is your customer attraction.

Jame Schramko:

You're prospecting things like podcasts and sales pages, lead pages, blog

Jame Schramko:

content, Facebook posts, YouTube videos.

Jame Schramko:

Those things bring the customers in and they turn into a customer and they

Jame Schramko:

go straight into the center where they get royal treatment and loving care.

Jame Schramko:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jake Hower:

Now, I think just to give a little bit of extra context for

Jake Hower:

our listeners, for this particular conversation, how many customers do you

Jake Hower:

have that you personally have contact

Jame Schramko:

with?

Jame Schramko:

In my office autopilot account, I have about 23, 000 records and.

Jame Schramko:

A good chunk of those people have bought something at some point and i have a

Jame Schramko:

high transaction value per customer and a pretty small list size compared

Jame Schramko:

to your classic internet marketers but each customer for me is a recurring

Jame Schramko:

customer and they stick with me for a long time i've got some people i've had

Jame Schramko:

for six years so it just grows at about.

Jame Schramko:

It grows at around about 60 to 70 people per day at the moment.

Jame Schramko:

So it's not a huge influx, but they stick.

Jame Schramko:

Yeah.

Jame Schramko:

Okay.

Jame Schramko:

So

Jake Hower:

why do they stick?

Jame Schramko:

Oh I've got a few golden rules.

Jame Schramko:

For example, if I ever send something to a customer by email, they must

Jame Schramko:

be better off for opening the email.

Jame Schramko:

So it's not a take it's a give it might be a give with a request or call to action

Jame Schramko:

but they have to be better off so if I don't break that rule it doesn't matter

Jame Schramko:

the frequency I could send them something every day I could send them something

Jame Schramko:

once a week once a month it doesn't matter because they're better off opening it

Jame Schramko:

because I'm always stepping inside their shoes and thinking how can I help them

Jame Schramko:

and another secret to it is to be relevant and to be contextual so those are the two.

Jame Schramko:

Thank you.

Jame Schramko:

Big words, context and relevancy of what it's all about and when you

Jame Schramko:

recognize how important that is about having the right conversation with

Jame Schramko:

the right person at the right time, that's when systems like infusion soft

Jame Schramko:

or office autopilot become a really powerful weapon in your online marketing

Jame Schramko:

business compared to the classical sort of one bucket for everything type.

Jame Schramko:

Systems like a Weber or whatever, where you tend to just be broadcasting or heaven

Jame Schramko:

forbid blasting your list which have words that I just banned from our team.

Jame Schramko:

So we now segment and do things such as lead scoring and attribute of value to

Jame Schramko:

each customer so that we can categorize them correctly and group them and

Jame Schramko:

now just communicate to that group.

Jame Schramko:

So someone who buys a website will get a website.

Jame Schramko:

Communication someone who is in a coaching community will get a coaching community

Jame Schramko:

news update and they're having the right conversation with me yeah that's

Jake Hower:

fantastic and I guess you could almost say what you're

Jake Hower:

doing is you're expecting your customers because you're giving them

Jake Hower:

information that they want I guess what.

Jake Hower:

These systems allow you to do is that they're allowing you to leverage the

Jake Hower:

communications you would only be able to have on a one on one basis by segmenting

Jake Hower:

them further than what the, something like an Aweber or a MailChimp allows you to do.

Jake Hower:

And that's, a really fantastic way to really power up your content

Jame Schramko:

marketing.

Jame Schramko:

And there's some tweaks you can do to this that just boost it that

Jame Schramko:

nobody does that make you stand out.

Jame Schramko:

And I think that really has been the Holy Grail for me is to, if someone,

Jame Schramko:

I get emails like this, right?

Jame Schramko:

Hi, James, just wanted to find out.

Jame Schramko:

Have you taken me off your list because I didn't get an email last few days and

Jame Schramko:

I only receive emails from my family friends and you and no one else and

Jame Schramko:

like for me that's wow I've made it to the inbox where people want to open

Jame Schramko:

the email and there's things you can do to cause that to happen and I could

Jame Schramko:

go through a couple if you like please yeah so one of the most important ones

Jame Schramko:

that I've done is I send emails from my own email address and I put a note

Jame Schramko:

at the bottom of my email that I reply to emails I personally reply to emails.

