FUNCTIONS OF CUSTOMER RETENTION
1. Reducing Attrition
Virtually
every business loses some customers, but few ever measure or recognise how many
of their customers become inactive. Most businesses, ironically, invest an
enormous amount of time, effort and expense building that initial customer relationship.
Then they let that relationship go unattended, in some cases even losing
interest as soon as the sale been made, or even worse, they abandon the
customer as soon as an easily remedied problem occurs, only to have to spend
another small fortune to replace that customer. The easiest way to grow your
business is not to lose your customers. Once you stop the leakage, it‘s often
possible to double or triple your growth rate because you‘re no longer forced
to make up lost ground just to stand still.
1.. Sell and then sell again
So many
people do an excellent job of making the initial sale, then drop the ball and
get complacent, ignoring the customer, while they chase more business. Your
selling has actually only just begun when someone makes that initial purchase
decision because virtually everyone is susceptible to buyer‘s remorse. To lock
in that sale, and all of the referrals and repeat business that will flow from
it, you need to strike while the iron is hot to allay your customers‘ fears and
demonstrate by your actions that you really care. You should thank them and
remind them again why they‘ve made the right decision to deal with you … and
put a system in place to sell to them again, and again, constantly proving that
they made the right decision.
2.. Bring back the “lost sheep”
There‘s
little point in dedicating massive resources to generating new customers when
25-60% of your dormant customers will be receptive to your attempts to
regenerate their business if you approach them the right way, with the right
offer. Reactivating customers who already know you and your product is one of
the easiest, quickest ways to increase your revenues. Re-contacting and
reminding them of your existence, finding out why they‘re no longer buying,
overcoming their objections and demonstrating that you still value and respect
them will usually result in a tremendous bounty of sales and drastically
increased revenues in a matter of days … and will lead to some of your best and
most loyal customers.
3.. Frequent Communications
Calendar
Avoid
losing your customers by building relationships and keeping in touch using a
rolling calendar of communications. This is a programmed sequence of letters,
events, phone calls, ―thank you‘s‖, special offers, follow-ups, magic moments,
and cards or notes with a personal touch etc. that occur constantly and
automatically at defined points in the pre-sales, sales and post-sales process.
People not only respond to this positively, they really appreciate it because
they feel valued and important. It acknowledges them, keeps them informed,
offsets post-purchase doubts, reinforces the reason they‘re doing business with
you and makes them feel part of your business so that they want to come back
again and again.
4.. Extraordinary Customer
Service
The never-ending pursuit of excellence to keep
customers so satisfied that they tell others how well they were treated when
doing business with you. Moving the product or service you deliver into the
realm of the extraordinary by delivering higher than expected levels of service
to each and every customer. Key facets include: dedication to customer
satisfaction by every employee; providing immediate response; no buck passing;
going above and beyond the call of duty; consistent on-time delivery;
delivering what you promise before AND after the sale; a zero-defects and
error-free-delivery process and recruiting outstanding people to deliver your
customer service. Extraordinary service builds fortunes in repeat customers,
whereas poor service will drive your customers to your competition.
5.. Courtesy system
A
powerful system that improves the interpersonal skills of your team and changes
the spirit of your organisation. It involves speaking to colleagues politely
and pleasantly, without sarcasm or parody, and treating them at least as well
as you would want them to treat your customers. This will help your team to
feel worthwhile and important, which makes for pleasant social contacts at
work. It also motivates them to provide extraordinary service, encourages them
to be consistently pleasant in all of their dealings and to relate to customers
in a warm, human and natural manner. This results in better, warmer, stronger,
more trusting relationships and longer term bonds with your customers.
6.. Product or service integrity
Long-term
success and customer retention belongs to those who do not take ethical
shortcuts. There must always be total consistency between what you say and do
and what your customers experience. The design, build quality, reliability and
serviceability of your product or service must be of the standard your
customers want, need and expect. Service integrity is also demonstrated by the
way you handle the small things, as well as the large. Customers will be
attracted to you if you are open and honest with them, care for them, take a
genuine interest in them, don‘t let them down and practice what you preach …
and they will avoid you if you don‘t.
6.. Measure lifetime value
There‘s a
vast difference between the one-off profit you might make on an average sale,
which ignores the bigger picture, and the total aggregate profit your average
customer represents over the lifetime of their business relationship with you.
Once you recognise how much combined profit a customer represents to your
business when they purchase from you again and again, over the months, years or
decades, you‘ll realise the critical importance of taking good care of your
customers. And because you‘ll understand just how much time, effort and expense
you can afford to invest in retaining that customer, you‘ll be in control of
your marketing expenditure.
7.. A complaint is a gift
96
percent of dissatisfied customers don‘t complain. They just walk away, and
you‘ll never know why. That‘s because they often don‘t know how to complain, or
can‘t be bothered, or are too frightened, or don‘t believe it‘ll make any
difference. Whilst they may not tell you what‘s wrong, they will certainly tell
plenty of others. A system for unearthing complaints can therefore be the
lifeblood of your business, because customers who complain are giving you a
gift, they‘re still talking to you, they‘re giving you another opportunity to
return them to a state of satisfaction and delight them and the manner in which
you respond gives you another chance to show what you‘re made of and create
even greater customer loyalty.
Other customer retention
strategies include:
·
Blogs
·
CRM Systems
·
Loyalty Programs
·
Magic Moments
·
Overcome Buyers Remorse
·
Personal Touches
·
Premiums and Gifts
·
Questionnaires and Surveys
·
Regular Reviews
·
Social Media
·
Welcome Book
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