Last October I published a book in the United States called Roadblocks You Can’t Ignore which I offered for free from my website or on different Amazon Stores for a nominal fee.
I then went and received a permit from the UAE government to print and distribute the book here in Dubai.
But when I went ahead and contacted many local printers… I hit a roadblock myself.
Many of the printers didn’t even bother responding.
Some that responded showed a lack of quality or professionalism so were easily eliminated.
Of the rest with decent quality, most were charging nearly double or more than the cost of printing and shipping the books from the US.
And then this week I met another printer.
He was applying to join our local BNI chapter.
I told him about the challenges I was encountering of getting my book locally published.
He took the time to ask me the right questions and then step away before coming back with a quote for exactly what I was looking to do.
Let’s go ahead and do it.. I said.. relieved to have finally taken care of this issue.
24 hours later he contacted me. The order was ready for review and he also told me he reduced the price on his end by 20% as he noticed we didn’t need colour for the majority of the pages.
I approved the order and we will move forward on production.
The Great marketing expert, Dan Kennedy once asked in one of his presentations..
“Do you use customers to create sales…. Or do you use sales to create customers?”
What did he mean by that..
Simple. Are you putting all your effort to finding people to sell them stuff .. or are you putting effort in using a sale to develop and deepen a relationship with a customer?
Let’s look at what this printer did for me:
1. He listened to my specific needs, heard them and addressed them.
2. He put together a proposal that addresses what I wanted and needed done.
3. He proactively sacrificed margin on this deal because he knew it wasn’t a fit for what I needed.
And here is what I am doing in response:
I became a member on his company website.
And I have already browsed and selected the products I will be purchasing over the next few months for some networking and other events we will be holding.
And he will make 5x the money on my repeat business than if he obsessed on taking as much as he could on the book printing.
He has used a sale (printing my books) to create a customer (me)
And he did it in a way that I will buy again soon and repeatedly.
That is how you build a strong and valuable business.
How about you? Are you making sales or making customers?
Want to know which is more valuable and will allow you to fulfill your dreams?
Then do the following:
1. Subscribe to my email newsletter and daily tips here:
2. Attend our Next Owners table here.