Jame Schramko:

And I've been doing this for a long time and it's quite uncommon in business most

Jame Schramko:

people send an email from a no reply at which I likened to saying I don't give

Jame Schramko:

a shit about you this I'm going to push this communication to you but God if you

Jame Schramko:

want to talk to us forget it we're not interested we're just here to sell you

Jame Schramko:

something and then if you want to speak to some of these companies, you have

Jame Schramko:

to jump through 10 hoops to go to their support desk, to go through a little

Jame Schramko:

problem solver to find out, have you already answered in the knowledge base?

Jame Schramko:

Like it's too hard.

Jame Schramko:

It's much easier for somebody to hit email.

Jame Schramko:

And I figure out why wouldn't I want a prospect or a customer to be

Jame Schramko:

able to hit reply and ask me another question that helps me solve their

Jame Schramko:

problem that will lead to a sale.

Jake Hower:

Yeah, definitely.

Jake Hower:

Definitely.

Jake Hower:

I think a lot of people see systems and automation as the holy grail failing

Jake Hower:

to realize that the idea of systems and automation is to give you back time.

Jake Hower:

And when you've got that time, I guess you've got the time to be speaking with

Jake Hower:

your customers and answering emails.

Jame Schramko:

There's a few things there.

Jame Schramko:

I learned for some, from really wealthy, smart people a real estate agent.

Jame Schramko:

I remember clearly when mobile phones were new, I was just a kid.

Jame Schramko:

We were driving along and his phone rang and he's talking to a customer.

Jame Schramko:

And at the time I was in debt collection, I was about 18, I was a debt collector.

Jame Schramko:

And my experience was that people did not want to answer the phone.

Jame Schramko:

Don't want to hear from people.

Jame Schramko:

Funny that when you're asking for payments, but I said to

Jame Schramko:

Matt, why are you so accessible?

Jame Schramko:

How come you don't have a secretary screening that stuff?

Jame Schramko:

All my customers.

Jame Schramko:

And he said, I want people to ring me because they want to buy something.

Jame Schramko:

They want to, they've got a question.

Jame Schramko:

If I can solve it, they'll make a purchase and it could be worth 20, 000 to me.

Jame Schramko:

And another thing that one of my mentors taught me was.

Jame Schramko:

Not to process people hate being processed you know here's your ticket

Jame Schramko:

number or whatever it's like when you go to mcdonalds these days in

Jame Schramko:

australia and i have to specify that because i went to mcdonalds in france

Jame Schramko:

they actually had an ATM system like you push on the screen you choose your

Jame Schramko:

meal on the screen and then you go and pick up your order was completely

Jame Schramko:

hands off no human involved and.

Jame Schramko:

But in Australia, you go and order from the thing, as soon as they've got your

Jame Schramko:

order and taking your money, they just turn their back on you and walk off.

Jame Schramko:

It's like you are dumped, dropped, forgotten about and processed.

Jame Schramko:

And then you have to somehow figure out that you're supposed to shuffle

Jame Schramko:

down to the next counter and wait for your order to be assembled.

Jame Schramko:

But as soon as they've got your money, you're out of there.

Jame Schramko:

And you don't feel very special about it.

Jame Schramko:

There's no personality involved in that.

Jame Schramko:

So people do not like to be processed.

Jame Schramko:

So if you're using automation, be mindful that if people feel processed,

Jame Schramko:

you're going to depersonalize it.

Jame Schramko:

Now, when you say PS, I applied to my emails personally and they can hit reply

Jame Schramko:

and they ask you a question and you actually reply back with their name.

Jame Schramko:

How good is that compared to everyone else out there already?

Jame Schramko:

And that's aside from the fact that I've got other things like, Okay.

Jame Schramko:

Helping them select the frequency they'd like their email so it's such a simple

Jame Schramko:

obvious thing to do but it's hey would you rather receive a weekly update instead

Jame Schramko:

they can click on that and be moved automatically through automation to a

Jame Schramko:

weekly list and now they can hear from me weekly so instead of having to leave my

Jame Schramko:

list they can just dial down the intensity so that's a little safety net technique.

Jame Schramko:

And then the other things you can do to really show people that you

Jame Schramko:

care is you can use a real name.

