How to Turn Customers into Lifers Who Stay For Years

Want more "lifer" customers who buy all your stuff and stay with you long-term? Learn how to create that in today's episode.

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Show Notes:

I've noticed a big divide in the online entrepreneur space that I personally believe is only going to grow. Now on one side, we have the old school, bro marketers. These are tactic based marketers who use a lot of pushy, urgency and scarcity, and they're selling tactics.
[00:00:19] In fact, sometimes it's so much that it kind of feels manipulative like. They almost are trying to trick somebody into buying their stuff. Now their customers come, they may buy, but then they go and they don't really stick around because they don't nurture the relationship with their client. They basically just try and get what they can out of it.
[00:00:42] A little bit like a one night stand where , they've got a singular focus, they just want to make a sale. And they really just want to get as much out of that sale as they can feels gross. Yeah. Icky right on the entire. Opposite. End of the spectrum are the bright entrepreneurs who are entrepreneurs with heart who care, not just about profit, but also about helping clients get real transformation.
[00:01:13] Their marketing is heart-based and it's. Genuine. It's not all this pushy manipulative stuff. They don't need tricks and gimmicks because they build real trust with their customers and they leave a lasting impact on their lives. Their sales don't feel slimy. Their sales are more like invitations and the right people will respond without feeling a ton of pressure.
[00:01:38] And these are the kinds of customers that come and stay for life. They buy all of your things and they tell all of their friends about it and that they should buy it too. And that's what I want to talk about today. How do you create a business where people really truly become lifers, who stay for years?
[00:01:59] You know, the ones who are inviting all of their friends and they just want to see your business grow. Right. So that is what we're going to dive into.
[00:02:10]
[00:02:41]just start by saying that your business doesn't have to feel slimy and pushy to be successful. I know you're probably not like the extreme that I talked about in the introduction. At least I hope not, but I know for me personally, there were definitely times when I was growing my business and following certain successful leaders where I felt like I needed to use some of these.
[00:03:04]Tactics or these things in order to be as profitable as I could be. And there was always this internal, you know, fight going on. In fact, a lot of times I wouldn't do them because they just didn't feel right. But then there are other times when I would follow copy templates or, you know, funnel tactics or whatever else that.
[00:03:26] Just felt a little pushy, but I thought, you know, let's try it and see, I can do my own little spin on it, but it still wasn't fully aligned with who I was. And so I just want you to know as are diving into this, if you felt that from anybody that you follow, and you started to think maybe that's what you need to do to be successful.
[00:03:47] It's not true. You don't have to do that. You can absolutely grow an incredibly successful business in a way that is light, that is easy, and that genuinely serves your clients. Okay. But I want to kind of explain why this divide exists. And now I know that there are lots of people in between, you know, the two extremes, but here's kind of what I see this divide coming from.
[00:04:13] Those old school, bro. Marketers, they're coming from a place of scarcity, right? It's like, I feel like they have to squeeze every single penny that they can get from a person while they have their attention and as quickly as possible. Right. And they're going to use any means possible because they believe that they could get distracted and never return.
[00:04:33] Right. They are so focused on the mechanics of the funnel and I'm forcing the sale quickly. That they forget that they can build a hold relationship with the client and that come back later and actually feel better about their purchases. But bright entrepreneurs operate from a place of abundance and heart.
[00:04:53] They know that they don't need to milk every penny up front because the true reward enriches come from that longterm relationship that they have with their customers. And the irony is it's far more profitable and frankly, personally rewarding to do it this way as well. So how do we build that longterm relationship and really make it sticky?
[00:05:15] So they stay longterm. How can we be these bright entrepreneurs who aren't, you know, using tactics that just feel gross, house to grow businesses. I want you to feel good and light and that awesome about what you're doing and still. Make a healthy profit, right? Well, we do this by focusing on belonging.
[00:05:38] Okay. We want to not just create a business that helps people get results and solves their problems. We want them to encounter our business and feel like they have finally found their people that they have found place where they truly belong. And that they want to stay. My first, really big experience with this was when I joined tribe with Stu McLaren.
[00:06:06] Now I hadn't been in pretty much all the big name courses and you know, some of them were phenomenal courses and I had learned a lot from them. But the people that I was learning from had never really built communities around them, of people who really felt like my people, like I got into tribe. And yes, I think recurring revenue is fantastic, but.
