Growth of any business isn’t always about attracting new customers. Taking care of your existing customers so they come back and tell others is how you build a more sustainable business.
Many of you know, I am crazed and sometimes even obsessed about the customer experience. Maybe it’s my Disney background or my passion to see businesses and organizations be more successful, but I can’t help it. Just ask my wife and family. I’m always pointing out the good, the bad and the ugly regarding the customer experience I see, hear and experience from businesses and organizations every day.
How about you? Do you think about the customer experience that you provide or could provide for your customers on a daily basis? More importantly, do your employees and everyone on the team in your business and company think about it as well. Do you focus on it? Do you discuss it at your daily or weekly staff meetings? Do you coach it? Do you recognize and appreciate others who do their best to provide great customer experiences?
Here is another question for you to think about. Do you know who your best customers are? The most loyal? The ones that have given you the most business, spend the most amount of money buying or using your products and services. I like to look at it as the 80/20 rule. Twenty percent of your existing customers bring in eighty percent of the revenue. It is important to know and identify who that twenty percent is in your business. Don’t take them for granted. They are the life and blood of your business.
Here are three strategies to help retain and take great care of your existing customers:
- Look at Best Practices: Think about a business or company you love and return to often, over and over again. What do they do well? How do they continue to earn your repeat business and loyalty? As you remember those reasons, share them with your team, talk about how and why they made such an impact and write them down. Ask your team if there are any similar traits or scenarios in your own business so that these positive experiences can be incorporated and implemented in your daily customer experience.
- Get Feedback From Your Existing Customers: When was the last time you actually talked to an existing customer? Not in a survey but live and in person? Did you thank them for their repeat business and ask them what they like most in doing business with you? Is it the product, service, staff, ease of doing business, or price that is the reason to be loyal? Ask them why, not if, they would recommend a family member or friend to your business. The why is more important information to help you.
- Get Feedback From Your Staff: Ask your frontline employees about the feedback, customer reactions, questions or compliments they receive on a daily basis. Dive in deeper to those answers and develop and implement action steps to be performed by everyone in your business in every department.
It’s time to fall back in love with your existing customers. They are the best customers you are ever going to get. Be passionate and loyal to them to make sure they are extremely satisfied. Stop thinking short-term and change your mindset to think more long term in the benefits of building relationships with your existing customers instead of quick short term transactions.
Instead of trying to figure out how to get new customers, more users in your business, focus on your existing customer, the people who already like you and how you can create an experience that really matters that will give them more reasons to return more often and tell others. It is certainly an easier strategy than trying to come up with a new product or marketing campaign to attract new customers.
Take an honest look at the good, bad and ugly of your customer experience and how you treat your existing customers. It will give you a renewed perspective on how you can serve your customers better. Make sure everyone in your business focuses on making retention a daily priority. I promise you. Falling in love with your existing customers is “Magical”!
Need help? Contacting John today for a FREE DISCOVERY NO OBLIGATION CALL is the right decision.
John Formica is America’s Customer Experience Coach, team culture expert, keynote speaker, and Top 10 Global Thought Leader and Influencer on Customer Loyalty. For information on customer experience evaluations and programs, leadership training, how to find and hire great people, affordable tailored training programs or to book John to speak at your next event, contact 704-965-4090 or visit our website at JohnFormica.com.