Raised Path

You’ve sold a product or a service. You’ve calculated your cost and sold it at a profit. So the sale is profitable, right? Not so fast. Is this the first sale to this customer? Have you calculated your customer acquisition cost? If you sold something for $100 and made $20 on the sale and your customer acquisition cost is $60, you may need to make three sales to that customer just to break even. So what is customer acquisition cost? It’s everything that goes into you getting customers. Here are some obvious examples: your website, media and print advertising, the salaries of your marketing staff, the salaries and commission of the sales team, business cards, brochures and letterhead, gifts that you buy to give to customers, dues and fees to go to events and association meetings where you find your customers, lists that you buy to get new customers, the costs associated with your newsletter. Here are some less obvious costs: You brand yourself in a particular way through having a clean and sophisticated office, special shirts or uniforms for your workers, your name painted on your vehicles, the music and ease of use of your phone system, the portion of your receptionist’s salary that greets customers, and any other things that create your brand awareness. The point of having a brand is to attract customers so these costs should be included as well. And if you’re the decision maker, you’re using some of your time to focus on customer strategies, niches, problems, sales people issues, etc. So allocate some of the cost of your time, too.

This is the whole point of customer loyalty. If you spend all this money to get a customer and he’s a one-and-done single transaction, you’ve lost a lot of money. If, however, that customer becomes a raving fan, he repeatedly buys your product or service and you can start making money from him. If he then refers other people to buy your product or service, you’ve made more money from him and your customer acquisition costs can be decreased.

So how do you achieve greater customer loyalty? The experts and the research say personal points of connection occur at every point where someone from your organization interacts with a customer. Making that customer feel respected, unique and special, showing empathy, defusing stressful situations and turning that energy into something positive are all ways to build customer loyalty. Whether the buyer is buying a candy bar in a drug store or a multi-million dollar contract, personal connection keeps the customer coming back. That is the ultimate customer loyalty test. Does s/he come back?

I encourage you to take the following steps:

• Decide on a time frame, perhaps 7/07 to 6/08,

• Make a list of all your obvious and not-so-obvious customer acquisition costs,

• Divide the total of your costs by the number of new customers generated during that time frame. That will give you your acquisition cost per customer.

• Calculate your average sale and your average profit.

• How many times do you need to earn that profit before you’ve covered the acquisition cost for that customer? (Divide the cost per customer by the profit per sale.)

• Show this to your sales team to make sure they know when that customer starts becoming profitable to the business.

• Show that to your product/service fulfillment team so they know how many times that customer has to keep coming back just to break even on the customer acquisition cost and before the profit starts to pay their salaries.

• Provide customer loyalty development workshops to focus you and all your staff on effective points of connection, handling stress, handling unhappy customers, being positive, and the importance of internal and external customer loyalty.

Implementing these steps and actions should help you create a business structure that is profitable and rewarding for the long term. Please feel free to contact me to discuss these strategies and other solutions you can implement in your business.

Best of luck!

Jeri

I think that connection is one of those words that conjures up different meanings for each of us. From my own personal experience, I can say that I have had many varying levels of connection. The word finds its root from the Latin connectere, meaning to tie together. Taken literally, anything that creates a feeling of a tie with another would be a connection. Having traveled extensively, I can say that I have felt connection with total strangers only because they were Americans and we happened upon each other in a foreign land. At the other end of the spectrum, is the connection I feel with M, a friend with whom I resonate to the very depths of my being.

Connection is not limited to people. It encompasses so much more. As I’m writing I’m sitting with my feet in the grass looking out over a flower studded field edged with trees and surrounded by hills in the background. If I separate myself and look at it as a beautiful scene, I become disconnected from it. When I can feel it and be a part of it, I am connected to it. It is like those moments of sitting at the edge of the ocean, when I look out and lose myself in its expanse. In those moments there is absolutely no difference between me and the ocean. That is connection.

Connection sneaks up on us and catches us unawares in moments when we totally relinquish our mind and our defenses to the moment. This is what happens when I merge with the ocean. This is what happens when I am on the other side of the world and hear an American speaking. Nothing matters in that moment but the pounding of the ocean expressing the passion in me. Nothing matters but those few English words transporting me back to the familiarity of home.

This topic of connection is multi layered. We can speak of connection to nature, to animate and inanimate objects, and to people, whether or not they are alive, whether or not they are in our immediate life. The deepest experience of connection, however, is when there is a merging that obliterates everything else; then it is a connection that has connected us to ourselves and to the Divine. When we feel connection at that level, there is nothing else in the world at that moment except that feeling. In that moment, nothing else matters. There is no time and no mind. There is nothing but pure merging.

We’ve all experienced these moments and fortunately, it is something that can be cultivated. We can practice being fully present to the moment, to our bodies, to the resonance that we feel with nature, with another, with ourselves. We can stand in the soft extended arms of a white pine and feel its energy and allow it to penetrate us as we open to it. We can feel the freedom of the hawk as it so gracefully circles above us and allow ourselves to merge with it in its flight. We can open ourselves to another human being without defenses, shames, or fears and allow ourselves to merge, human to human. It may be a chance encounter or a deep relationship. What matters is that we have allowed ourselves to open, to connect, even if for just a moment, to the divinity in ourselves and the divinity in another. That is connection at its most sacred.

Marina

Do you avoid certain feelings?