[00:06:31] The level of integrity that Stu showed in teaching his marketing tactics six and the community, the people that he attracted because of that, it was exciting to me because finally felt like for the first time, I was surrounded by people like me, people who were bright , who did not want to have to use it, saw that pushy stuff to be successful, who really their customers and wanted to be honest and authentic with them and everything they do.
[00:07:03] I did without feeling like they had to try to manipulate, relate them into buying more. By putting, you know, false urgency on something or upsells that we're going to expire in just five minutes, if you don't buy it right now. Right. We've all seen those things. Right. And so you've really taught me a lot because I just, I ha I connected so deeply with his community.
[00:07:28]There's never been somebody that I've purchased a course or a membership or something from that built a community where I felt so seen and known and understood.
[00:07:40] And so I just connected with the tribe community in a deep way, and to stew in a deep way, because I really valued a lot of the same things that he valued. In fact, , that's part of why I joined his mastermind. I had heard for years that a mastermind, despite being very expensive, most of them are 25 to $30,000 there's per year or more, which might seem crazy, but truly I'd heard for years that that was one of the best investments you could make in your business ever.
[00:08:13] And I just was never willing to invest that kind of money. With somebody whose integrity wasn't at the same high level that mine was. So when I found Stu and I saw his level of integrity and I saw the kinds of people that he attracted and I saw his values. And then I heard that he was thinking of starting a mastermind.
[00:08:36] I sent him a big, long email. I was just like, stew, you have to do this. And here's why, and here's what I'm willing to pay. And like, here's what I want it to look like. And I was a little bossy, but I knew that I had finally found somebody that I could invest that kind of money with without any hesitation, because I knew that nothing that would be taught in that mastermind.
[00:09:02] Would be stuff that I would be uncomfortable with. Right. And that's so important. I knew that that mastermind was going to be filled with my people. We are highly social beings. Like human beings are crazy social and. We tend to do what those around us do. And that's kind of the power of a mastermind because we see all of these people doing similar or things to us and having these great results and, you know, it's that whole rising tide lifts, all ships ships thing where.
[00:09:34] Everybody starts to grow. And it's been really fun to watch the progress of everyone in the mastermind over there the years, but we want to be well to build this kind of belonging into our businesses as well. It doesn't just have to be in a mastermind. That's just one example. But what I have found is that when people find your business and they get involved in your communities and you have a community, that's part of this and.
[00:10:01] They feel like they finally found their people. Magic happens. This is where they become incorrect, probably loyal to who you are to your business, and to bringing people into the, the community as well. It's a super magical thing where your business really starts to take off and you keep people for years.
[00:10:24] Years, and years and years I've been doing online business for just about 10 years now. And there are still a few, a few people who found me way back at the beginning, who are still going along with my journey today. Some of them are pivoting into what I'm doing or online entrepreneurship as well. Others of them have, you know, continued in the photography industry or pivoted into something else.
[00:10:49] But. They've built this connection with me and they still follow me, even though it may not be relevant to them today because there's that sense of belonging. There's that sense of connection. And that is how we truly create belonging and stickiness in our businesses and get people who are happy to buy our stuff.
[00:11:12] They love our stuff. They want to promote it for us. Seth Godin said in his book, this is marketing. That's the title of the book. He said, people like us do things like this and smart, bright entrepreneurs get to define what people like us do. That's part of the beauty of building this community and belonging.
[00:11:38] In this culture around your business is that you can pick a name for people. You know, I've picked bright entrepreneurs for people like you, and I can share what bright entrepreneurs like you tend to do. And as you connect with more people in my community and you see them taking similar actions that I recommend.
[00:12:01] You're going to be more likely to take those same actions because you want to get those same results. These are your people, you feel like you belong and you want to be like the people that you've connected with. That's that whole theory behind that quote. And so our goal is bright entrepreneurs. Is to help people feel like they belong to help them get the transformation that we can give them through our products and help them truly become that bright future identity that they really want to become.
[00:12:35] And if you're not sure what I mean, when I talk about a bright future identity, you can go back to episode three of this season, season three. And listened to that and it's basically figuring out who it is. They want to be in the future and helping them become that through the offers that we present to them.
[00:12:52] Right. And when they really adopt the bright future identity for themselves, and they surround themselves by other people who also who have adopted this bright future identity, and they really connect on a deep level and just feel like they're with their people and belong, they will stay longterm for you.
