My Most Valuable Customer

Let me tell you about my most valuable customer. I have a customer who is responsible for 60-70% of my new business, and about half of my recurring business. I meet with this customer weekly, and nearly every week they have one or more pieces of work for me. This customer also has introduced me to several of their customers, suppliers, and colleagues, and in many cases I have developed profitable business relationship with those companies as well. This relationship has developed into a business opportunity worth tens of thousands of dollars to me every year. Do you understand why this is my most valuable customer?

In addition to this, though, this customer has assumed a role in my business life as a mentor and counselor. When I need some business advice, or just to bounce an idea around, I can call on my customer, and always find a willing ear and helpful suggestion. When needed, I can count on a referral to an expert well qualified in the particular field of my inquiry.

Plus they are constantly on the lookout for new business opportunities for me, almost like an unpaid sales person.

Quite some customer, huh? Would you like me to introduce you to my most valuable customer? Well before I do that, you need to know about the negatives….

My customer expects me to meet for breakfast every week on Thursday morning at 7 am for a meeting that generally lasts an hour and a half. They expect me to be a little early, or at the very least, punctually on-time. I dare not miss a meeting; if I can not go for some reason, they expect me to send someone in my place. They expect me to pay for the breakfast, even though occasionally there is no new business for me.

So there you have it. Do you still want to meet my best customer?

My most valuable customer is my BNI chapter. The 30 plus members of my chapter, the East Side Alliance, are the best and most reliable source of new business for me, and represent the best return on my marketing dollar, somewhere in the neighborhood of $40 or 50 dollars for every dollar invested. A seat in our particular chapter is worth about $20,000 per year to an average member.

We meet on Thursday mornings from 7 to 8:30 am, at the Wildwood Lodge, next to the Machine Shed restaurant, at the intersection of I-94 and Radio Drive. Please come and meet with my most valuable customer. We have a chair waiting for you.

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About the Author:

I am a cybersecurity and IT instructor, cybersecurity analyst, pen-tester, trainer, and speaker. I am an owner of the WyzCo Group Inc. In addition to consulting on security products and services, I also conduct security audits, compliance audits, vulnerability assessments and penetration tests. I also teach Cybersecurity Awareness Training classes. I work as an information technology and cybersecurity instructor for several training and certification organizations. I have worked in corporate, military, government, and workforce development training environments I am a frequent speaker at professional conferences such as the Minnesota Bloggers Conference, Secure360 Security Conference in 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, the (ISC)2 World Congress 2016, and the ISSA International Conference 2017, and many local community organizations, including Chambers of Commerce, SCORE, and several school districts. I have been blogging on cybersecurity since 2006 at http://wyzguyscybersecurity.com

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