Now, customer attrition is normal in all businesses. No business can expect to keep 100% of its customers forever no matter how much they want to. Often, factors beyond your control like death or change of location lead to loss of customers. These have nothing to do with the quality of the product or service you provide.
However, a major factor why you lose customers is because you treated these customers with indifference. You didn't perform the simple acts that show you appreciate, respect or value them. They felt taken for granted and as a result, took their business elsewhere.
Even though you should always be on the lookout for new business, customers and clients, retaining existing repeat ones is far more profitable than chasing down new ones regardless of the business you do. It's a shame if you lose these very valuable existing customers by not valuing their patronage.
Fortunately, as a business owner, you can avoid this through simple acts. By making the customer feel appreciated through praise, excellent service, free gifts and pleasurable experiences, you significantly increase your customer retention rate.
Below are 6 simple ways to give your customers pleasant experiences and ensure their satisfaction:-
1) Treat your customers royally: By consistently putting your customers' needs at the forefront of everything you do, you will ensure pleasant experiences for them and expedite your business success.
Every decision in your business should be made with the customer in mind. That doesn’t mean that all of the decisions you make should be based on what the customer wants and nothing else, but the decision-making process should always start with the customer.
Customer complaints, questions and enquiries should be responded to speedily and efficiently. Occasionally, you can and should also add value to your products or services without raising cost wherever possible. These are crucial parts of ensuring customer pleasant experiences.
2) Give away free stuff: One of the oldest and powerful ways to make customers happy is to give them something for nothing. This is even more effective if what you freely give brings added value to their lives or businesses.
By offering free but valuable products or services to your customers, you deepen your connections with your customers, increase your credibility and reinforce the value of your paid offers.
It is also important to remember to personalise your free offerings. All customers aren't the same and their desires vary too. By seeking and tailoring your free gifts to their specific tastes, you intensify the effect of this approach.
3) Invite and appreciate their feedback: Customers are the lifeblood of any business. By inviting and listening to whatever input these customers give you, you will be better placed to ensure their needs are adequately met.
With technological advancements of today, it’s easier than ever to communicate with your customers, for example through social media or customer surveys, even as it’s vitally important to actively listen to them.
Engaging customers in this manner shows them that you value them enough to seek their input to assist you figure out how you can better serve them. This ultimately leads to higher customer satisfaction and positive experiences.
4) Recognition: Greeting your customer by name is a very meaningful and treasured detail that greatly improves the experience of doing business with you.
There are few things more flattering, more pleasant, and more effective at making your customer feel special than receiving a warm, friendly greeting by name when walking into your place of business.
5) Constant appreciation: How do you show your customers, your clients or your patients that you appreciate them? Considering they chose to do business with you when there are probably several other businesses that do what you do. Do you show the customers who choose to patronize you that you value and appreciate their business? Feeling appreciated is an experience that is generally pleasant.
This could be a periodic handwritten note that you send to your customers. You could also take note of their special dates like birthdays and anniversaries and send them warm messages on those dates.
In whatever you do, always be sure to let them know that you are extending this extra to them because they are a valued customer and you want to show them that you appreciate them.
6) Charm and consideration: Simple acts of charm and consideration also enhance pleasant experiences. These include regularly walking customers to the door and opening it for them as they're leaving, having your employees help customers carry their purchases to their car, especially the old or anyone who appears frail or a bit unsteady on their feet. If you have a waiting room, using cushions instead of chairs help make customer wait times pleasant and stress free.
Lots of businesses overlook these simple acts but they contribute to a pleasant experience for the customers and can mean the difference between continued patronage and not.
The ultimate trick is to understand that these acts when combined and used together consistently generate magnified impacts.
Customers are always perceiving. By offering meaningful, memorable, fun, and unusual experiences, you positively influence the impressions these customers come away with and how they view your business.
It’s easy to disregard or underestimate the importance of these details. But the shrewd businessman understands and appreciates the intrinsic values of incorporating strategies that ensure customers are always impressed after dealing with him.
This smart businessman is acutely aware that in a vastly competitive market place, it's these little details that keep a customer coming back over and over, it's the little details that cause a customer to rationalize paying more because he/she feels he/she is getting more, it's the little details that keep customers talking about him and recommending him to their social circles.
Treating your customers right, being attentive to their needs and desires and recognising them personally cost nothing. Neither does regular appreciation, and being charming. Yet the advantages these simple acts can afford your business often outweigh and outlast the most expensive marketing campaigns.
Ensure your customers always have pleasant experiences. Your bottom line will be all the better for it!
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