It seems that everyone in marketing now worships at the altar of Lifetime Customer Value. The problem arises when the item is treated as a one off sale, bought only once, or very occasionally.
They pitch it in courses and webinars as the golden ticket to getting rich quick. Cynical, but true?
Forget generating monthly engagement and pushing free trials. If you’re selling homes or high-end cars, your customer isn’t looking to swipe their card again anytime soon. These are one off deals. So where does LCV fit?
Simple: it hides in plain sight.
For big-ticket items, the real lifetime value isn’t in repeat purchases, it’s in reputation. It’s in the willingness of your customers to recommend you. Think of it as latent value embedded in social proof.
That five-star Google review is nice, but what you really want is for that customer to feel like you’ve done such a remarkable job that they must become your apostle. They brag about you at dinner parties. They drop your name into WhatsApp groups. They drag their friends to your showroom. That’s when lifetime value becomes real.
It’s not easy to measure. This isn’t click-tracking or coupon redemption. This is a slower game, built on service excellence, and value delivery service which build trust.
A client of mine employs this strategy. They work their butts off to do a great job, they ask for referrals, ideally those happy customers make the initial introduction, delivering a bag of social proof, then they track the conversions.
It works.
The real game is delivering so far above expectations that your customer feels morally obliged to evangelise. ‘Reciprocity’ is a powerful psychological driver of human behaviour
Copy the strategy used by Joe Girard, legendary Chevrolet salesman, recognised as the seller of the most cars in a year, 1,425 in 1975. No digital gimmicks, just relentless service, the belief that every customer was special and deserved to be treated as such. For example, Joe sent hand written birthday greetings, suggested service times and ensured there was a booking made, organised loan cars, and generally created a huge well of ‘reciprocity obligations’ among his customers.
Drucker said marketing’s job is to “create a customer.” Joe went one better. He created customers who created customers for him.
That’s the LCV of a one-off sale: A loop where exemplary service fuels advocacy, which drives hot leads back into your funnel. It’s not a transaction. It is a tree that bears fruit that produces seeds, from which more trees grow, to produce more seeds, creating a marketing flywheel.
Track success over time by recognising that the sale does not end with the initial transaction. Delight customers, they become advocates, which creates new leads. Track those!
Forget loyalty schemes. Build apostles.
