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The statistics are simple and quite sobering. It costs an average of five to six times more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one satisfied. This should be common knowledge for many in business but sadly it’s not the case.
What’s the #1 mistake most company’s make year after year? Not staying in touch with their customers as much as they could or should. The few businesses that truly understand the value of continual contact or what I term “romancing the customer” continue to grow and prosper regardless of what the economy or competition is doing.
If you went on a first date with someone and you really connected would you wait six months to a year to call or contact them again? Absolutely not! Why then do the vast majority of businesses in today’s market place behave this way? There’s no simple solution to this huge problem but I’d like to offer you some valuable marketing arrows to delight your customers with throughout the year.
Here are seven quick ways to keep your customers coming back again and again in 2005:
#1: Be fun to do business with. The landscape is littered with dull, mundane businesses that have no personality or fun. If you want to easily stand out from the crowd of competitors, make it fun to do business with you. Some examples: Have contests, parties, or special sales events.
#2: Communicate with special mailings, offers and announcements. Use mail, postcards, email and faxes to stay in regular contact with your customers. Yes, your customers do want to hear from you more. They already trust you and are likely to spend additional dollars if you give them compelling reasons why they should do so.
#3: Send hand written thank you notes. This is a biggie. Common sense and good manners are in short supply these days and this ties into good old fashioned thank you notes. It’s a simple, yet often overlooked, way to show that you really care about your customers. If you’re too busy to not acknowledge and use this strategy you’re missing out on a wonderful way to bond and “romance” with valued customers and prospects.
#4: Offer a strong guarantee. People are desperately looking for and are willing to pay a premium for quality goods and services. Time is precious and this is where a strong guarantee can help. Focus on common industry complaints as a starting point to craft a powerful, results driven guarantee that builds trust and goodwill.
#5: Have a professional answer your main telephone line. This one really gets me. Far too many businesses have someone who’s either rude, incompetent or poorly trained handling incoming phone calls. What’s the sense in running ads to generate responses only to lose the person because they couldn’t get an intelligent answer to their question or speak with someone who knew how to help them. Treat incoming calls like gold.
#6: Create and use continuity programs in your business. Simply put: Hook your customers into spending more money with you by using some sort of additional bonus or discount program based on number of visits, dollars spent, or purchases. For example, buy nine shirts, and get the tenth one free. Or, spend $100 and receive 10% off, spend $200 and get 15% off, etc.
#7: Educate them. Send them free reports, books, videos, useful eletter or newsletter information and workshops that demonstrate to them again the value of doing business with you. People love to learn new ideas, strategies and knowledge that will improve their lives and the people around them.
Make this the year of romance within your business. These seven strategies will result in passionate customers, increased loyalty and growth to the bottom line!
