As we all know, customer retention is paramount in business and if you are losing them out the back door as fast as they are coming in the front, your business won’t succeed. You should be striving for not only satisfied customers…but loyal customers! Ones who will return year on year, recommend you to their friends and endorse you online! Here’s a few tips on how to turn those satisfied customers into loyal customers….
Have you heard of the 3 P’s?
Make sure you know your P’s and they are right for your organisation – we must always start with the basics!
· People – know who your customers are
· Product – your employees should know your product/service/business inside out, upside down and back to front, meaning that any questions the customer may potentially have will be dealt with competently
· Price – don’t out price yourself in the market, there is nothing worse than being too expensive! Yet again, underselling yourself can be equally as dangerous. Do your research of other companies in your sector and check out what they are offering!
Deliver the Best
It may sound like stating the obvious but conclusive research has shown that time and time again almost 70% of customers leave because of poor customer service! 91% of unhappy customers will never do business with you again and each one of your customers has a circle of influence of around 250 people or potential customers who hear bad things about you – this is what you need to focus on. More and more business is coming from word of mouth and you want to make sure that word is good!
Identify and Reward Loyal Customers
Treat them like part of the family – send birthday and Christmas cards! Make them feel valued and they will repay you with loyalty. Remember to hand-write or personally sign it if possible, it shows you care and your customers will remember this nice touch. This can even extend to giving individuals personalised discounts because of their longevity and dedicated loyalty to you! Buy one get one free? 10/20/30% off? Make these deals exclusive to them!
This leads me to my next point, executing a relationship marketing strategy – this may sound complicated but it’s not! Why not start a monthly email marketing campaign? Touch base with your customers monthly by informing them of any recent news, offers and ideas etc. to keep them up to date and interested. If you have some spare time, start a blog on behalf of the organisation! Blogging is a fabulous way to keep in touch with your customers. Your clients will be online so start building relationships – let’s face it most of us are glued to our computer screens! With the rapid rise of social media, connecting with your clients online is crucial, try to focus on Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.
Go that Extra Mile
Often companies overlook how important going the extra mile for your customers is. It’s an easy, sure fire way to build strong, long-lasting relationships. If you are a service business, you’ll have countless opportunities to woo your clients and building some serious long-term loyalty. Even when competitors come knocking at their door, they will stick with you because you go above and beyond their needs – why would they want to look anywhere else if they have already found a top quality service?
It’s often the case with many long-established organisations that they aren’t in touch with their existing and new customer’s needs. Do you know what your customers, employees, clients or candidates really think about what you do? Can you really afford not to ask them? By using a KeyPoint software survey you can capture the views and opinions that could change your entire customer approach.
KeyPoint software is the easiest way to conduct a survey, it is designed for all sectors, is completely flexible and will allow you to gather rich data from your clients/customers. Once you have the results of this survey it is important to collate the findings and then discuss the improvements you need to make to take your customer service to the next level. For example, if one of your questions is along the lines of; “Are you satisfied with the level of friendliness and helpfulness of our staff?” If the answer is no, perhaps you could brainstorm ideas on how you could retrain your staff in order to make customer service a priority, thus pleasing new and existing clients. There is always room for improvement!
