Business Growth Picture by Medjai at Wikimedia Commons
It is financially wise to establish healthy relationships with your current customers for several reasons. The cost of gaining a second, third, fourth, etc. purchase from a current customer is less expensive than what it cost to gain a new customer. In fact, it can cost five times as much to gain a new customer as it cost to maintain the customers you already have.
Excellent Sources of Word-of-Mouth Advertising
Your current customers are familiar with you, your products and your services. They are excellent sources of word-of-mouth advertising. Current customers may have your products in their home. For example, if your business is fashion, your suits and dresses are hanging in their closets. They also wear the outfits you sell to worship services, family get-togethers, concerts and other arts and entertainment events.
That allows their family and friends who visit them to see and admire your products and begin to ask questions such as: where they bought the outfit, what the company service was like, and how much the outfit cost. Note: friends trust friends when they recommend new products. It’s not so much the trust in the product as it is the relationship between the friends that gains business owners increased sales.
Steps to Create Customer Loyalty
So how can you create customer loyalty? Below are several steps you can take that will bring you successful results:
- Deliver More Than You Promise (exceed customer expectations). For example Chistell Publishing (www.chistell.com) autographs books sold to customers directly through their website. They also keep in touch with their book readers by mailing them greeting cards and gifts throughout the year.
- Maintain regular contact with your customers. Offer your customers the opportunity to sign up for a monthly newsletter you produce (if you don’t already have a newsletter, you can refer to sites such as (Bravenet; Hewlett Packard/hp.com; Microsoft, etc. You can also shop at your local computer (i.e. Comp USA, Best Buy) or office superstore (i.e. Staples, Office Max, Office Depot) and purchase software with newsletter templates.
- Survey and Monitor Customer Satisfaction. If you have a website, create a pop-up window that activates as your customers exit your site. In the survey ask your customers targeted questions that allow you to measure their satisfaction with your products, service, prices, payment methods, etc. For those not on the World Wide Web, drop a printed survey on a brief card the size of a postcard inside each sales bag. To encourage customers to respond to the survey, at the bottom of the card offer a random prize (i.e. a free meal if you own a restaurant, 20% off a visit to your day spa) that will be given out by a certain deadline. Example – offer 1 prize by the last day of summer.
- Find Out What They Want. While serving your customers, ask them if they could see one major change at your place of business what they would like that change to be. Follow-thru and take steps toward making that change. Your customers will know that you value their wishes.
- Answer The Call. Answer the telephone within 1-3 rings. If your answering service picks up, offer customers 1-2 additional ways to get in touch with you immediately (i.e. email, FAQs at your website, your mailing address, a number to call in the event of an emergency).
- Know Your Products. Whether you or employees you hire have face-to-face contact with customers, insure that whoever is facing the customer has a thorough knowledge of your products. Your knowledge of your products is an excellent way to build customer confidence.
- Always Be Courteous. This one may not always be easy, especially when dealing with a dissatisfied customer. Howbeit, it’s one of the most rewarding steps a business owner can take to create customer loyalty. Fully listen to your customers whether they are expressing satisfaction or dissatisfaction with your product or service. Take steps to increase their satisfaction and decrease their dissatisfaction. Note: A previously dissatisfied customer who is treated with respect can go on to become one of your most avid supporters.
Follow these steps to create customer loyalty and you will notice the same customers purchasing your products without you having to spend advertising dollars to catch their eye. These same customers will also tell others about your products and services. They will become a part of your team that networks you to success.
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