Did you know that it costs between 4 and 10 times more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep an existing one? Well, unfortunately most small business owners don’t seem to have this reality in mind.
We take repeat customers for granted and we hardly pay much attention to their needs. Instead, we prefer to attract new customers or looking for new business elsewhere.
In our own research on building loyalty and trust with customers, we have found that it is more profitable for small business owners to keep loyal customers rather than to scramble to find new ones every day.
Our research has further shown us that customers who come more than once often come back with their friends and will even be willing to pay more rather than to buy the same good from a cheaper source!
So, how do you go about building a long-lasting relationship with your customers? And is there something you’re doing wrong right now that’s making you lose your loyal customers? Here are some quick points to infuse compassion into your customer service.
(1)Don’t take anyone who walks into your business for granted
Treat anyone who walks into your business or sends an email as a potential customer. Don’t discriminate on the basis of body size, type of car or quality of clothes the person is wearing. Even if the person is simply walking it to make an inquiry, take it upon yourself to attend to his needs as if he was buying from you.
One mistake we make in running our small businesses is that we focus too much on selling products and making money. However, the best thing to do is to sell a “great experience” to every person who walks in and out of your business premises. Try this tip and you’ll see a remarkable improvement in your sales revenue.
(2)Your front office attendant could be chasing them away
Sometimes, entrepreneurs hire front-office staff to help in managing customers. If you have done this, then you need to make sure that your receptionist gives a positive outlook to your customers.
If you hire an overly aggressive, snarky and bully folk, then chances are that you’ll lose your old customers even without knowing it. Look for a receptionist who is warm, friendly and reassuring so that your customers have a delightful experience with each visit.
This tips is mainly targeted to consultancy firms (e.g. law firms) and organizations that use the front office to back office layout.
(3)Remember customers by their names
It feels good when you call an important person or company and you hear them calling them by your name. In fact, some of the best performing small and medium sized companies always keep a long list of names in their database so that they can address repeat customers using their real names.
This may seem like a “useless” undertaking but in real sense it does pay.
So, from today onwards, work hard to remember names of your customers. If possible, once in a while, send them gifts that are engraved with their names. If you do this, they’ll keep coming back for more and you know what? They’ll bring their friends along.
4.Ask and the listen
When a customer comes to you with an inquiry (no matter what the inquiry is about) always follow this process.
Step 1: How can we be of help?
Step 2: Listen, listen, listen.
The more you listen, the more you can help the client make the right decision. Again, this may seem like a trivial thing to do but in reality if you don’t do it you can lose most of your good customers. So once again the rule is – ASK AND THEN LISTEN.
5.Remember to say thank you
No one really likes to survive in a one-way relationship, the kind where you give yet you never receive anything in return. The same is true for business.
Customers want to feel like there is a two-way relationship with your business. The easiest way to make a customer feel valued is to continually thank them for their loyalty. So always say thank you to your customers and invite them to return – you’ll never be disappointed.
Final Word
68% of businesses lose customers because they feel the company does not care about them. The question is are you losing business because you don’t know how to treat your customers right?
If you’ve just answered yes to this question then we hope that the 5 tips provided above will help you change for the better.
