Increase Customer Loyalty: 4 Easy Ways to Build Lifelong Customer Relationships

It is an accepted fact that acquiring a new customer costs anywhere
between five to seven times more than maintaining a current customer
relationship. The expense of conducting market research, lead
generation, sale closing, trust-building and informing a
newly-acquired customer of your company's current products or services
will take months to years to recoup. Why is it, then, that it seems
the vast majority of companies focus so much of their effort on
discovering new business opportunities instead of taking the time to
maintain their current client base? If it's because they mistakenly
think spending their resources on current customer involvement will
cost too much without an immediate reward, then they need to
reevaluate their objectives.Lets look at one easy step you can take to
show your customers that their continued patronage is valued by you
and your company: attention to detail, or in business-speak, CRM. The
word "customer relationship management" conjures up ideas of lofty,
complex, expensive software products that most marketing books will
tell you that you have to have. Truth is, while the first thing you
think of may be software-related, any business is fully capable of
managing customer information on a simple piece of notebook paper. You
don't have to front a massive initial cost in order to keep track of
your customers' preferences, birthdays, frequent orders or kid's first
name; you can begin by just writing down the essential facts on paper.
This will get you in the habit of acquiring customer information and
keeping track of what they're asking for. If your paper list starts
getting too complex, just plug your data into the spreadsheet
application you probably already have on your computer. Maybe down the
road, you'll see the value in a custom software application, but the
first action to take is to start acquiring that information and
detecting trends while at the same time making your customers feel
like you really know them.For example, take your local coffee shop
that you visit every morning before work. Do they remember that you
always take two sugars in your Columbian Roast coffee, or do you have
to explain your order every day? Wouldn't you prefer to patronize a
coffee shop that remembers you? What if the same coffee shop was
"taking notes" on all its customers and realized that no one was using
the artificial sweetener in their coffee? They could cut costs by
ordering less and less sweetener to help them reduce wasted product
and lower their overhead. What if this coffee shop was able to predict
when they were almost out of your Columbian Roast whole bean take-home
coffee and alerted you to stop by their shop on your way home to pick
up one of the few remaining bags? Pretty nifty stuff, huh? These
scenarios are just a drop in the bucket in terms of the doors CRM will
open for you and your business once you get the hang of it.Another way
to show customers you care about their business is by arranging
periodic giveaways or contests. The decision between visiting your
shop and your competitors could be as simple as knowing that they have
a chance to win something by going to yours. The easiest way to get a
contest going is by collecting customers' names and tossing them in a
hat for a monthly drawing. What can you give away? Well, what business
are you in? You could offer a free coffee mug if you're a coffee shop,
a ream of specialty printing paper if you're a print shop, a free
on-site consultation if you're in the consulting industry, a free
month of service if you're a subscription-based company. You could
also implement a gift card program and give those away as the reward.
Everybody loves gift cards, and you'll garner more interest in the
contest if you're giving away something that can be used to buy
anything in your store. By implementing gift cards, you're also sure
to increase your overall sales along with offering your customers a
way to bring in new clients for you.The third thing you can do to keep
customers coming back for more is by not making it difficult for them
to pay you, otherwise referred to as offering flexible payment
options. If you've been subsisting in a cash-only world, you'll be
disappointed to learn that cash is on its way out. Some day in the
not-so-distant future, we'll be migrating to a cashless society. What
does this mean for you cash-only businesses out there? It means you're
going to have to adapt or become obsolete. There are many avenues you
can take to start accepting credit cards, debit cards and checks
(these services can be set up for you by a merchant services company,
or MSP). But the important thing to take away from this in regards to
customer loyalty is that no matter how great your company's products
or services are, I guarantee you that if you're only taking cash
payments, your current customers can easily be pulled out from under
you by a competitor that doesn't make them do somersaults and visit
ATMs in order to pay them.The fourth and final way you can connect
with your customers and build relationships with them is through
social media. Do you have a sale going on to promote your �-price
Sunday Ice Cream Sundae Spectacular Sale? How are you going to tell
your patrons about the sale? Do you expect them to come to you in
order to find out about it? Are you going to spend a thousand bucks
sending them a direct mail postcard telling them about Sunday Sundaes?
Are you going to call them? Probably not. Lets get you and your
business riding the social media wave of the future! All you have to
do to connect with your customers online is to use their contact
information (that you should already have by now if you've followed my
"Step One" advice) to find them on Facebook or Twitter. Start by
searching for them by name and email address. When you find them, add
them as your friend or follow them. Start talking to them about their
everyday lives and take the time to learn what's important to them.
Treat them like good friends; don't always try to be selling them
something. Offer them helpful information if you can, and then when
you do have a special promotion going on, you'll have an eager base of
happy clients to take advantage of your store's offerings. Social
media only costs you time yet it enables you to reach an immense
amount of people. It's a very powerful yet affordable tool in your
relationship-building arsenal.A general rule of thumb when attempting
to make your customers love you is by giving them what they expect
from you...and then give them more. Over-appease them to the point
that they become your raving fans, telling everyone they know about
how great your business is. Word-of-mouth advertising is a wonderful
free way to attract new, quality customers, and you can achieve it by
building up the relationships you already have with your current
client base. Building lifelong customer relationships is a great,
affordable investment in your businesses and offers you an
incomparably excellent return.� 2010 Lorraine Wolfe