Five Tips to Keeping Customers

    1- Don’t marry the product - Marry the customer

   We are officially in the customer-centered era. It has been proven that it is much cheaper to sell to existing customers than always trying to find new ones.

   Too many businesses still run their organizations in a product centered way. They resist making changes because “this is the way we have always done things”. 

   The problem is customers change, needs change, and products and services need to change as well. Customers can alert a business when a product or service is losing its appeal to customers.  

   Do not stay with a product as is when your customer’s needs are changing. Maybe you can develop a complementary product or redesign the present product. You must continually be trying to add products that fit. 

   Don’t wait too long or your products may be obsolete before you know it. Do not add a product just for the sake of adding a product. Do your homework and try to add something with real value.

    The company must be flexible enough to go where the customer leads. If that means redesigning or dropping, certain product lines because the customer feedback is telling you to, then so be it!

 Many companies identify too much with one or two products and are very resistant to change.

 2- Bribe customers to divulge information about themselves and their needs.

     Customers often will not volunteer information about needs and expectations. That is why discounts, contests, or free information can be very effective in getting feedback from customers.  

    By showing customers that you are interested in their problems and how your products can help, a strong connection is made. By providing something of value in exchange for some of a customer’s precious time, can go a long way in getting information specific to future – marketing – new products – redesigns.

 3- Let your present customers define your future customers. 

   By learning about customers, you can identify certain common characteristics. Where there is one customer you can be sure there are 5 more with similar needs and expectations.

   This can be particularly important when it comes to your most profitable customers. By knowing what your best customers purchase and why, you can design marketing programs to concentrate on similar prospects.

    Sometimes this can lead you to a profitable segment you had not recognized. This may result in a new direction for your product or service. When a business routinely asks questions and captures data,  it increases the chances of uncovering strategic information that can be used immediately or filed away for a future use. Do not try to guess what’s important, capture data often.

 4 - Customize products and features for specific customer groups.

    By interacting with customers, you may find a segment with a similar need that is not being met.

 For example, one very successful internet marketer originally produced a report about automobiles. When he surveyed his customers some time later, he found that a large percentage was buying the report solely for the section on new car buying. This translated into a marketing opportunity as a new product was created just for new car buying.

 5- Make it easier to do business with you than with a competitor. 

  If there is no difference between buying from you and buying from a competitor then a certain percentage of customers will leave you – it is that simple.

  If you can provide an easier or more pleasant buying experience for customers, they will return to you more often. This is the easiest way to keep them.

 Do you have to be over the top customer crazy? No just better tan your competitor.