How many times have you
- eaten in a restaurant
- bought new clothes
- stayed in a hotel
- bought a magazine
- gone 10 pin bowling
- bought a gift for a friend
- gone to the movies
- bought take-away food…
…and felt like a valued customer?
Not just in the moment (it’s fairly easy for a business to deliver that, although often quite rare) but in a long term relationship with that business.
As a customer how do you like to be treated? I’m always delighted when someone recognises me as a customer or prospective customer. I’m even more delighted when they call me by name and remember something about me.
Sure every business owner pays lip service to providing “excellent customer service” but if you don’t know your customer’s name when they shop with you again or never get in touch with them to add value or offer something else, then you’ve made the fatal mistake of saying “thank you and goodbye” instead of “thank you and hello”
What does this mean for your business?
You might be spending way too much money on trying to get new customers instead of serving the customers you already have. Thinking about how you could get even better at customer service and keeping your customers will significantly boost your profit.
If you have an invoice book or some kind of sales system to record customer details then you might be sitting on a gold mine and not even realising it.
If you keep a record of your customer’s name and phone number or email address then you have the start of some very effective low cost marketing.
How many times have you put your business card in a bowl at a restaurant to win a free dinner – and NEVER heard from them again? If you collect business cards from your customers and prospects you have an amazing resource for specific effective targeted marketing
If you offer a product or service that requires you to collect their home or business address then you have everything you need to send targeted direct mail marketing; the kind they’ll like receiving because it’s tailor made for them
Now, before you get hung up on privacy and spam issues –
OF COURSE you will let your customer know that you’ll be in touch with them again, get their permission to send them only things of value like reminders, special offers, invitations, VIP programs and helpful information about the product or service they bought and more.
Enjoy! You are creating customers for life 🙂