Do you avoid feeling sad, angry, or vulnerable? Some feelings can cause you to lose power, and as a result you feel less confident. So you try to avoid those feelings so that you do not lose your power. Many people are mis-educated about feelings. They believe that what they feel defines them and are afraid they will be stuck with those feelings.

Emotions come and go, and they do not make up who you are. For example, many people avoid feeling angry because they think that means they are an angry person or they will stay angry if they accept that feeling. Anger will pass just like joy or stress does.

In my life, I have had the distinct experience of trying to avoid feelings of vulnerability, especially in romantic relationships. I would spend so much time trying to avoid feeling vulnerable in romantic relationships because I thought that meant I was weak. I was ruled by my fear of not wanting to seem weak and powerless.

Romantic relationships may not be the area where you avoid certain feelings. For you it may be relationships with your family or friends. We all lose power in one or more of our relationships. Usually there is a specific feeling we cannot tolerate experiencing and as a result we avoid and suppress that feeling.

I always was ashamed that I felt vulnerable and even tried to keep how I felt a secret from other people. But in my work as a coach, I found I was not the only one who could not tolerate feeling vulnerable. Many of my clients had the same fear.

What I have seen in my own life is that, the more I avoided the feeling of vulnerability the more it showed up. As the famous saying goes “what you resist persists”. In the past, the more I avoided feeling vulnerable and weak, the more I felt vulnerable and weak. It was when I finally accepted how I felt, embraced the feelings, and stopped seeing them as a burden that they moved through me quickly.

Many people avoid what they feel because they are scared they will be overwhelmed by what they feel and will get stuck in that emotion. The exact opposite happens when you accept and embrace what you feel. It does not have a grip on you and keep re-occurring in your life.

Now If I am sad, hurt, or angry I accept that is what I feel. In the past I would try to intellectualize what I was feeling and push it down. Now I say to myself “bring it on” If I am angry then I let it out (usually on a pillow), if I am sad I don’t even try to hold back the tears, I let the river run. If I am scared, I say, “I am really scared”. There is no pretending or denying what I feel.

When you accept and embrace your feelings, you feel a sense of genuine confidence and power about yourself. You also feel much more at ease expressing your feelings with others. What is even more remarkable is that you are able to distinguish that your feelings are separate from you and they are not always aligned with your true self.

Your assignment for this week:

Pick one relationship or area of your life that you have a strong fear of experiencing a certain feeling.

Focus on that feeling, do not hold back, and let it out. Whatever emotion you feel, sit with it. Avoid monitoring what you are thinking, feeling, or making it wrong. A very good way of releasing emotions is to exaggerate what you feel. So if you feel really sad, think of how a child would their express sadness, and act it out in a similar way. I know this sounds silly, but it works. Children move through feelings fast because they feel it, express it, and move on. Adults avoid, deny, and repress their feelings and they get stuck with it for years. Then they are shocked when one day they realize they are still upset about something that happened twenty years ago.

Melisa

Monday marks the official end of summer. From all of us here at Raised Path, I would like to wish you a happy and healthy holiday weekend. May you take some time to relax and spend it with the people you love.

I want to thank all of the guides for their efforts and contributions. I am moved by your committments to living in a better world where people are empowered and enlightened. Thank you for who you are. Each of you is truly a gift.

I also want to thank all the readers and supporters of Raised Path. You are helping us grow each week and month. Thank you for being a part of our journey and allowing us to be a part of yours. We created this resource for you and the people you care about. We look forward to your continued feedback and comments.

Have a great weekend everyone!!!

Marc

Recently, I have been asked by several people what I think about vaccinating children. This is a complicated topic and should be handled methodically. We have all heard about the conquering of polio, smallpox, etc., etc. since the onset of the vaccine era. Yes, the overcoming of these diseases have occurred during this chronological period of time, so have other things, most importantly, the standardizing of clean water to communities and the exponential improvement in hygienic standards in all areas of life. Things like the efficient removal of trash, as opposed to burning it in the backyard (where kids used to help with chores), OSHA standards, child labor laws, and eliminating sweatshop labor (almost totally); indoor toilet facilities, and hand washing, all make a big difference. At this point I will add that we have heard of the other side of the coin as well, the controversy over thimerisol, autism, autoimmune conditions, etc. There is much that can and should be discussed as we explore this topic. Ultimately, parents face many decisions; my advice is to be as well informed as possible. Gather information, do research, talk to friends and family you trust. Develop a good relationship with a responsible pediatrician, one who will listen to your concerns. Remember what I remember every day I go in to work, the doctor works for you, just like your gardener, accountant, or whomever. This means you must be empowered as well as responsible and respectful. This is an intense topic and can get heated, believe me, I hear the stories frequently. Stay cool under the pressure. Yes, it can be difficult and nerve racking, but don’t fold, stay strong and stay involved. Bear in mind that now there are more vaccines than ever, kids don’t need them immediately and all at once, there is time to think and plan. If you do decide to vaccinate, take your time, and be 100% certain there is no thimerisol (a mercury based preservative) in the solution. No one, repeat, no one needs mercury in his or her body, it is a highly toxic heavy metal, even in “small” doses.

So, on to getting informed, I think this is going to turn into an ongoing series, let’s go through everything together, I’m right in there with you. Here is a link that will be helpful: www.thinktwice.com. I will share more information and make available more resources in the upcoming chapters of The Needle’s Edge.

Good Health,

Joe