Peter Shankman - Zombie Loyalists: Using Great Service to Create Rabid Fans

Zombie Loyalists

Using Great Service to Create Rabid Fans

Peter Shankman

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Contents

9: Zombie Loyalist Hacks: More Tips and Tricks to Maintaining Zombie Loyalty

Acknowledgments

This book wouldnt exist without the help of countless people, a few of whom Im privileged to name here.

Emily Carleton is every writers dream, as shes hands down the best editor in the known universe. With her on this journey was everyone from Palgrave, as well as Carol Mann and her awesome book agency. Glad to be one of your clients, Carol!

On the personal side, Meagan Walker is the most patient and loyal assistant anyone could ever have, and Im fortunate that shes mine. David Roher, Ty Francis, and Todd Evans listened to me complain from start to finish, and Im grateful for all three of you. Ryan Shell also listened to me complain, usually on a bike-training ride through Central Park at 5 a.m. For that, and for making me faster, Im super appreciative. Steven Costello showed me what it means to be amazing to the people you have to get the people you want, and Im fortunate to call him and everyone at Steiner Sports a friend.

And lastly, this book couldnt have been remotely dreamed of without my thousands upon thousands of Facebook friends, followers, and subscribers. Im so fortunate that you allow me into your lives on a daily basis, and I never, ever take you for granted.

I always say family first! With that, thank you, as always, Mom, Dad, Alan, Amy, Carol, Fern, Hillary, Stacy, Seporah, Todd, and the rest of my family, always there with a smile when I needed it.

Lastly, in the end, I will always be a Zombie Loyalist to two people: my wife Kira and my beautiful daughter Jessa. Im the luckiest guy in the world because I have you both.

Please. Lets Talk about Real Zombies

Not now, Haley! Im zombie dancing with my son!

Stan Smith, American Dad

Right now, there are two reasons youve picked up this book (or are currently reading the first five pages on Amazon).

1. You mistakenly thought this was a cool new science-fiction novel about zombies.
2. You know that there is nothing better to bring in new customers than current customers. Not advertising, not marketing, not social media, and not public relations (PR) nothing in the world brings in more new customers than happy current customers.

If your reason is 1, then Im sorry, youve been misled. I do recommend David Wellington, however, as his book Monster Island is spectacular.

But... if your choice is 2, well then, my friend, welcome to the fray. My name is Peter Shankman, and Im going to help you build your army. Youre going to learn how to build an army of customers so strong, so stuck on you, so in love with your business, so downright loyal, theyre going to take over your advertising, marketing, and PR, and theyre going to do it better than you ever could yourself. Youre going to build an army for your business the likes of which youve never seenthe likes of which you cant even begin to imagine.

Remember the guys from 300? The really muscular ones with the painted-on abs? They wouldnt last five seconds against the Zombie Loyalists youre going to create.

This army is going to virtually print you money. Its going to do it for you every day. Its going to make your business one of the most important things in their lives. In some cases, the most important thing. And thatll get a bit creepy. But its going to be okay.

Youre going to learn how to take care of your army. How to train it. How to feed and water it. How to make it happy. How to nurture it. Youll learn how to command its attention at any moment. Youll learn how the loyalty of your zombies is directly proportional to your loyalty to them. Youre going to be amazed, astounded, left wondering, Can it really be that simple? But once you get started, youll realize, Holy crap, it really is.

Were going to build you an army of Zombie Loyalists, and its going to take over the world for you. Well, maybe not the world. But itll at least bring you some great new customers and a bunch of new revenue. (But hey, maybe the world. You never know.)

But Im getting ahead of myself. Lets talk a little background first.

When I told my best friend that my next book was going to be about customer service and zombies, his reaction was what youd expect from any normal person.

Zombies. Seriously? Youre writing a business book about game-changing customer service, and the theme is zombies? And your publisher agreed to this?

My friend had known me for eight years; youd think hed have been a bit more prepared for the way my brain functions.

Anyhow, who am I, and why are you listening to me?

Well, as I said, my name is Peter Shankman. Im many things. Im an entrepreneur who has successfully sold three companies. Im an investor or advisor to at least a dozen companies, including pure tech start-ups, clothing companies, a company that makes lip balm for the teen and tween markets, and even NASA. (Yes, NASA has a civilian advisory council, and Im honored to serve on it.) My last book, Nice Companies Finish First, explains why companies that put nice over cutthroat tend to make a lot more money.

I keep a blog at www.shankman.com; run Mastermind conferences all over the world at www.shankminds.com; and cohost The Mistake Podcast, a podcast on making mistakes, at www.themistakepodcast.com. Those three things keep me traveling about 300,000 miles per year, and that traveling gives me tons of time to observe and write about what I observe. In fact, the ideas for all three of my previous books came to me on flights, and this one is no exception. Heres what happened.

I was flying home from a business meeting in Los Angeles and had just boarded my United flight. As I was getting settled, I removed my MacBook Air, iPad, power cord, and headphones from my jacket. Yes, you read that right, from my jacket. Im on the advisory board of a company called SCOTTeVESTa clothing company that makes travel clothing, including jackets with tons of pockets, like the one I wear whenever I fly.

The person next to me couldnt take her eyes off my jacket as I removed more and more things, like 26 clowns getting out of a Volkswagen. When I sat down, she immediately asked me about the jacket, and I gushed over how many pockets it had, how I was able to do four days in Tokyo with nothing but the jacket, and so on. For the sake of full disclosure, I mentioned to her I was on the companys board as well.

I would hope so was her reply. Youve completely sold me on it. Between watching you pull all your stuff out and how you talked to me about it, Im going online right now and ordering one!

Oh, well, hereplease use this code, I said, and gave her a code for 20 percent off the cost of anything on the site. Floored, she proceeded to order one for herself, one for her husband, one for each of her three kids, and one for her assistant.

She probably spent $650 to $750 dollars in under five minutes. Now heres where it gets really interesting. About halfway through the flight, she leaned over and showed me a page in the SkyMall catalog. You know, the catalog in the seat-back pocket of every single airplane that sells things like automatic cat groomers and tequila holders that will get your drink down to a temperature of absolute zero.