May President's Letter

As we sit here with June rapidly approaching, I am sure this message hits you while you are busy focused on your customers and cranking out tons of business.  If that is the case than the message I share below might have come just in time.

Before I get into that, I wanted to share with you some of the exciting happenings as we move into the middle of the year (yes, by the time I write my next letter 2019 will be half way gone).  At this moment the IDA is on fire!! We have events going on all over the world.  Members are getting together and sharing ideas, helping one another, and raising the bar of the detailing industry - as the entire world sees it.

Sharing the IDA message is super important and even though I have almost 12 events scheduled for me to attend in the United States this year. I am also in the final stages of planning a European trip which will include stops in the UK, France, and Norway – at all of the stops I will be representing the IDA. More to come on that real soon.  The excitement and energy I get from our members is absolutely amazing!!  With that being said, I look at all our members as the clients I serve as the President of the IDA.  Please allow me to share my thoughts on the importance of that relationship.

You Must Understand the Importance of a Relationship with Your Clients Versus Just Having Customers.

Client versus Customer. A client implies an ongoing relationship, hospitality that we welcome someone - we want them to come back, we treat them special and make them feel welcome.

A lot of people that own a business look at the people who come into the business as customers - a one-time transaction.  Really successful people look at it as a relationship – one that is ongoing.  Make marketing decisions based on this relationship.  All of the money in the business is based on ongoing repeat transactions.

If one person has a WOW experience with your business, they will tell five other people and at least one of those will turn into a loyal client as well. 

When looking at your business in the long-term, a comfort area for your clients, you make different decisions about your business and your marketing.  You make decisions based on the desire to get more loyal clients to come in because they’re going to be spending money in the business over their lifetime.

The thought process about how you view your clients, how you treat them, and the decisions that you make are based on a long-term view of ongoing transactions.  If you’re only going to look at one transaction with this person, it’s so short-term that you’re not going to be making very good decisions; you’re not going to be treating that person very well.  The client and maybe even your staff will sense it. You’ll be making marketing decisions and all sorts of other decisions like it too.  Make sure each person is being treated as a lifelong client. Think of them in terms of a guest/client/patron and you need to ensure everyone in your staff thinks the same way. 

For these clients (lifelong customers) create memorable experiences, WOW them and continue to engage them. Involve them in all the great stuff you have going on in your business.

A memorable experience is much more than just that - it transcends how good your product or service is - it’s about what happens to the client when they come in, or you go to them.  You need to deliver a consistent memorable experience for all this to work.

Work with those around you and lead by example.  That is what we do as the leaders of the industry!

Lastly, as always, I will sing my song about “Getting Involved”. As part of the IDA, to get the most out of it, you have active and in some cases that can be just by asking questions. There is nothing wrong with questioning how or why something is the way it is.  At the least it makes us all stop and take a moment to understand everyones perspective and that whatever we do for you as the IDA makes sense and is effective in helping you grow. But again, your involvement is key. Whether it’s in The IDA Facebook Group, on an industry webinar, at a live event or a direct message to another member. My experience is if you put it out there you will be amazed at what you get back.

There is an amazing amount of valuable information and updates in the Digest. I suggest you find a quiet place and dig in, this is your time to work on you and your business!

Respectfully yours,

Jonathan Munsell, CD
IDA President
Facebook and LinkedIn: jonathanmunsell
IG: JonathanMunsell

PS: As always, please reach out to me, connect with me at JonathanMunsell.com, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, whatever works for you! Let's continue to move this association forward, to grow, be strong, and be internationally recognized as the source for detail information and education.