Customer Retention Essay

The easiest focus to set up your clients is not to lose them The amount business loses around 20 percent of its nodes annually simply by failing to attend to customer relationships. In some industries this leakage is as high as 80 percent. The cost, in either case, is staggering, save few businesses truly understand the implications. Imagine two businesses, ane that retains 90 percent of its customers, the other retaining 80 percent. If both add new customers at the rate of 20 percent per year, the first go out withdraw a 10 percent net growth in customers per year, small-arm the other will wear none.Over seven years, the first firm will virtually double, while the second will induce no real growth. Everything else being equal, that 10-percent advantage in customer retention will result in a doubling of customers all(prenominal) seven years without doing anything else. The consequences of customer retention also compound everywhere time, and in sometimes unexpected wa ys. Even a tiny change in customer retention can cascade through a business system and multiply all over time. The resulting effect on long-term profit and growth shouldnt be underestimated.Marketing Wizdom can introduce you to a modus operandi of simple customer retention strstegies that will cost you little or nothing to implement. Behind all(prenominal) technique listed here there is an in-depth step-by-step process that will increase your customer retention importantly once implemented, and will have a massive impact on your business. 1. Reducing Attrition well-nigh every business loses some customers, but few ever measure or recognise how umteen of their customers become inactive. Most businesses, ironically, invest an enormous amount of time, effort and expense building that initial customer relationship.Then they let that relationship go unattended, in some cases even losing interest as presently as the sale been made, or even worse, they abandon the customer as soon as an slow remedied problem occurs, only to have to spend another small fortune to replace that customer. The easiest way to grow your business is not to lose your customers. one time you stop the leakage, its often possible to double or triple your growth rate because youre no longer forced to make up deep in thought(p) ground just to stand dumb. 2. Sell and then sell againSo many state do an excellent job of making the initial sale, then drop the ball and get complacent, ignoring the customer, while they chase much business. Your selling has actually only just begun when someone makes that initial purchase conclusiveness because virtually everyone is susceptible to buyers remorse. To lock in that sale, and all of the referrals and repeat business that will flow from it, you need to strike while the iron is hot to allay your customers fears and demonstrate by your actions that you authentically care.You should thank them and remind them again why theyve made the right decisio n to deal with you and put a system in place to sell to them again, and again, forever proving that they made the right decision. 3. Bring back the garbled sheep Theres little point in dedicating massive resources to generating new customers when 25-60% of your dormant customers will be receptive to your attempts to regenerate their business if you approach them the right way, with the right offer.Reactivating customers who already know you and your product is one of the easiest, quickest ways to increase your revenues. Re-contacting and reminding them of your existence, finding out why theyre no longer buying, overcoming their objections and demonstrating that you still value and respect them will usually result in a tremendous bounty of gross revenue and drastically increased revenues in a matter of days and will lead to some of your beat and most loyal customers. 4. Frequent Communications CalendarAvoid losing your customers by building relationships and keeping in touch usi ng a rolling calendar of communications. This is a programmed sequence of letters, events, phone calls, thank yous, special offers, follow-ups, magic moments, and cards or notes with a personal touch etc. that occur constantly and automatically at defined points in the pre-sales, sales and post-sales process. People not only respond to this positively, they very appreciate it because they scent valued and important.It acknowledges them, keeps them informed, offsets post-purchase doubts, reinforces the reason theyre doing business with you and makes them feel part of your business so that they want to come back again and again. 5. bizarre Customer Service The never-ending pursuit of rectitude to keep customers so satisfied that they tell others how well they were treated when doing business with you. Moving the product or dish you deliver into the realm of the extraordinary by delivering higher than expected levels of service to each and every customer.Key facets include dedicat ion to customer gaiety by every employee providing immediate response no buck passing going above and beyond the call of duty consistent on-time delivery delivering what you presage before AND after the sale a zero-defects and error-free-delivery process and recruiting outstanding people to deliver your customer service. Extraordinary service builds fortunes in repeat customers, whereas poor service will drive your customers to your competition. 6. Courtesy systemA powerful system that improves the interpersonal skills of your team and changes the spirit of your organisation. It involves speaking to colleagues politely and agreeablely, without sarcasm or parody, and treating them at least as well as you would want them to treat your customers. This will help your team to feel worthwhile and important, which makes for pleasant social contacts at work. It also motivates them to provide extraordinary service, encourages them to be consistently pleasant in all of their dealings and t o relate to customers in a warm, human and natural manner.This results in better, warmer, stronger, more trusting relationships and longer term bonds with your customers. 7. Product or service integrity Long-term success and customer retention belongs to those who do not take ethical shortcuts. There must always be center consistency between what you say and do and what your customers experience. The design, build quality, reliability and serviceability of your product or service must be of the standard your customers want, need and expect.Service integrity is also demonstrated by the way you handle the small things, as well as the large. Customers will be attracted to you if you are open and sound with them, care for them, take a genuine interest in them, dont let them slew and practice what you preach and they will avoid you if you dont. 8. Measure lifetime value Theres a vast difference between the one-off profit you might make on an average sale, which ignores the big pictu re, and the total aggregate profit your average customer represents over the lifetime of their business relationship with you.Once you recognise how much combined profit a customer represents to your business when they purchase from you again and again, over the months, years or decades, youll realise the critical importance of taking good care of your customers. And because youll understand just how much time, effort and expense you can afford to invest in retaining that customer, youll be in controller of your marketing expenditure. 9. A complaint is a gift 96 percent of dissatisfied customers dont complain. They just walk away, and youll never know why.Thats because they often dont know how to complain, or cant be bothered, or are too frightened, or dont believe itll make any difference. Whilst they may not tell you whats wrong, they will certainly tell surge of others. A system for unearthing complaints can therefore be the lifeblood of your business, because customers who com plain are giving you a gift, theyre still talking to you, theyre giving you another opportunity to return them to a state of satisfaction and delight them and the manner in which you respond gives you another chance to show what youre made of and pee even greater customer loyalty.