Jame Schramko:

You can put your picture on the support desk.

Jame Schramko:

You can list your phone number and your address and you can put a

Jame Schramko:

phone number for people that they can call you in their own country.

Jame Schramko:

That is.

Jame Schramko:

Going to cost them the minimum possible.

Jake Hower:

Yeah.

Jake Hower:

So let's give it again.

Jake Hower:

Let's give listeners a bit of perspective again.

Jake Hower:

So you're doing multiple millions.

Jake Hower:

You've got 80 employees.

Jake Hower:

You've got so many different customers.

Jake Hower:

You display your phone number in clear daylight on all your websites.

Jake Hower:

How many calls a day do you get from customers?

Jame Schramko:

I would probably average one or two calls a day and

Jame Schramko:

I've got customers in every country.

Jame Schramko:

So sometimes it'll fly through to voicemail.

Jame Schramko:

But if I'm awake and it rings, I'll answer it.

Jame Schramko:

And I can tell you the closing rate on a sales inquiry is a hundred percent

Jame Schramko:

because they're hovering on your site.

Jame Schramko:

They're looking at a package that might cost a thousand dollars and they're saying

Jame Schramko:

listen i just have a couple of questions and you say sure and they ask the

Jame Schramko:

questions you answer it and they say great i'm ordering it now so it really it's

Jame Schramko:

a high paid thing to do and it's also.

Jame Schramko:

When you're dealing online, trust is such a huge factor.

Jame Schramko:

And if they feel like they're not going to get ripped off, then they'll proceed.

Jame Schramko:

And I suspect for the few calls that I get, there's probably a lot of people who

Jame Schramko:

see the number and feel more confident about it just because it's there because

Jame Schramko:

it's so easy for people to contact us.

Jame Schramko:

And we also have a leave a message tab where they can click a support ticket.

Jame Schramko:

They don't have to put in anything other than like their email address is not like

Jame Schramko:

twenty seven fields we don't run them through a knowledge base like they can

Jame Schramko:

ask us anything we get out we get a lot of tickets every day we get dozens of tickets

Jame Schramko:

every day and i have full time support team who answered tickets every day and

Jame Schramko:

they quite often will lead to sales.

Jake Hower:

That's really interesting.

Jake Hower:

So we're combining these fantastic techniques by segmenting your

Jake Hower:

client base so that they're getting relevant information with being

Jake Hower:

super open about contacting you.

Jake Hower:

And as you say, I'm sure many people will visit the site, see the number

Jake Hower:

there and out of respect for the fact that you're respecting them, they're

Jake Hower:

not going to call you unless they really

Jame Schramko:

need to.

Jame Schramko:

And if they do really need to, then you've got a high chance of making

Jame Schramko:

a sale where it may not have been

Jake Hower:

possible.

Jake Hower:

And then also on the flip side of fixing up a potential issue or problem.

Jame Schramko:

Yeah.

Jame Schramko:

And the stats that I get in my business are just, when other people see

Jame Schramko:

them, they just can't comprehend it.

Jame Schramko:

For example, my returning customer percentage is 91 and a half percent.

Jame Schramko:

That means that I'm growing my business probably about 10% continually, but

Jame Schramko:

people just keep ordering and ordering and the average value is very high.

Jame Schramko:

It's yeah, really high

Jake Hower:

actually.

Jake Hower:

Yeah.

Jake Hower:

I guess you play a pretty big role or a central role in most

Jake Hower:

of your marketing strategies.

Jake Hower:

Do you see that as important for our listeners to do

Jame Schramko:

something similar?

Jame Schramko:

Yeah, I think there's two main roles you want to do in your business, and that

Jame Schramko:

is to be the marketing strategy chief and to control the costs, control the

Jame Schramko:

checkbook, don't give away the checkbook and don't hand over your marketing mission

Jame Schramko:

because no one's going to drive your business with the same passion as you,

Jame Schramko:

no one knows what you like or don't like, or your philosophies as well as you do.

Jame Schramko:

So even if you have people help you implement it as both of us do, we

Jame Schramko:

have teams surrounding us that can it.

