Episodi

  • How to Ask for Feedback Without It Being Weird
    Sep 29 2026

    Most feedback requests are disguised review requests — and customers can tell. The awkwardness doesn't come from asking; it comes from asking in a way that's about what you need rather than what you want to understand. In this episode, Alan tells the story of a veterinarian who dreaded asking for reviews for years — until one question changed what came back. You'll get the One Feedback Question — *"Was there a moment when you knew this was the right decision?"* — and three ways to deliver it: in person at the close, by email a couple of days after, or as a 30-day follow-up. The question invites a story instead of a rating, and produces the language your best customers are already carrying — the most valuable marketing copy your business will ever have.

    This week's Small Action: Think of one past customer whose experience you believe was a good one. Send them a personal message with the One Feedback Question: "Was there a moment when you knew this was the right decision?" When they respond, write down their exact words — don't paraphrase. That language belongs in your marketing. That's the next piece of your Fan Plan — the plan every FanMaker builds, one small action at a time.

    Resources mentioned:

    - The Raving Fans Scorecard (free — 6 questions, about 2 minutes): https://attractravingfans.com/scorecard/

    Next week — you've collected a story; now we make it reach the next person: why some reviews get passed around and others just sit there, and how to help a customer tell the fuller version that moves someone deciding whether to choose you.

    ©2026 Attract Raving Fans - All rights reserved.

    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    13 min
  • The Most Underrated Raving Fan Strategy
    Sep 22 2026

    Exceptional moments create raving fans. Inconsistency erodes them — quietly, invisibly, without producing a single complaint. In this episode, Alan's example story is about Amelia, a business owner and physical therapist whose most loyal patients all shared one small moment — the day she told them they'd earned the right to call her "Millie" — a moment she'd been giving unevenly for years without realizing it.

    Plus, you'll learn about the Consistency Audit. A simple three-question process to find the three to five moments your best customers always experience, spot which are slipping through the cracks, and write the simplest version of how to make the most important one happen with every one of your own customers. The goal isn't a perfect experience — it's a reliable one.

    This week's Small Action: Run the Consistency Audit on one moment instead of five. Pick the moment you'd hate to find out a customer never got — if you've been doing the Part 4 small actions, it's probably the Turning Point, the gesture, the Recovery Response, or the post-delivery touchpoint. Then ask it honestly: does that happen every time, or only when you remember? If it's the second one, write down the trigger — not what the moment is, but exactly when it happens. One sentence. Then mark the four things you've built this month: trigger, or memory? You don't have to fix them today; you just need to know which ones are running on memory. Drop it into your Fan Plan — the plan every FanMaker builds, one small action at a time.

    Resources mentioned:

    - The Raving Fans Scorecard (free — 6 questions, about 2 minutes): https://attractravingfans.com/scorecard/

    Next week — "How to Ask for Feedback Without Being Weird." You've built a solid customer experience; now we start on the story your customers tell about it — beginning with how to find out what that story actually is.

    ©2026 Attract Raving Fans - All rights reserved.

    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    14 min
  • The Follow-Through That Sets You Apart
    Sep 15 2026

    Most businesses treat the finished job as the end of the relationship. But the post-delivery window — the days and weeks a customer spends living with the result — is when the story they'll tell about you is actually written. In this episode, Alan tells the story of Wes, a roofing contractor who texts every homeowner a drive-by photo thirty days after the job ("still looking good up there") and became the most-mentioned contractor in his category in his city — not because his work was better, but because nobody else was still showing up a month later. You'll learn the Post-Delivery Arc — three touchpoints (the Day-After Check-In, the 30-Day Follow-Up, and the Meaningful Milestone) — that keep you present during the window when your customers are deciding what to say about you.

