If you are going to proclaim that you care, then you should truly demonstrate it. If you proclaim you care about your customers, then you’d bloody well better act like it. More damage is caused by not walking the talk.
“Your Call is Very Important To Us”… Is it really?
I have spent the most frustrating day sitting on-hold, listening to outgoing messages telling me how important my call is. Please don’t use this outgoing message if you do not have a reasonable hold time. Both of these consumer organizations should know better. The insult of listening to the message over and over again is much worse than enduring typical hold music.
When is the last time you called your customer support line and experienced what your customers do?
“We appreciate your business”…Really.
From a positive standpoint, there are many organizations that are very good at reinforcing their appreciation of their customers. Here are a few simple, low cost approaches that can go along way to retaining your customers.
5 Ways to Say “We Appreciate Your Business”
1. Make it personal.
Send personalized cards My dentist office of 11yrs sends me a birthday card with signatures from each person in the office. Send personal thank you cards for referrals. Do you track when your customers first starting doing business with you? Send an anniversary card telling them how much you appreciate your business. If you can’t recall how to send a physical card, check out www.paperlesspost.com.
2. Discounts to recognize loyalty.
Frequent shopper programs are easy to manage. It sure would be nice if my local pizza place recognized that I used to be a weekly customer and sent a small discount card telling me they missed my business.
3. Frequent buyer incentives.
You should know who are your most loyal customers. Reward them!
4. Branded SWAG
Pens, coffee mugs, hats, key chains, mini-flashlights, and memory sticks, etc. Reward loyalty in other ways. Match your give away to the type of service you provide. If you fix computers, give away low cost branded memory sticks. If you are a plumbing service, give away low cost mini-flashlights. Everyone likes to get SWAG (stuff we all get).
5. Free consultation, service, analysis, or reports.
Offer something of your expertise for free or at a discount. You can target customers who only use the X services by introducing them to the Y service you also offer.
Bottomline: Retaining customers is much easier to do than finding new customers. Reward loyalty. Remind your customers that you appreciate their business. Really you do.
As usual, your feedback and comments are welcome!
Carter McNamara of Authenticity Consulting, LLC, provides organizational development, consultant training and Action Learning services, and is developer of the Free Management Library.