The simplest and most cost-effective way to grow your business is to retain your customers by keeping them happy. Unfortunately, we often take customers for granted and overlook this strategy.
Did you know it’s six times easier and cheaper to sell to existing customers than new ones?
What are you doing to delight your customers?
Happier customers come back more, spend more money and, most importantly, talk to others – referrals!
And yet, so many businesses seem focused on getting more customers. Sure, customers are coming in the door, but they might be exiting just as fast, putting a real handbrake on growth.
Do you know what your customers want? What is your strategy for communicating with customers? Ask yourself these questions and answer honestly.
There are three aspects to every customer experience – product, service, and relationship.
You could employ any number of customer retention strategies to improve the areas you need to. What you focus on will depend on your business type.
1. Do you need to improve your product or service?
- Survey customers to find out what they want
- Acknowledge and address quality concerns
- Put quality control systems in place and train your team
- Under promise and over deliver (UPOD)
2. Do you need to improve your service?
- Are you delivering on time?
- Is it easy for customers to buy from you?
- How does your team treat customers?
- What’s your after sales service like?
- Are you following up and making sure your customer had a great experience?
3. Do you need to improve your relationship with customers?
- Does your business have a great personality? How would you describe it?
- Is your digital presence easy and fun to engage with?
- How do you reward customer loyalty?
- What are you doing to surprise and delight your customers? Be different. We live in a world of sameness!
Looking at your customer experience from these three perspectives helps create a solid customer retention plan.
Do you know who your top customers are?
Do you know who your top referrals are?
Need ideas on how to delight your customers?
Here are 10 ideas to improve customer retention:
- Provide a welcome gift.
- Develop a loyalty programme.
- Run special events for customers.
- Keep in contact via social media.
- Run in-store promotions.
- Improve hospitality to customers while they’re waiting.
- Reward them for referring new customers.
- Follow them up if you haven’t seen them for a while.
- Ask for feedback on how service can be improved.
- Ask us for 10 more ideas specific to your business!
If you need help setting customer retention goals and measuring their impact on the bottom line, get in contact. We can help you wrap that into your one page Business Plan.
“You are out of business if you don’t have a prospect!” - Zig Ziglar
#7WaysToGrow #GrowYourBusiness