    This week's Small Action: Think of the last job you finished, and let the date decide. Wrapped up yesterday? Text to ask how it feels today. About a month ago? Drive by, take a picture of the work, and send it. Longer than that? Find the thing worth marking — a year in the house, a first winter under that roof — and say so. One customer, one message, today. Then set the next one up: take the job you're about to finish, count thirty days from it, and set a reminder for that date with the customer's name — a date and a name is the whole system. Your Fan Plan — the plan every FanMaker builds, one small action at a time — just got one step stronger.

    Resources mentioned:

    The Raving Fans Scorecard (free — 6 questions, about 2 minutes): https://attractravingfans.com/scorecard/

    Next week — The Most Underrated Raving Fan Strategy: a great moment now and then doesn't build raving fans — a reliable one does. We close this 4 Part series on the thing that holds all of it together.

    ©2026 Attract Raving Fans - All rights reserved.

    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    12 min
  • When Things Go Wrong
    Sep 8 2026

    A customer who's watched you fail and put it right has more evidence of your character than one who's only ever seen things go well — and that evidence is what travels. In this episode, Alan tells the story of René, a caterer whose worst review became one of his best sources of new business, and unpacks why (researchers even named it: the service recovery paradox). Then he hands you the four-step Recovery Response: acknowledge without deflecting, make it right before you explain, do one unexpected thing that wasn't asked for, and follow up after the repair — the protocol that turns your hardest customer moments into the ones that earn your most loyal raving fans.

    This week's Small Action: Think of the thing that goes wrong most often in your business — the everyday one, not the rare disaster. Then write four lines for it, not four paragraphs. One: the sentence you'll say to own it, with nothing hung on the end. Two: what you'll do to make it right. Three: the unexpected thing you'll do once it's fixed — a real gesture, not a discount. Four: the sentence you'll send a week later. Then put it where you'd actually look on a bad day — phone, job folder, cabinet door. Ten minutes now means you're not improvising when it happens. One more piece of the Fan Plan you're building — the plan every FanMaker builds, one small action at a time.

    Resources mentioned:

    The Raving Fans Scorecard (free — 6 questions, about 2 minutes): https://attractravingfans.com/scorecard/

    Next week: The Follow-Through That Sets You Apart

    The days and weeks after the work is done are when a customer decides what to say about you — here's how to stay in the room for it.

    ©2026 Attract Raving Fans - All rights reserved.

    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    14 min
  • Small Gestures That Create Big Results
    Sep 1 2026

    The gestures that get people talking aren't the expensive ones — they're the small, well-timed, personal ones that show you paid attention to something that wasn't written down. In this episode, Alan tells the story of Suzanne, a bed-and-breakfast owner who tracked a full year of guest reviews and notes expecting her costly upgrades to win — and found three tiny touches winning instead. You'll learn three categories of high-impact gesture: Memory (you remembered something they didn't expect you to), Vision (you met a need before they had to ask), and Recognition (you noticed something real and named it). Then you'll put one to work, deliberately, in the next seven days.

    This week's Small Action: Pick one customer who's already on your calendar this week. Before you see them, ask yourself: what do I know about this person that has nothing to do with the job? Whatever comes to mind sorts itself: something they told you last time is Memory (bring it up). Something coming up for them is Vision (get out in front of it). Something they're carrying right now is Recognition (name it).

    Write the one line down before you go, then say it once, on purpose. Be sure to notice which of the three you reached for. That one's your natural gesture, and it's the one worth repeating. Add it to your Fan Plan — the plan every FanMaker builds, one small action at a time.

    Resources mentioned:

    - The Raving Fans Scorecard (free — 6 questions, about 2 minutes): https://attractravingfans.com/scorecard/

    Next week — When Things Go Wrong: the response that turns your most difficult customer moments into the ones that earn your most loyal raving fans.

    ©2026 Attract Raving Fans - All rights reserved.

    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    13 min
  • Designing Your First Turning Point
    Aug 25 2026

    Most businesses create their best moments by accident. One thing they stumbled into and never thought to build on purpose. In this episode, Alan tells the story of Andy, a personal trainer whose gym stayed full because of referrals, while an equally skilled new trainer's clients stayed quiet. Until Andy figured out it came down to two sentences he said at the end of every session.

