(a.k.a. “I’ll just assume they’re happy and move on.”) Most business owners don’t realize KEEP is their real bottleneck, or how much it’s costing them. It’s the one bottleneck almost nobody admits to, because on the surface it looks harmless… but underneath it quietly drains momentum month after month. You hear owners say things like: “People won’t leave reviews.” “I feel weird asking.” “I don’t want to bother people.” “I’m not really the follow-up type.” “If they weren’t happy, they would’ve said something.” “I don’t want to come across as pushy.” But beneath all of that? There’s one quiet fear driving the whole thing: KEEP forces you to face the truth of how good you really are and that doesn’t sit right. GET is fear of rejection. HELP is fear of losing control. KEEP is fear of feedback. Because feedback is vulnerable. Feedback is exposure. Feedback feels personal. Feedback forces you to confront the gap between what you think you delivered… and what you actually delivered. So instead of asking: for reviews for referrals for repeat business for honest feedback for testimonials …you move on to the next job or sale and hope everything was fine. No shame here. You’re protecting yourself. The brain says: “If I don’t ask, I don’t have to deal with it.” So KEEP doesn’t break because you can’t do the work. KEEP breaks because you don’t want to know what the work felt like on the other side. And here’s the cost: When you avoid feedback, your business resets back to zero every month. No retention. No referrals. No compounding trust. No predictable revenue. No momentum. You have to rebuild the entire machine from scratch every 30 days. And you end up telling yourself: “The market is slow.” “People aren’t loyal anymore.” “I need more new customers.” When the truth is simple: You don’t need more new customers. You need to keep the ones you already earned. And if KEEP is your bottleneck, it’s not because you don’t care. It’s because you cared too much

This morning, I was sitting at my desk, iced coffee in hand, digging into the psychology behind how brands really KEEP customers. And I couldn’t help but laugh because apparently, Apple doesn’t just keep customers...They convert them. (more on why I laughed in a second.) See, there’s a reason psychological reason why quitting smoking is so hard. And it's the same reason companies keep customers even if the price is higher. It’s not just the nicotine. It’s the identity smokers develop without even realizing it. It’s one thing to say, “I smoke.” It’s another to say, “I’m a smoker.” The second one’s dangerous because the moment something becomes part of who you are, your brain will defend it. Even if it’s killing you. And that’s when it hit me… Apple uses the same psychology. I’ve got an Android. My girlfriend’s a proud iPhone user. If I even joke about switching her to Android, you’d think I just insulted her family. To her, that blue message bubble isn’t just cute. Air dropping photos isn't just convenience. To her it’s status. It’s identity. She doesn’t own an iPhone. She is an iPhone person. And that’s the same psychological lever the best businesses pull when they build real KEEP systems. Because deep retention isn’t about points, discounts, or doing right by the customer. It's about identity. When a customer stops saying “I buy from them” and starts saying “I’m one of them." That's when you know you’ve won. They don’t just stay because they love your brand. They stay because leaving would mean something even worse: Betraying themselves.

In this video I share a KEEP strategy from the perspective of a customer. (Literally.) And give thoughts on how small businesses can do this in their business. Experienced something like this or done it yourself in your business? Would love to hear your thoughts. P.S. In the video I reference the F.L.I.P.S Method. It's a method for turning customers into a referral machine that goes like this: F- First Moment Catch customers when they’re most excited. That’s when they’re most likely to share. L- Label Give them something simple they can use to spread your name. Stickers, tshirts, samples, special invitations, (POPCORN BUCKETS AND COASTERS)… the idea is they carry your label. I- Incentivize Make it worth their time to share. Even small rewards matter. P-Product Path Make sharing easy and obvious. Don’t make them explain your business, hand them the words or the link. S- START AGAIN Every new customer should automatically go through the same process. That’s how you build a loop instead of one-off referrals.

When was the last time you reached out to a past customer, just to thank them, without asking for anything in return?

I was editing one of my videos earlier and this line stuck out to me: “All commerce runs on trust. The more that’s at stake, the more someone has to trust you. But once someone has done business with you, they trust their experience with you.” That got me thinking... Keeping customers really is easier than finding new ones. The numbers back it up: - It costs about 5 times more to get a new customer than to keep one. - People who come back spend about 67% more than new people. - The chance of selling again to someone who already bought is about 60-70%. With new people it’s more like 5-20%. - And for most small businesses, about 61% of revenue comes from repeat customers. So why does it work this way? Because once people trust you, they don’t have to figure out if you’re legit anymore. They already know. That’s why losing a customer hurts because now you have to go pay the “new customer tax” to replace them. Here’s what I’d do if I were you: 1. Pick 3 customers you’ve already worked with. Reach out. Thank them, check in, or offer a reason to come back. 2. Make a simple habit of staying in touch. That could be a call, an email, or just remembering them when you post online. That’s today’s Referral Friday thought. Trust is built by delivering, but it’s kept by showing up again and again.