Magnetic: The Art of Attracting Business

Of course, like anything else of value, magnetism has to be earned. But, according to Calloway, becoming magnetic isn't rocket science. It can be achieved. By you. By anyone. So how do you create that magnetic power of attraction?

Firstly, businesses need to do a really good job. And, secondly, customers need to be encouraged to share their experiences of that really good job. How customers view your company determines its reputation. And leaders know that a business's reputation is paramount in any competitive market.

According to a Google research study, almost half the consumers surveyed checked out potential buys with friends and family before making a purchase. So, business leaders need to make sure that what customers are saying is positive. If comments are negative, potential customers will move on to one of your competitors without a second glance.

It's clear that people can and do shop around, whatever they're looking for. In a jiffy, their smartphone or tablet will provide them with a list of businesses via the hundreds of directories on the Internet, complete with customer feedback. So, if you're not meeting your customers' needs, they'll go elsewhere and so will their friends and business contacts.

Are you feeling uncertain, insecure or a little bit scared? Good. Calloway emphasizes that it's no good resting on your laurels if you want to be successful. You need to be relevant and earn your customers' trust and loyalty every single day. In "Magnetic: The Art of Attracting Business," he tells us exactly how to do that.

Whether you're a freelancer just starting out, selling products or services business to business, or working in a huge corporation, you'll find something of interest in this book. It will appeal particularly to busy leaders who are looking for straightforward, commonsense ways of making their business stand out from its competitors.

It's a book so full of workable ideas that most readers will be filled with enthusiasm and be inspired to put them into practice. And this can be done in stages. "Magnetic: The Art of Attracting Business" is not a straitjacket. It's more like a menu from which you can choose content, and adapt it to suit your business.

With 30 years' experience as a business consultant, Calloway has honed his knowledge of business success in two ways. Firstly, he runs his own consulting company and has learned the hard way what works and what doesn't. Secondly, as a consultant he's helped other businesses improve their performance. His impressive list of clients ranges from household names like Proctor and Gamble and Coca Cola to smaller, niche businesses.

In addition to his consultancy work, Calloway is executive in residence at Belmont University's Center for Entrepreneurship in Tennessee. He's also a sought-after speaker and is the author of six books on business performance. He knows his stuff.

So keep listening to find out why love is the ultimate draw in business, how putting words in your customers' mouths is the way to go, and why failure may be a force for good.

In his 30 years of working with businesses, Calloway has seen success and failure. From gourmet restaurants to huge retailers such as Radio Shack, he's witnessed the tumble from being "the place to go" to being left behind in relative obscurity. So, what makes a highly successful business, and how do leaders keep their companies in premier position?

In "Magnetic: The Art of Attracting Business," leaders will find answers to these all-important questions. The ideas and advice Calloway offers are commonsense, simple and easy to implement or adapt. The writing style is informal. The book reads as if you're sitting opposite him in your favorite diner and chatting over breakfast. We warm to him and we learn, because he shares his own business mistakes. He comes across as someone who walks his talk and really wants his readers to succeed.

And he makes potential success easy by presenting the ideas and advice in bite-size chunks. There are 19 chapters, each subdivided into concepts and ideas. Thanks to memorable headings like "The Power of Word of Mouth," finding your way around the book is easy.

The beauty of this book is that each chapter is independent, so you can read and implement the ideas a section at a time. At the end of each chapter is a list of questions that helps you digest what you've just read and relate the ideas to your own situation.

So, what is a "magnetic business" and how can we achieve it?

Magnetic means that new customers come to you because you're so good at what you do that current customers recommend your service or product to their colleagues and friends. Positive word-of-mouth recommendation and rave reviews on the Internet are the best marketing tools you can have. So, instead of spending hours on social media "bigging up" your business, focus on keeping your customers consistently happy and they'll sing your praises for you.

No matter what business you're in, to keep your customers happy you need to read Chapter 5: "The Three Things You Must Get Right." Calloway emphasizes, if you only read one chapter of the book, make it this one. This powerful formula – focusing on three things – can help build up your customer base. The snag, though, is that the "three things you must get right" differ from business to business.

Let's say you run a restaurant serving fast food. The three things might be: one, serve the food fast and hot; two, charge a reasonable price; and three, be the friendliest joint in town. For a freelance writer, on the other hand, the three things may be: one, deliver copy on time; two, meet the brief; and three, maintain consistent accuracy.

You'll have to work out for yourself what the three most important attributes of your business are, so you know what to focus on every day. Why three, you might ask. It's an easy number to work with, it's simple and it works, Calloway says.

