How Are You Creating Loyalty Among Your Customers?
Austin, Texas: The legendary economist Peter Drucker once observed that “the purpose of a business is to create a customer.”
Notice that he didn’t say the word “sale” or “order”or “transaction” .
Creating a customer.
What are you doing to create loyal, long term customers?
Are you running a loyalty program to encourage repeat business.
Do you send or give Holiday gifts? I still send out Holiday gifts to my best clients and it stands out, as fewer and fewer businesses are using them.
Are you providing solutions to them? Not just products…but solutions. My friend Joe has been the leading fertilizer salesman for 12 of the past 13 years for his company. His philosophy is, “They pay for the product and they get Joe for FREE”. What are you doing to value-add your services?
How often to you reach out to your customers? Not “just checking to see if it is time for a reorder” followup, but do you reach out to your customers with news clippings of interest, with thank you notes, with a monthly email of tips, etc. – or is every contact product-based?
Are you getting unsolicited referrals? If not, you might not be doing as good a job as you think you are. Your customers should be referring you without you asking or cajoling them.
Have you ever given something away for free? I know of a c-store that would give a free lollipop to kids — just to be nice. One of our local banks used to give out dog biscuits to cars at the teller window if they had a dog in the car. A client of mine drops in thin gifts to put into the statements they mail out each month. Talk about being remembered for doing the little things!
Think long-term customers.
That is not to say that there are not going to be opportunities in these tough economic times that you cannot go after short-term sales for a little cash infusion.
Just remember the big picture.
Strive for loyal long-term customers. Not every customer will develop int one. Know your target audience so you spend more times cultivating those relationships which can yield the optimum results.
Create more win-win situations and your loyal long-term customer base will surely grow.
What are you going to do to increase customer loyalty?