Jame Schramko:

Translate our vision both of us are creating the original content because it's

Jame Schramko:

highly personal and no one else in the world can be james shram co i mean that

Jame Schramko:

technically there are three of us from facebook but you know what i'm saying in

Jame Schramko:

my capacity as the driver of my business if i can step up to the plate and make

Jame Schramko:

videos and audios it's highly personal.

Jame Schramko:

If I care enough about someone to respond to inquiries and to be approachable,

Jame Schramko:

that is a big differentiator from your average marketing person.

Jame Schramko:

And I remember some saying about my grandfather used to give me, it's like

Jame Schramko:

to be able to walk amongst the common man and and not lose touch or something.

Jame Schramko:

It's about being able to walk with Kings or walk amongst the common men.

Jame Schramko:

If you can slide up and down the social spectrum and be able to talk to anybody.

Jame Schramko:

Without being an asshole or being over the top or special or arrogant

Jame Schramko:

or whatever, then you'll be really going well in your business.

Jame Schramko:

If you're a good communicator and you genuinely care.

Jame Schramko:

In fact, one boss once told me I care too much, but I would argue that yes, it does

Jame Schramko:

burden you with a little bit of stress.

Jame Schramko:

If you care so much that you.

Jame Schramko:

That it's bothering you, but you really should care about the customer

Jame Schramko:

and stop focusing about paying off your mortgage or your credit card

Jame Schramko:

because the customer does not care.

Jame Schramko:

That is not their motivation for buying from you because you've got a debt burden.

Jame Schramko:

They're buying from you because of their problem that you can solve.

Jame Schramko:

So if you just obsessively focus on customer problems and customer

Jame Schramko:

challenges and solve that, the rest will take care of itself.

Jame Schramko:

And as Peter Drucker said, the only purpose of a business is to you.

Jame Schramko:

Attract and then retain a customer and that's what i focus on attract

Jame Schramko:

the customers and then i retain the customers and it's just so much easier

Jame Schramko:

to keep existing customers and just to develop that relationship and one

Jame Schramko:

of the commitments i made several years ago strategically was i got this

Jame Schramko:

crossroads do i stay where i'm at.

Jame Schramko:

And let the customer move past me or do i step up and grow with the customer and

Jame Schramko:

i've ended up creating things like my silver circle mastermind where i can grow

Jame Schramko:

with the customer all the way to the top of their limit and now i can have someone

Jame Schramko:

started entry point go right through to the top end and that's giving me.

Jame Schramko:

Amazing bandwidth to stick with that customer and then if i could solve

Jame Schramko:

their biggest challenges like a website and their traffic that really need to

Jame Schramko:

look outside for those call things.

Jake Hower:

Yeah that's incredibly interesting.

Jake Hower:

I love it.

Jake Hower:

Okay, James, a couple of episodes we had Pat Flynn on and going through our

Jake Hower:

conversation, he spoke about something which you speak about yourself and it's

Jake Hower:

being interested versus being interesting.

Jake Hower:

How does this play out in your business and in your dealings with your customers?

Jame Schramko:

I see a lot of, gurus or experts trying to in Australia is

Jame Schramko:

the phrase wank off a bit, but they're trying to make themselves special and

Jame Schramko:

use all this, just really basic Goal oriented aspirational marketing, the

Jame Schramko:

scene of them driving along or whatever.

Jame Schramko:

And I think that's very effective for them, but it's not really that genuine.

Jame Schramko:

What they really should be focusing on is being more interested in their customers

Jame Schramko:

and just getting down to how they can actually solve problems and rather than

Jame Schramko:

be a circus pony or a feature star actor.

Jame Schramko:

So I think if you.

Jame Schramko:

Care enough about your customers to actually want the feedback from them

Jame Schramko:

and to ask them if they want anything to let you know then to just push market

Jame Schramko:

to them so in the old days people just sending emails put it pushing out their

Jame Schramko:

messages with aggressive marketing making people jump through countdown banners.

Jame Schramko:

Exit squeezes all this sort of stuff they were being very forceful marketers

Jame Schramko:

and they were trying to razzle and dazzle them but i think that wears off

Jame Schramko:

and i think for the long haul it's far better just to be genuinely interested

Jame Schramko:

in your customers solve those problems communicate them without being a dick and.

Jame Schramko:

Be there for them for the long haul.

Jame Schramko:

I'll still be around when most of these people have fallen off

Jame Schramko:

the edge as they tend to do.

