Customer retention is important to any business – especially those who rely on a few large customers for most of their revenue.
It costs a lot less to keep a customer than to win a new one. When you consider the costs of marketing including digital and traditional advertising, website content, social media management, telemarketing and other inbound and outbound sales activity, it is far better to concentrate significant effort on keeping the customers you have.
Most businesses, even those selling Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), rely on customer loyalty. Depending on the kind of product or service you’re selling, the efforts will differ, but if you are in the B2B field, there are some similarities in the key elements you require to keep your customers happy and loyal to you and your brand.
1. Managing your customers’ expectations
Customers don’t always expect you to move mountains for them, but they definitely want to know when you can’t. There is no point in over promising and under delivering as it only leaves them wanting, and likely to look to your competitors who will gladly take their business from you.
It is better to under promise and over deliver.
If you can’t make a deadline, let your customers know. Any delay is likely going to affect their own customers or production and that means your lack of delivery may directly affect their bottom line.
Unless it’s getting a bill, we always feel a thrill when we receive something in the mail earlier than expected. And that’s the benefit of under promising. You tell your customers you can’t fix a problem before Thursday but aim to do it by Wednesday. When it is fixed earlier, they are happy with your service, regardless of the fact there was a problem to begin with.
If you run your business by constantly over promising – whether it is by underquoting a job or by providing unrealistic deadlines, you will only win short-term business and will likely have to keep winning new customers because they don’t stay loyal to your brand or your business. Unfortunately, word tends to get out about companies who overpromise or underquote, and that kind of stink tends to stick.
2. Good account management
Each one of your customers deserves a person from your business appointed to manage their account. If the customer is large enough, you may appoint a dedicated account manager, but more than likely, each account manager will manage more than one customer. The critical point of the success of the account management model is the relationship between the account manager and their customer contact or contacts. Even if your customer doesn’t provide a lot of revenue, every account should have an appointed account manager to ensure:
• issues can be escalated quickly if necessary
• your customers don’t receive differing pieces of information from your business and therefore it removes the confusion
• your business looks professional and in control of your customer’s business
• the account is maximised to its full potential.
Good account managers, like good customers, are worth their weight in gold, so make sure you treat them the same way you want them to treat your customers.
3. Honest two-way communication
You should never fear asking your customer for feedback, and importantly you need to listen to what they’re saying – even if it’s not complementary. Importantly, it’s far better for them to tell you direct that they’re not happy, rather than taking their business to your competitors.
Regular surveys are a great way to keep on top of your customers. There are many available on the market that provide a Net Promoter Score. The Net Promoter score is an index ranging from -100 to 100. It determines how likely your customers are to recommend your business to others through measuring a company’s overall satisfaction with your product, service and their loyalty to your brand.
You also need to be honest and upfront about changes to your business and or products. If you need to introduce a price increase, give your customers as much notice as possible and ideally provide that face-to-face. The fact is, prices do need to increase from time to time, but it’s far better to explain it in advance than for your customer to find out via the invoice. Keep them informed and up to date and you’ll have a far better relationship.
4. Delivering quality products and services
No matter how good the relationship is between you and your customers, they will eventually leave you if you do not provide quality products and services. Being a ‘great guy/gal’ may help you win the business in the first place, but it’s not going to necessarily help you keep it in the long term.
Service levels are often easier to fix than faulty products and you have to ensure you have strict terms by which you stand. If you have promised to fix issues within 24 hours, you’d better make sure you keep to this commitment. And back to the first point about managing expectations, if you can’t achieve these service levels, don’t promise them in the first place. Always put together realistic service level agreements.
The only way customers will stick with below par products and service is because they are being offered at a reduced price. I would never recommend selling on price alone because in my experience it is a short-term strategy that fails in the long run. While customers will never knock back a discount, if inferior products and services are affecting their own customer relationships, they aren’t going to stand for it.
5. THANKING THEM FOR their business
The old adage about selling is that you should Always Be Closing (ABC) the sale. Similarly, when you are managing a customer, you should always let them know you appreciate their business. I don’t have an acronym for that one but let’s just say ‘THANK YOU’. Customers want to feel valued and frankly they are entitled to feel that way. They are paying your rent and your wages, so certainly you should thank them for their business.
And as a final point, don’t underestimate the importance of face-to-face meetings at all levels of the business. If your CEO never meets with your customers, I would have to ask why not. For a customer to feel truly valued and respected, your top people need to be involved – not in the day-to-day running of an account, but at least a few times a year they should make contact with your customer’s CEO and or senior management, depending on the size and structure of the business. Whether that is an informal setting like corporate hospitality or through more formal business meetings, your CEO should thank your customers for their business and ask them to continue spending their money with you.
If you need assistance creating a customer retention program, contact us.
Rhonda Locke is a highly experience marketer, a customer and brand champion and is the Founder and Director of Unlocke Creative.