You probably spend a great deal of your time looking for new
customers or clients. However, are you sure your doing
enough to hold onto the ones you’ve got.
One of the least costly ways to grow your business is to get
customers to come back and buy more of your product or
service. How many customers have you lost this month? I’m
sure it’s not something you want to think about too much,
however it’s inevitable that you’ll lose customers and
clients for a whole range of reasons many of which are out
with your control.
A survey I read some years ago suggested that customers
leave a business for four basic reasons: 14% leave because
they’re dissatisfied with the quality of the product or
service, 9% leave because of price, 5% leave for other
reasons and a whacking great 72% leave because of “supplier
indifference”.
Too many suppliers give customers the impression that they
don’t care about repeat business. I’ve stayed in hotels,
dealt with banks and building societies and dealt with
suppliers who didn’t seem to care whether I came back or
not.
We need to continually let our customers know that we care
about them. We need to keep in touch, write to them, send
them information and occasionally ‘phone them.
When they contact us we need to make sure we sound warm and
friendly, pleased to hear from them, efficient and maybe
even look and sound like we’re fun to do business with.
It’s not a lot different from our personal relationships. If
we don’t keep telling the people close to us how much we
care and keep writing and ‘phoning, then we shouldn’t be too
surprised if they leave us one day.
Use logic and emotion to keep your customers. Give them the
best products and service and give great value for money.
However, always remember, your competitors will be doing
much the same thing. The difference will be determined by
how you communicate with your customers on an emotional
level, either face to face, on the ‘phone, by letter or
email.
I bought a new car from a local dealer a few years ago. I’ve
never heard from them since. A dealer for the same brand of
car fifty miles away writes regularly with details of
special offers. They send a regular news letter and the
occasional very courteous ‘phone call. I’m going to change
my car soon, guess who’ll be getting the sale?
Business is like a car – it won’t run by itself except downhill.
Discover how you can generate more business without having
to cold call!
Alan Fairweather is the author of “How to get More Sales
without Selling” This book is packed with practical things
that you can do to get customers to come to you.
Click here now
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