Jame Schramko:

And I've seen it happen.

Jame Schramko:

Some of them have lists of 500, 000 emails and they can't

Jame Schramko:

get a fraction of it to open.

Jame Schramko:

Just the tiniest little percentage will even open the email because

Jame Schramko:

they've just been worn out and overrun.

Jame Schramko:

They're just no longer interested because being interesting is.

Jame Schramko:

Find in the beginning but it doesn't last that's

Jake Hower:

really interesting the concept of that and you can see it play out in

Jake Hower:

many different areas I guess if you're being interesting and it wears out then

Jake Hower:

all you're trying to then do is to drive traffic to your interesting thing or as if

Jake Hower:

you're being interested in your customers you're likely to keep them for a longer

Jake Hower:

period and not have to worry about or worry so much about driving new customers

Jake Hower:

or new traffic to what you're doing.

Jake Hower:

It helps people

Jame Schramko:

feel better i mean if you go back to the beginning of this

Jame Schramko:

podcast unless you edit it out to make me look silly i asked you how your

Jame Schramko:

podcast is going even though you're interviewing me today because i'm

Jame Schramko:

actually genuinely interested and.

Jame Schramko:

I admire the growth and challenges you've overcome to get this thing going from no i

Jame Schramko:

think from memory you used to start a lot.

Jame Schramko:

And for a lot of people that would just stop them in their tracks and

Jame Schramko:

they would think I'm not definitely not suited for podcasting and you just

Jame Schramko:

whatever, I'm just going to get out there and do it and you've grown this

Jame Schramko:

thing and you're taking sales from the related products that you offer.

Jame Schramko:

So I think being curious is a fantastic skill in business.

Jame Schramko:

And in fact, there's someone on my payroll who I pay to do two things only.

Jame Schramko:

She prepares numbers every day for me in it for my dashboard

Jame Schramko:

and she gets paid to be curious.

Jame Schramko:

That is it and her job is to poke around the business to all the different

Jame Schramko:

departments looking to help desk speak to the managers speak to the link builders

Jame Schramko:

speak to the web developers and just be curious what are you doing how's it going

Jame Schramko:

what do you think we could do a better job with this what is the most difficult

Jame Schramko:

customer we have right now which parts of the job do you love is there something

Jame Schramko:

else in the company you like to do.

Jame Schramko:

If she's just curious and interested in our team, and that flows through to

Jame Schramko:

our customers, cause they feel that the work that we're doing is impassioned

Jame Schramko:

and high quality and good stuff.

Jame Schramko:

People will stick around.

Jake Hower:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jake Hower:

Now, have you given her a title yet?

Jame Schramko:

Oh, technically she's just number one.

Jame Schramko:

So she was the first one I hired.

Jame Schramko:

She's still the big boss.

Jame Schramko:

So we're, we just call her number one.

Jake Hower:

I was just thinking you'd probably look at something like chief

Jake Hower:

interesting officer or chief curious

Jame Schramko:

officer could, but it's, I find all that a bit cliched.

Jame Schramko:

And the funny thing is, like, when I became a general manager, I got given

Jame Schramko:

business cards and I don't think I used more than about five of them in four and

Jame Schramko:

a half years and my last job, I don't really need that sort of status and,

Jame Schramko:

and labels for stuff like I'm like screw that, just be yourself, whatever that is.

Jame Schramko:

I don't have a title for myself.

Jame Schramko:

I don't have business cards per se.

Jame Schramko:

So I think actually labeling things or titling things can be dangerous because

Jame Schramko:

it might restrict somebody's ability to.

Jame Schramko:

To go beyond that scope and one of the greatest techniques we have in our

Jame Schramko:

business and also when we're applying this to customers is to not limit ourselves

Jame Schramko:

to the traditional standard partitions and labels that people want and we

Jame Schramko:

don't really strive to be normal or like everyone else so yeah we don't have

Jame Schramko:

mantras and stuff and vision statements and all of this stuff really if we were

Jame Schramko:

to go to if we're going to put it down to a word or two words we have a lifetime

Jame Schramko:

customer focus that is what our business.

