Chip,

Glad you have found John Jantsch and Duct Tape Marketing - and passed the "Hourglass" along as a great resource. I don't follow him closely (where does that put me in his hourglass?), but I am familiar enough with his work to say he provides a trusted source of information and guidance.

Actually, we did cover these areas during the early sessions of coaching using different terminology, but I like his terminology! Generally, Jantsch is describing what I refer to as nurture marketing or education-based marketing. Regardless of terminology, it is becoming more and more critical to more industries and markets - with technology consulting as much or more than any.

Each stage of the hourglass (i.e. Sales Funnel) also fits into the Buying-Selling Process and the goal of all should not just be sales - but Customer Loyalty. You can (and should) measure Customer Loyalty, which requires strategy, with a Customer Loyalty score that ultimately comes down to how buyers answer the questions: "Will you do business with me again?" and "Would you recommend a friend or family member do business with me?"

The higher the CL score, the higher profitability will correlate. How do you raise your score? With careful attention to every point of contact you have with prospects and customers (Seth Godin might call them your "Tribe"). The Marketing Hourglass is a great model for identifying nurturing points of contact with high-payoff in terms of Customer Loyalty and, therefore, increased repeat sales, new sales and profitability.

By the way, these are exactly the areas toward which I recommend you (and all who read this) dig deeper with your sales and marketing strategy: nurture marketing to increase your customer base and a Customer Loyalty strategy to raise your (referral) score.

Good hunting!

Mark Sturgell, CBC