[00:13:13] And that's what I want for you. That's what I want for your business. This is part of why masterminds are so valuable. Like I talked about with stews, um, but also in our communities, this is important. Eventually I'm going to be launching my own mastermind. It'll be a few months from now when we can actually meet in person, because I think that's really important but before we end our episode today, I kind of want to talk through, four levels of connection that happened as we continue to grow our movement, grow this belonging and grow the connection that people have with us, our business.
[00:13:50] So the first level, all of connection is when they become followers. And this is when people connect with our content. The second level of connection is when they connect with us.
[00:14:02] So this is when we call them a fan. So they went from a follower who connects with our content now to being a fan that has also connected with us as a person. The third level of connection is when they become a member. And this is when they connect with each other within the community. They aren't just connecting with us as people.
[00:14:23] They actually have made real friendships and have started even hanging out in person with some of the other people in the communities that we're building. And that's where that true level of belonging really happens. Now, there is a fourth level of connection. But I'm going to leave it as a tease because I am going to tell you all about it in our next podcast episode.
[00:14:46] It's all about that fourth level of connection. So that's coming, but I wanted to let you know if you aren't sure exactly how to build this belonging. In your business or if it sounds crazy heavy, I want you to know that this is what I teach in my bright future method workshop, and it's not nearly as hard as it seems.
[00:15:11] I know communities can feel really weighty and if they're done wrong, they can absolutely suck up all your time and not bring any money. But when you do them, right, and you manage them wisely, they are. Absolutely worth it. And they grow really, really fast without a ton of effort on your part. Do you have to put some in, I'm not saying it's totally hands off just to be clear, but
[00:15:35] it doesn't have to control you. I know a lot of people have that fear. So basically I created this bright future method to help people learn how to create a business. That's truly transformational driven that isn't based on the scarcity and the urgency and the manipulation that we talked about from those old school row marketers at the beginning.
[00:15:56] And I want to show you how to create real communities. , they have people that want to be a part of your business for life, where they buy all your stuff and, you know, tell all their friends that they should buy it too, because they've truly been transformed by your business. And they want others to have that same transformation as well and make a brighter future for as many people as possible.
[00:16:21]
[00:16:21] I know this might seem crazy overwhelming to learn, but like I said, it's not as hard as it sounds. It does take some time to stop and really put some intention and purpose behind what you're doing. But I lay out that entire process in the bright future method workshop. So this is going to be coming up soon.
[00:16:40] And if you'd like to learn how to create this kind of belonging for your business in a way that doesn't consume all of your time and energy and it shouldn't, if you do it right, I'd love to have you be a part of the bright future method workshop. when it launches again on September 21st.
[00:16:57] So if you'd like to join the waitlist and be the first to hear, when it opens, just go, go to www that bright future method.com. Enter your email and sign up for the waitlist. I'd absolutely love to have you. It is an eight week workshop and it is absolutely incredible. if you're interested in hearing more about the mastermind that I'm thinking of launching, you know, and a few months definitely drop me a message on Instagram at Jamie M Swanson.
[00:17:26]because I'd love to share my vision about it with you and hear a little bit more about your business and why you think a mastermind might be a good fit for you. And by the way, if you're new around here and found this helpful, please make sure to subscribe right now. So you don't miss any future episodes and it mean a ton. If you took a moment to leave a review, I'll occasionally be reading them here on the podcast. And I would love to feature you in your review.
[00:17:51] So bonus points to you. If you leave your name and Instagram handle in their review, because sometimes those iTunes usernames are kind of funny and I'm not sure, sure who you are, but today's review comes from Julie, see 99 in Canada. Yeah. She says five stars. It's bright and awesome. Amy is fun and transparent.
[00:18:12]. And those are only a few of the qualities I love from her. She's always sharing such great info and inspires us to become who we want to become by showing possibilities and paving the way she's generous and all the content that she shared. And you can tell she is so passionate about helping other succeed.
[00:18:32] Thanks for being you Jamie X O X O with a kiss. Well, thank you, Julie. I appreciate that you took the time to leave her a review and I can't wait to see you succeed in your business. Also let you guys know. I have finally, finally got my stuff together and started, , an email. List for the bright entrepreneur podcast specifically.
[00:18:56] So if you also would like to get email reminders, the link is in the show notes, you can go to bright entrepreneur podcast.com/email and get email reminders at least once a week of the new episodes that are happening in case you don't, you know, sign into your podcast app. Cause I would hate for you to miss a single one.
[00:19:17] All right. My friend, we are brighter together and the world needs us. So let's go out and make it brighter.

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