Jame Schramko:

Does because we recognize it's way easier it's a lot more enjoyable it's

Jame Schramko:

extremely profitable and like we don't have to wonder about what we should do the

Jame Schramko:

customers tell us because we asked them and they tell us and then we say thank

Jame Schramko:

you so even with the on the race course strategy that i deploy it's so driven by.

Jame Schramko:

Customer comments and emails like the classic episode where i gave people a

Jame Schramko:

sort of a studio tour of my gear and that guy said hey you know you should stop

Jame Schramko:

wearing cheap t shirts and you should shave and then i put out a response video

Jame Schramko:

should i shave and that had over three hundred comments and it just polarized

Jame Schramko:

my audience like we don't care what you wear james you're awesome or you know

Jame Schramko:

when i first saw you i thought you're a bit scruffy but now i know your materials

Jame Schramko:

good as soon as you open your mouth so i stuck with you so recognize that.

Jame Schramko:

If i just shave more often and maybe wear a polo shirt i'm gonna get a

Jame Schramko:

broader audience so it's customer driven i wear the polo shirt and i'll

Jame Schramko:

shave for the customer not for me but it's not too much of a compromise out

Jame Schramko:

of my standard i'm gonna put a t shirt on anyway does it matter to me if

Jame Schramko:

it's got a little color and a button.

Jame Schramko:

Not really.

Jame Schramko:

It's fun.

Jame Schramko:

And sometimes I just stir people up too.

Jame Schramko:

I wore a pink one to take the piss out of them and turns out they loved it as well.

Jame Schramko:

So I've got a pink and a purple polo shirt and it's customer led it's customer

Jame Schramko:

driven and I'm doing it because I respect them and I can be a little less selfish

Jame Schramko:

if it helps them receive my content and help them with their business.

Jame Schramko:

Yeah.

Jake Hower:

That's excellent.

Jake Hower:

I like the purple

Jame Schramko:

Polo as well.

Jame Schramko:

You like the purple one?

Jame Schramko:

I like the aqua and the blue and the gray.

Jame Schramko:

I like the gray one.

Jame Schramko:

That's more my speed and the Ferrari one's good if I really

Jame Schramko:

want to grab people's attention because I'm leveraging a big brand.

Jake Hower:

All right, James, so let's give our listeners some key takeaways.

Jake Hower:

Now how can they implement some of the strategies we've talked

Jake Hower:

about in this episode in their own content marketing efforts?

Jame Schramko:

Okay so the first thing is how easy or difficult is it for your

Jame Schramko:

customers to contact you do you have a system or a way that is obvious for

Jame Schramko:

them that they could get a hold of you to let you know your websites down or to

Jame Schramko:

let you know that they would have bought this if you just change that or do you

Jame Schramko:

have such and such so make it easy for people to contact you even if you have

Jame Schramko:

a support team I mean in my business I'm the only one who does phone support.

Jame Schramko:

There's no one else in my business stay or they're all text based support and

Jame Schramko:

that's for a specific reason it's just way better second action step would

Jame Schramko:

be what percentage of your customers are coming back and buying again do

Jame Schramko:

you have recurring products because you can put a much heavier investment

Jame Schramko:

in finding those customers and really looking after them if they are rewarding

Jame Schramko:

if your average customer value is twelve or fifteen hundred dollars.

Jame Schramko:

Then you're not going to be a tight ass when it comes to giving them good content

Jame Schramko:

because you're getting paid well for it.

Jame Schramko:

And if you do have a team, just have a talk to the team about what

Jame Schramko:

it means to work in your business.

Jame Schramko:

So we have a values based business.

Jame Schramko:

And for us, communication is definitely one of our core values.

Jame Schramko:

And that means that.

Jame Schramko:

We communicate with our customers very effectively like rapid response

Jame Schramko:

times and elevating something to the person that can solve the person's

Jame Schramko:

problem as quickly as possible.

Jame Schramko:

So if it happens to be me, they will find me and draw me to the

Jame Schramko:

ticket where I can solve it.

Jame Schramko:

So just have this approach where you actually focus your efforts around

Jame Schramko:

solving customers challenges rather than your own personal financial

Jame Schramko:

needs and the rest will flow.

Jake Hower:

Yeah, that's awesome.

Jake Hower:

I guess I can see that a common chain or a common resistance to doing

Jake Hower:

this is that well, I'm too busy.

