Take your cue from Madonna and learn how shocking your customers can keep them coming back for more.

by Laurel Delaney

A December 2001 study by Forrester Research predicts that global online trade will swell to $12.8 trillion by 2006, with North America leading the charge. That's nothing to sneeze at. What if you woke up one morning and decided that you would do anything to sell your product or service in the online global marketplace? Whatever it takes. No exceptions. How far are you willing to go?

Take your cue from Madonna. Highly photogenic but not conventionally beautiful, she started out with a package of catchy dance-club pop tunes and crisp concert choreography, just like a thousand other acts. But she didn't stop there. She exposed her navel, wore underwear as outerwear, took off her clothes for the camera, and made her private life very, very public. She teased her audience with hints and rumors of scandalous affairs: with the opposite sex, with the same sex, with movie stars and rock stars. She SHOCKED HER CUSTOMERS -- and kept them coming back for more. Twenty-plus years after her debut, Madonna -- sultry entertainer, movie diva and mother of two kids -- continues to redefine herself. She is the queen of creativity and a global marketing phenomenon.

Global marketers can learn from Madonna without going to the same extremes. There are lots of little ways to shock your customers and make them take notice of you and your product, online or off. All it takes is a little spontaneity and determination. Shock your customers pleasantly--by doing more than they expect.

6 Tips To Shock Your Global Customers

1. Actively Demonstrate Your Superior Quality Control. On the morning that my first sale to an Australian client was ready for loading, I got up early and drove to the plant, digital camera in tow. I took a number of photos as the product was hand-loaded. I thought this would be an excellent way to monitor procedures, show interest and demonstrate that everything was handled with care. I e-mailed the pictures off to the customer so that they would arrive before the goods. He immediately e-mailed back to say that he had never had a supplier go to such trouble to ensure safe handling of his merchandise. SHOCK YOUR CUSTOMER. Do something better than any of your competitors, and make sure your customer knows it.

2. Beat The Odds And Be There. A Japanese customer visited me in Chicago and asked me to accompany him on a tour of a supplier's facilities in Boston -- on a day's notice. It's standard procedure to accompany your customer to the supplier's plant, so I immediately got online to get tickets for myself. Lo and behold, there were no seats to be had! My customer said it was not a problem, and that he would make the trip alone. Then I checked another site and found that they had a red-eye at 4 a.m. I booked the flight, but decided not to tell the customer. I arrived at the plant much, much earlier than his appointment time. You should have seen the look on his face when he showed up! He thought I had to be too good to be true. We've been in business ever since. SHOCK YOUR CUSTOMER. Take extraordinary measures to demonstrate your commitment and professionalism, and they'll be back for more.

3. Stay Cool And Go With The Flow. On my last visit to Japan, a prospective customer picked me up in his motorcar, a vehicle very much like a slow-moving motorcycle. It turned out that he didn't know I was a woman, and he looked a little dismayed when he saw me in my business suit and high heels. I didn't hesitate. I jumped right on and smoothed over the awkwardness by making polite chat about the weather. That man is now a regular customer, and trusts my business advice implicitly. SHOCK YOUR CUSTOMER. Be understanding and adaptable, and don't let inevitable embarrassments and misunderstandings get in the way of building a business relationship.

4. A Journey Of A Thousand Miles Begins With A Good Map. When leaving for an appointment with a prospective customer in China, I went to the hotel concierge for directions on how to get there by train. I took a cab to the station, took one train for awhile, changed to another, got off and walked for a mile or so before picking up a cab for the rest of the trip. It took about two and a half hours. When I finally arrived, a bit rumpled but nonetheless on time, my customer asked how I'd gotten there. I told him, and to my surprise he responded, "So you've visited China many times?" "No," I told him, "this is my first trip." He was immediately impressed. It hadn't occurred to me, but I suppose he's right: How many people let the problem of "getting around" get in the way of foreign travel, to say nothing of conducting foreign business? If you head overseas determined to carry out your business itinerary and to work out the ways and means as needed, you will demonstrate competence and sophistication. SHOCK YOUR CUSTOMER. Act with assurance wherever you go, and you'll win their confidence, too.

5. Court Your Customers Until They Say Yes. At my first meeting with the president of a major Korean importing wholesale company, I showed him my product line. After that, every time he came to Chicago to attend a food show, I met with him and showed him my product line. Sometimes we held formal meetings, sometimes we took Wendella boat tours. Sometimes we talked business, sometimes we didn't. I cultivated this relationship for six years without a single order. Then one day he called quite unexpectedly, on a day when I was booked solid for the whole day and well into the evening. I left a message indicating that we could meet in the lobby of his hotel and at least have a brief talk about whatever was on his mind. At that meeting, he placed his first order. There are no shortcuts to developing professional trust. SHOCK YOUR CUSTOMER. Let them see that you're in it for the long haul, and that they're worth the wait.

6. Make A Consistent Practice Of Going Above And Beyond Customer Expectations. If you do, you may find that your customers will begin to SHOCK YOU. A customer in the U.K. with whom I've been dealing for about five years recently e-mailed me an order for a product that I don't even handle. Completely bewildered, I e-mailed back, saying that there must be some mistake. He replied, "There is no mistake. I want you to take care of this because I don't know the supplier and I trust you to conduct this business properly. Take your usual percentage. After your last shipment, you shocked me when I got your e-mail a week later asking if there was anything you could do to assist my marketing for the product. I will never forget this. Most American suppliers don't communicate with us after the sale unless we place another order, but you were different."

SHOCK GLOBAL MARKETING is about being different -- about taking outrageous action above and beyond what's expected to stand out from the crowd. Showing your respect and commitment to your customers will benefit both of you far into the future.

Laurel Delaney runs Global TradeSource (https://www.globetrade.com), a Chicago-based global marketing and consulting company and is the creator of "Borderbuster," a newsletter that Down to Business Magazine highly regards for its focus on global marketing. She can be reached at ldelaney@globetrade.com

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