In this interview, we sit down with marketing maestro Russ Ruffino and discuss his views on improving customer acquisition and the current business landscape.

By Russ Ruffino, the CEO and Founder of Clients on Demand, one of the most talked-about and well-recognized coaching services around. In this exclusive interview, we talk to Ruffino about the secrets behind his success and his views on optimizing customer acquisition strategies in a post-pandemic world.

Your company sits in a very competitive marketplace; what is it that makes you stand out from the crowd?

To be honest, the main thing that separates us from our competition is how determined we are to deliver results for our clients. Their success is absolutely paramount to us, and that means we are willing to work tirelessly and do everything we can to see their goals come to fruition.

Our whole business model revolves around our clients. If they are successful, so are we. It’s as simple as that. This creates an awesome atmosphere where we push each other so we can get the very best out of one another. It’s great! We love our students, and they love us, which is one of the reasons it works so well.

Also, when I’m talking about getting results for our clients, I don’t mean in a year or two down the line. We concentrate on getting hard and fast outcomes for the people who sign up for our program right out of the gate. It’s clear that most people have become accustomed to the industry standard of putting content out into the world and waiting for it to yield results. You know, things like SEO, blogging, podcasting, and so on.

Of course, these strategies work great, and they are definitely effective tools, yet they take far too long to start taking effect, and the audience you attract can be unpredictable and difficult to monetize as a result.

Lastly, we like to instill a mindset of quality over quantity in our students. We don’t want them to go out there and use our methods to find any paying customer that happens to come their way. We want to teach them how to connect with the clients who are perfectly suited to their business so they can establish a mutually beneficial relationship and create better outcomes for everyone involved. I think this is one of the key differentiators between us and our competition.

From your experience of working with your clients, what would you say are their main challenges? How do they overcome them?

The problems we encounter are extremely varied, but one of the most common issues we see time and time again is people undercharging for their service. It’s a common pitfall for people to fall into, no matter what line of business you’re in.

People always tend to think that more clients equal more profit, but that’s a huge misconception. And a costly one at that!

Here’s the thing, if you charge too little, you have to work with more clients, you have a busier schedule, and as a result, the quality of your service diminishes. Not only that, but you will likely find you’re constantly looking for new clients, spending unnecessary time and money searching for paying customers.

The answer is simple. Raise your prices, improve your service, laser in on attaining results for your clients, and focus on attracting the cream of the crop. Nine times out of ten, you find you end up generating much higher revenue with less time invested.

If you had to whittle it down to one specific thing, what factor would you say is the most effective in improving your customer acquisition?

This may sound counterintuitive, but I think it really helps to stop thinking about customers as dollars coming into your business. As Jeff Bezos said when discussing his goals for Amazon, “the most important single thing is to focus obsessively on the customer. Our goal is to be earth’s most customer-centric company.”

I think that’s a great way to look at things because if your entire focus is centered around delivering outcomes for your customer, everything else will fall into place. This is why we teach our students how to think of their customers first. What do they need? How can you connect with them authentically and provide a genuine solution?

How have times changed from when you first started Clients on Demand?

It goes without saying that the pandemic has thrown us one almighty curveball. However, I sincerely believe it has only accelerated the trajectory we were already on when it comes to the digitization of products and services.

These days it’s never been more important to find ways to connect and engage with your customers online. Those that haven’t been able to pivot and adapt their business to these new demands will, unfortunately, suffer the consequences as a result.

What does the future hold for Clients on Demand?

We have made a conscious decision to put our profits to the side for the time being so we can concentrate on helping our community and offering support where it’s needed. We know times are tough, and nobody could have predicted that we would be in this situation.

Now it’s all about doing the right thing for our students, our community, and society in general. We will do what we can to help our clients find solutions to the unique issues that we all must face in these uncertain times.

 

 This is a contributed article