“I find it hard to find new customers, but even harder keeping the ones I’ve got.”
Sound familiar? Unfortunately this feeling of helplessness is dominating our small and medium businesses. The good old days of not having to consider attracting new customers are long gone.
Apart from the obvious recession, the conglomerates have also done their very best to accelerate the customers need to shop around more than ever. A persistent and overbearing pressure hovers over us like a bad smell, forcing us to change our opinions of the products and services we use everyday.
Instead of reinforcing our feelings of loyalty, we decide to see if your competitor can satisfy the requirements any better.
To combat the invasion of others on your potential and existing customers you must provide them with all the assurances they need to place their business with you, each and every time.
Small or medium businesses must now make sure they are giving a consistent message right through their customer processes.
This action starts with the information you use to inform your customers of how you can help them. They are not really interested in who you are or what you do, but they do want to know how you can improve their life. This message must then be remembered throughout their experience with you and even more so after you have provided your product or service.
Customer satisfaction is the key to retention. It sounds obvious, but you know as well as I do that we see examples of diabolical customer service everytime we go shopping, have a meal, or telephone a call centre.
The good news is that all the big companies seem to be failing in their duties to provide positive reasons for loyalty, which gives all the smaller, smarter businesses hope.
Long live the underdog.
