Roosters and crickets are odd creatures. Roosters are
known to crow so loudly in the morning that you cannot help but notice them.
They are rather bombastic in their approach. Crickets, on the other hand, are
the soothing singers of the night. I have been known to fall asleep on my porch
while listening to crickets chirp in the night.

Communications in marketing are often like a rooster – you
boast and swagger about your brand to get consumers to notice it. That’s what
marketing is supposed to do. But where you can hurt your brand with your
communications is after the sale. There is just as much marketing to be done
after you have a consumer convinced to buy your brand as there was in getting
them to make a purchase in the first place. If you stop communicating with your
customers after the sale, you run the risk of damaging your brand and losing
the customer.

I recently switched to a new vendor for a key service we
use in my business. The new vendor has done a great job in branding. I
recognized their name and knew what they offered before they tried to sell me
anything. In other words, they have been good at gaining name and industry recognition with their
awareness marketing. They also did a great job of selling me on their product
that best fits my needs. But after I bought their product, there was a problem
and I reached back out to them. My customer service rep said he would get back
to me with a solution. That was weeks ago. What have I heard since then?
Crickets! Let me tell you that crickets can become quite annoying when you are
looking for an answer. The chirping of crickets, when I am expecting them to
crow like a rooster, is driving me to the edge of getting rid of them and
buying from one of their competitors. Do they know they are about to lose me? I
doubt it! Why? There are two reasons. First, because they have not closed the
communications loop with me. Even if they fix my problem, they have yet to
communicate that to me. Lack of communication is bad marketing. Second, and
probably the bigger problem, they have tarnished their brand reputation. Even
if they fix my problem and I continue to use them to provide the product we
need, I will forever look at them with a skeptical eye. I will believe that
they are all rooster on the front end of the sale, but all crickets when it
comes to following up.

Here is a business axiom someone taught me a long time
ago: it is easier to keep an old customer satisfied than it is to convince a
new one to buy from you. There is so much money and effort in gaining new
clients, with a little communication with your current customers, you will sell
them time and again. Why wouldn’t you do a little customer service/marketing
communications with customers after the sale? Too many vendors are afraid that
they will be criticized by dissatisfied customers. What the vendor wants is
crickets from the customer after the sale, but that is not good for business!
Yes, some people are hard to please, and it takes a lot of effort to keep them
happy. This is true, but the effort will pay for itself. If you can keep such a
person content, you will keep them for another sale down the road.

My marketing advice is to put a little more rooster into
your old customers – particularly when it comes to marketing communications
after the sale. Customers are too hard to come by to leave them listening to
the crickets!