By: Jim Newell
How is it that some businesses seem to just take off to instant superstar status, while others take years to get noticed? I think it all comes down to communication.
Communication takes many forms it includes the most basic simple things, such as just saying “thank you” all the way up to the super bowl ads that some companies place, and everything in between.
Communicating with your existing customers, you know the ones who have demonstrated their trust, and have given you money, the ones who already know who you are and like you, is much cheaper and easier than finding new customers. It just stands to reason that you would do all that you can to retain these folks as customers. With the right blend of attention and tender loving care they can and should become repeat customers.
If you are not already doing so, here are some things you should be doing…
- On the first contact or sale, ask for your customers email address, be sure to ask permission to send them email, tell them what you will email to them, and how often.
- Be sure to record what product or service they purchased. You need this in order to target your message correctly.
- Contact all new customers either by phone, personal contact or email, within 48 hours of their visit or purchase.
- Ask if what they bought solved their problem, was it what they really wanted, does it work as expected, what could your business have done better, do they know anyone they would refer to you.
These simple steps are what helps start a culture of communication. If you have employees who will not ask these questions, find new ones who will.
News flash: 90% of offline businesses do not even ask for email addresses.
If you have been under a rock for the last 15 years, you may not realize that the people who are now in high school and college communicate almost exclusively via text message, email and maybe cell phone. These are your future customers.
My ah-hah moment to this phenomena occurred when my son was a sophomore in high school about 1995. I was at the dining room table working on some report and needed an address from a phone book that I knew was in the basement, so I yelled at James to please get the phone book for me. He was at the time working on homework at the computer and just went online (with a sssslow dial-up connection) and found the information I needed. It was at that moment that I realized that we were in a brave new world, where we would have to adapt to how the younger generations wanted to communicate.
The more ways we can figure out to communicate with our current customers, without becoming pests, the more business we will do with them. Tips for email communications:
- The subject line has everything to do with if the message gets opened or not.
- The first email message should be heavy on “welcome”, “how are we doing” and light on selling.
- Every other week or even monthly should be about right, they don’t want to hear from you every day.
- Automation can really help you stay current, “think auto responder”
View this movie for another customer retention key (just click on the banner)
