Get a Competitive Edge by Creating Attachment

Learn how Creating Attachment will set you apart from your competition! Be the premier place to work and be the uncopyable provider of services in your market.

It is hard to be consistent with your marketing message, isn’t it? There is so much to remember with marketing your business. How to get it all done is a question everyone faces at one time or another. Being exceptional at marketing your business to your target customer is a learned skill you can practice regularly to become consistent with the message of who you are, what you stand for, and what your promise is to your target market.

The Strategy of Attachment

Today, I would like to share one skill from the book Uncopyable: How to Create an Unfair Advantage Over Your Competition, which we’re currently reading in ATI’s Book Club. The author, Steve Miller, joined us to discuss the concept of Creating Attachment: helping internal and external customers become attached to your company, professionally and personally. It resonates with me because it is necessary to build a positive, engaging business environment that serves associates who will then serve customers. Creating Attachment must be practiced from the inside to the outside, associates and customers alike.

Creating Attachments with your associates makes it much easier for them to want to create attachments with the customers they serve. Does this mean we all sit by a campfire and endure sing-a-longs? Not really. It means you create rock star associates whenever and however you can. Put the spotlight on them—work to encourage and build their confidence so they will do the same for customers.

How Does it Work?

Everyone wants to be appreciated and recognized for who they are and what they do. Bolstering the self-esteem of others is a powerful skill in Creating Attachments with your team and your customers.

How do you make associates and customers feel appreciated and recognized? I am so glad you asked! You make them feel like they are rock stars who deserve VIP treatment. People who earn awards and accolades from their peers enjoy a boost in self-esteem every time the VIP treatment occurs.

Create Your Own Rock Stars

Here are some strategies for Creating Attachment—creating rock stars:

1. Acknowledge who a person is and their interests. Be a great listener who is empathetic, caring, and on their side. Get to know them.
2. Recognize people when they have contributed or make an effort toward an accomplishment. Keep urging them on; encouragement will drive resiliency.
3. Reward good work, reward loyalty, reward kindness.
4. Be consistent: always look for opportunities to point out the positives of any situation. Point out how special they are—associates and customers alike.
5. Public recognition and sincere appreciation go a long way. Point out those who exhibit positive and inspiring behaviors. Point our successes from your customers’ lives.
   1. Have team meetings with associates weekly. Incorporate positive, motivating dialogue.
   2. Have one-on-one meetings with associates weekly. Coach, counsel, and encourage development.
   3. Provide articles and newsletters for your customers and associates that highlight what they are working on and have accomplished. Shine the spotlight on associates and customers.
   4. Create a membership club offering for special customers to join. Host events just for them to acknowledge and reward their loyalty and patronage.
   5. Have an associate of the month highlighting a deed done well by a team member.

Whew, this is an excellent start to Creating Attachment! Now comes the hard part: making it an integral part of your business. Create a repeatable, consistent process that everyone will buy into and repeat, and you will have struck gold in Creating Attachment with your team and your customers.

Start creating attachments with your team and your customers. Get ATI’s Creating Attachment Packet to help you get started. Download the tool and keep growing and developing!