Jake Hower:

I'm doing too much already.

Jake Hower:

I don't I can't I don't have the time to be looking after my customers.

Jake Hower:

And I think really, you're then one focus right now is to build a system

Jake Hower:

or a team to give you that freedom of time to be able to provide this sort of

Jame Schramko:

support.

Jame Schramko:

There's nothing more important than the customers.

Jame Schramko:

I have a internet business coaching community and I log in every day.

Jame Schramko:

And I've consistently logged in every day, even to the prior one for about five years

Jame Schramko:

now and done something like 16, 000 posts.

Jame Schramko:

I think in the two combined, you can't get that in many places.

Jame Schramko:

I don't know anywhere where you can go and be in contact with someone.

Jame Schramko:

Every day if you need to be consistently for five years, not many

Jame Schramko:

people are prepared to roll up the sleeves and put in the sweat equity.

Jame Schramko:

Now I've set the framework around my frequency schedule and what I'm able

Jame Schramko:

to commit to and it works out great.

Jame Schramko:

So there will actually be some effort involved.

Jame Schramko:

Sorry to alert people to that.

Jame Schramko:

You might have to talk to someone.

Jame Schramko:

You might have to handle a hot call every now and then we still get some crazy

Jame Schramko:

people come into the business, but to give it the right context, I was born

Jame Schramko:

to do this in my career, having been a debt collector, having phoned up people

Jame Schramko:

and ask them for money on the phone, I realized something really important.

Jame Schramko:

And I'll share this with.

Jame Schramko:

The customer cannot punch you in the face over the phone.

Jame Schramko:

Okay, so there's no need to be scared of the telephone.

Jame Schramko:

If you have a resistance to speaking to people on the phone or communicating

Jame Schramko:

with them, just remember they can't punch you in the face over the phone.

Jame Schramko:

And that helped me a lot with my debt collection.

Jame Schramko:

And it's probably, I doubt people have ever heard that quote before, but once you

Jame Schramko:

realize that it's, you're just so unlikely to die as a result of a phone call.

Jame Schramko:

That you know just stop being scared of it and reach out to people in fact a great

Jame Schramko:

experiment for your listeners would be to change their signature line in their

Jame Schramko:

email today and put a little PS and say PS i reply to emails personally and just see

Jame Schramko:

what happens to your business because you will get the best research data you can

Jame Schramko:

possibly get you will sell more stuff you will get to know your customers better.

Jame Schramko:

You'll separate yourself from all of the faceless marketers who don't

Jame Schramko:

really care about their customers.

Jake Hower:

Yeah, that's tremendous, James.

Jake Hower:

I guess you've peeled some of the layers back behind how you do it and

Jake Hower:

you're bringing millions of dollars.

Jake Hower:

So our listeners should take note of a lot of that and see where they can

Jake Hower:

implement it in their own business.

Jake Hower:

Where can our listeners find out more about

Jame Schramko:

you, James?

Jame Schramko:

Superfastbusiness.

Jame Schramko:

com is where you'll see all of this in play.

Jake Hower:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jake Hower:

And if you are struggling with time and you need to implement systems,

Jake Hower:

I also recommend heading across to FastWeb Formula, where I'm a member,

Jake Hower:

and this is obviously James's private community, but I learned how to

Jake Hower:

build a system in this community.

Jake Hower:

So I can assure you that you'd be able to do the same.

Jame Schramko:

Oh thanks for the endorsement, Jake.

Jame Schramko:

You're a classic example of someone who gets more value out than what you invest.

Jame Schramko:

That's the fundamental driver for me, for I want every single member

Jame Schramko:

of that community to be able to get their monthly bill and say, if I was

Jame Schramko:

to stop this subscription, I would miss it and I would feel sad that I'm not

Jame Schramko:

there and I, and, and they renew again.

Jame Schramko:

And that's why so many people.

Jame Schramko:

Stay on board, but it's, I have to earn it.

Jame Schramko:

I have to work hard for that and I'm prepared to do it.

Jake Hower:

Yeah, absolutely.

Jake Hower:

All right, James.

Jake Hower:

Thanks very much for coming on this episode listeners.

Jake Hower:

Thank you very much for tuning in and we'll speak to you again very soon.

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