The following article is a guest post by Daniela Baker who is a business blogger at CreditDonkey, where entrepreneurs can compare business credit cards to find the right one for their business.
Although all business owners want to ensure 100% customer satisfaction, this is not a guarantee of continuing loyalty. According to Michael LeBoeuf, Ph.D., author of How to Win Customers and Keep Them for Life, 68 percent of customers are lost due to indifference by business owners. Your work is not over once you have signed on a new customer; in fact, it is just beginning as you need to take consistent action to exceed customer expectations to ensure they remain with your firm. While the costs to retain customers can be high, it can cost your company at least six times as much to attract new customers.
Customer Retention Strategies
What strategies can you employ to enhance customer retention? As a start you will need to translate customer satisfaction into continuing loyalty. Loyal customers can be your most effective marketing tool as they spread the good word about your company to everyone within their circle of influence.
A commitment to client retention is a philosophy that must be embraced by all of your employees, not only some of the people some of the time. Consistency is critical in building long-lasting relationships. With this in mind, the following is a list of ten strategies that can help you build a customer-centric business.
7 Actions Businesses Should Take to Improve Customer Retention
- Strategy 1: Appreciate your current customers. Show your appreciation of their business by thanking them in writing. Take the time to compose a handwritten note. Purchase a stack of Thank you for your business cards and personalize each one, depending on nature of the transaction. This is not a one-time activity but should be scheduled on a fairly routine basis for all of your loyal customers, perhaps once each quarter.
- Strategy 2: Touch base with past customers. Make phone calls; mail handwritten thank you notes; send copies of the latest edition of your newsletter. Telephone calls or personalized notes can include such a statement as “We have enjoyed working with you and look forward to the opportunity of serving you again.” These periodic reminders let customers know you are thinking of them and value their business.
- Strategy 3: Go the extra mile. Following the philosophy of motivational author Napoleon Hill, those business owners who go the extra mile to ensure customer satisfaction meet with the most long-term success.
- Strategy 4: Use Proactive Listening Skills. There is a difference between hearing and listening. Hearing is passive while listening requires that you ask questions to clarify information and mirror (paraphrase) what your customer has said to ensure that both of you are on the same page. In the end, you can’t meet customer needs unless you understand what they are!
- Strategy 5: Be realistic in terms of what you can accomplish. When meeting with customers gain clarification regarding the parameters of the service you will provide. In this way you can submit an accurate estimate of delivery. There is almost nothing more detrimental to establishing good customer relationships than missing deadlines. It is far better to under promise and over deliver than to do the opposite. For example if you are a Web designer and think you can complete the project in seven business days, estimate 10 and deliver early!
- Strategy 6: Share relevant information. Send clients information that is relevant, not only to your business, but to their interests as well. Keep a file on each customer in which you record their hobbies, profession so when you come across pertinent information you can send it along.
- Strategy 7: Explain what you do. Customers purchase the benefits that a product or service offers rather than the item per se. Knowing this, successful business owners are educators and employ a consultative sales approach in promoting the value of their products or services.
Customers are perhaps the most important asset a company may have. In light of this, make a conscious and consistent effort to court them at first, and then provide stellar service and a customer-centric orientation to ensure their on-going loyalty.