Alongside the "Three Things You Must Get Right," businesses also need to identify the "three things you want customers to say" about your company. The two are intrinsically linked. If you want customers to say the company is trustworthy, speedy and reliable, you must provide them with a consistent experience that reflects trustworthy, speedy and reliable service.

This is putting the right words in your customers' mouths. The stories they tell about your company are based on their experience of doing business with you. Your company puts the words in their mouths with every contact – from website views to telephone calls or face-to-face meetings. Your existing customers are your greatest marketing tool and if you get it right with them, they may send a stream of new business your way.

OK, price, quality and value are important in creating a great customer experience. But if you really want customers to tell the world how wonderful you are, love is what counts! Yes, really. This sounds most "un-business-like" but, when your customers love you, they'll be inspired to talk about you positively. To achieve that level of emotional connection, your company needs to be exceptional and treat each customer as a beloved and valued individual.

The business also needs to make customers feel like winners. For some, this might be a difficult concept to swallow. The fundamental purpose of running a business is to make a profit. How can both seller and buyer be winners? It might seem like Calloway is suggesting you become an easy touch, and that you should do anything to get more business. He isn't.

In Chapter 6, "The Best Idea Ever," he explains this win-win strategy, and it does make perfect sense. If customers are to keep coming back, you'll want them to feel like winners after they've done business with you. So, for a business to win, the customer has to win. This means providing the customer with an exceptional experience from start to finish.

Creating winners builds up a store of goodwill that will return to the business tenfold. And win-win works within the company, too. When you create a culture of cooperation and support internally, this is reflected outwards, and your customers always have a great experience.

To ensure that superb experience, it's crucial your organization knows who its customers are. What are their likes and dislikes? What do they need, when and how? Businesses can fail even before they've got off the ground because they don't understand their market.

In the book, we hear about one company that gets this right: a small snowboard design operation. It was started by passionate snowboarders, driven by their desire to design and make snowboards that give the best ride ever. From the beginning, they've known that diehard snowboarders like themselves want really special snowboards, designed with the purpose of achieving a brilliant ride.

So they immerse themselves in the snowboarding community, meeting their customers face to face. They find out exactly what snowboarders want for the ride of a lifetime, and they make snowboards that deliver it. Through this customer-driven approach they've found a niche in a very competitive market, and they're successful.

Which brings us on to what Calloway calls the "Magnetic Mindset" – outlined in Chapter 10. Once a company is up and running, it's tempting to slack off a little. But if you want your company to remain successful, never get complacent. Always fear your competitors. Continually check them out. Are they offering something you should have in your armory? What could stop you winning new customers?

Think about improvements that would benefit the customer experience, and keep improving. This puts teams in a never-ending cycle of describing the current state of the business, imagining the desired state, and taking action to achieve it.

A great example is Enterprise Rent-a-Car. Heaven knows there are plenty of car rental businesses. People at Enterprise asked themselves, "How can we improve the customer experience?" And they came up with the idea of picking customers up from their homes. Simple, but brilliant. Customers love it.

But what if your innovative idea falls flat on its face? That's OK, says Calloway. In fact, it's more than OK. He's failed spectacularly on more than one occasion, and shares some of these stories in the book. His advice is: treasure your failures. Learn from them and keep moving forward. The worst thing for a company is to remain static. That puts it in danger of becoming irrelevant, with a subsequent loss of business.

Since the book is aimed at attracting customers, this next piece of advice may come as a shock. Calloway suggests we say no to business that doesn't fit our remit. Always saying yes to business, no matter what it is, can be counterproductive. If it's going to be time consuming and stressful, and may distract you from your primary goal, it makes sense to say no. Why not pass the work on to a company better equipped to fulfill the brief? Now, that's a win-win. Both parties will love you and either of them may use your company's core services in the future, since you've been so helpful.

Some readers will find the book confirms that their current strategies are spot on. Others will find the answers to questions they've been struggling with and be inspired. Either way, "Magnetic: The Art of Attracting Business" provides simple, clear advice that leaders can follow. Plus, Calloway's formula is easily adapted, so it suits entrepreneurs who are creative and proactive, as well as those in more traditional businesses.

And although it's primarily aimed at businesses, we think the book would benefit any type of group: from charities, to sports teams, to rock bands. It's useful across a broad spectrum because it helps to answer fundamental questions for any organization: Who are we? Where are we going? How will we get there?

"Magnetic: The Art of Attracting Business," by Joe Calloway, is published by Wiley.

That's the end of this episode of Book Insights. Thanks for listening.