    You'll learn the three-beat anatomy of a Turning Point:

    • Anticipation

    • Acknowledgment

    • and After

    Once you do, you can build one deliberate moment into your most common interaction and start turning satisfied customers into raving fans.

    This week's Small Action: Build your After. Take the interaction you do over and over — the session, the appointment, the call — and decide one thing you want that person to leave carrying that they didn't expect. Not what you want them to buy: what you want them to feel on the drive home. Write down the sentence that would give it to them, and say it once, at the end of your very next one. That's the next piece of your Fan Plan — the plan every FanMaker builds, one small action at a time.

    Resources mentioned:

    - The Raving Fans Scorecard (free — 6 questions, about 2 minutes): https://attractravingfans.com/scorecard/

    Next week — Small Gestures That Create Big Results: the little, low-cost gestures that land at exactly the right moment and tell a customer you were paying attention.

    ©2026 Attract Raving Fans - All rights reserved.

    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    13 min
  • Is Your Homepage Joining or Interrupting the Conversation?
    Aug 18 2026

    Your homepage either joins the conversation the customer has been having in their head, or it interrupts it.

    Most interrupt.

    And that's because most homepages are written backward. They open by the business changing the subject and talking all about itself. Not a great idea, since visitors show up hoping to be understood. In this episode, Alan tells the story of Nichole, a cleaning-service owner who noticed that every new client meeting began with the client apologizing in their door, "sorry, it's not usually this bad." That was the exact clue Nichole needed to realize that what she actually sells isn't a clean house; it's relief for someone who feels overwhelmed by their busy life.

    Using the Welcome Letter Structure of Opening Line, Bridge, and Invitation turns the "customers' words" you've been collecting into the three sentences that should be at the top of your homepage. These are the sentences that tell the right person, "this is for me."

    This week's Small Action: Rewrite the top of your homepage as a welcome letter using the three-part Welcome Letter Structure, with an Opening Line that names your customer's situation in their own words, a Bridge that connects their world to why you do this, and an Invitation that offers one clear, low-stakes next step. Three sentences before adding details about what your business does. An upgraded hero section that joins the conversation is the action for this week. It's another piece of your Fan Plan — the plan every FanMaker builds, one small step at a time.

    Resources mentioned:

    - The Raving Fans Scorecard (free — 6 questions, about 2 minutes): https://attractravingfans.com/scorecard/

    Next week: Designing Your First Turning Point. We turn from your message to your service — the first moment inside the work that turns a satisfied customer into a raving fan.

    ©2026 Attract Raving Fans - All rights reserved.

    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    12 min
  • Your Elevator Pitch Is Costing You Referrals
    Aug 11 2026

    Most elevator pitches are really just job descriptions — and a job description gives nobody a reason to refer you. In this episode, Alan tells the story of Brian, a financial advisor who said the same thing at networking events for years and watched people's eyes glaze over — until he changed one thing and walked out of a single evening with three referrals. You'll get the simple pitch formula that turns "what you do" into a portrait of *who you help*, the one tell that shows it's working (watch their eyes), and how to build it from the exact words your customers already gave you.

    This week's Small Action: Rewrite your elevator pitch using the formula — "I help [who] do or get [what], so they can [feel, have, or become what]" — filling that last piece with the customer words you pulled in last week's Language Audit. Then say it to one real person this week, watch their face, and ask, "Does that make you think of anyone?" Their answer tells you whether it's sharp enough. One rewrite, one test. Drop that into your Fan Plan — the plan every FanMaker builds, one small action at a time.

    Resources mentioned:

    - The Raving Fans Scorecard (free, 6 questions, about 2 minutes): https://attractravingfans.com/scorecard/

    Next week: Making Your Homepage a Welcome Letter — Combine your customers' words, the structure, and your pitch all come together on the page where people decide whether to call.

    ©2026 Attract Raving Fans - All rights reserved.

    Mostra di più Mostra meno
    11 min