Did you know that it takes up to six times more to acquire a new customer than to keep an existing one? Study after study upholds this statistic.
Keeping your customers happy should be the number one priority in your business, no matter what kind of business you run.
Take the time to find out how to build lasting relationships with customers, and how to adapt to them and the changing environment to keep them happy over the long run.
Prioritize Customer Service
Customers still respond to excellent customer service in an instinctual way. Humans like to be treated well.
Make sure that your employees who interact with customers first observe the basic standards of etiquette. Greet customers when they come in the door. Treat everyone will respect.
Look customers in the eye when conversing with them. Listen while the customer is speaking. Don’t interrupt the customer. Smile. Be friendly and professional.
Aren’t these all things that every customer would like, no matter what business they are shopping at? Yet, many business employees fail to deliver on many of these points.
Employ a Secret Shopper Service
If you suspect that your employees aren’t delivering on every single one of the standard points of etiquette outlined above, you might want to employ a secret shopper service.
A secret shopper service sends in undercover people to visit your store or restaurant. They pretend to be regular customers, but all the while they are taking note of how they are treated at your business.
When they leave, they submit their notes to the secret shopper service, which complies the data, and prepares a report for your review. You can then analyze the findings and make employment decisions based on your review.
The beauty of secret shopping service is that you can ask the secret shopper to look for anything in particular you’re interested in. You can even have them focus on a single employee if you’re worried that one person is causing your customers to leave.
As the following article looks at, every employee needs to understand why a one-time client is something more – that they are an opportunity to have a lifetime customer.
Use Surveys
Customers relish opportunities to share their opinions of your business. Provide the chance for them to do so with surveys.
Surveys can provide insight into what your customers like most about your business, as well as what they don’t like.
You can put any question or group of questions in a survey, and you have a wide range of options as to how you get your customers to participate. The most traditional survey is the customer comment table card, which restaurants began using years ago.
If you own a restaurant, these inexpensive index cards are still a viable option.
Social media surveys are another choice.
You can post a message with two options and ask your customers to weigh in on their favorite products/labels/uses for the items.
Whatever business or industry you’re in, making lifetime customers out of every single customer will improve your overall odds of success.
About the Author: Kate Supino writes extensively about marketing and best business practices.
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