When you blog, you get a daily email that informs you that someone has subscribed or unsubscribed to receiving your email posts. For a long time, I would cringe when I saw that someone wanted to stop reading my work or hearing my ideas. Recently it became clearer to me that this is exactly what brands need to do and it is healthy for your business. You want to find readers, customers or clients who really care about you and your work. It doesn’t do any good to attract customers who don’t care. So, thank you for unsubscribing.
When someone stops buying (or subscribing) from you, it means that you aren’t serving their needs. In my case, they may want to read something targeted to a different set of interests than my marketing ideas. I write for small to mid-sized business owners who aren’t marketing professionals. I also try to avoid MBA-speak where possible and to try to keep my posts to a single topic and a simpler approach. I try to give very practical and actionable advice to help others market their products.
What subscribing or unsubscribing means is that those who do choose to listen or become customers really are interested and who appreciate what I can offer. I want readers who care just like you want customers who love what you do. I could buy 10,000 subscribers who will never care about my ideas. You could discount your product and get 10,000 new customers to buy your product and will never come back again. (think Groupon). The customer who walks away from you can be a blessing, not a curse. It means that they aren’t served by what you offer and, it helps you understand who you do serve. Simply put, its okay when people just aren’t into you anymore.
Thank You For Unsubscribing
Seth Godin talks about finding 100 people who care about you and what you do because you serve an important need. There is also an idea made popular by others like Tim Ferris about finding one thousand fans for your writing to build a blog or writing business. I think the same applies for small to mid-sized companies too. You don’t just want fans. You want raving fans. People who will share your story and help you grow and expand your business. You want readers and customers who would miss you if your business disappeared.
Some of the best advice on this topic came to me in a three minute chance encounter I had once with Jack Welch, the legendary leader of GE. He was speaking at a conference and stayed around afterward to talk to attendees. I introduced myself since he and my late Uncle Robert Slater co-wrote a book the GE Way. I asked Jack one question, what advice do you have for finding the right customers.
His response was…and I’m paraphrasing was:
“ Hire customers who will help you get more great customers and fire customers who won’t.”
So thank you to those of you who have unsubscribed to my blog. And to all who are engaged with my writing and who write to me with comments and questions. Say a little thank you when a the wrong customers goes away.
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