Business owners work hard to create a marketing plan that can bring in clients to their small business. The next phase on how owners can keep customers coming back. There are some businesses that have patterns when it comes to purchasing their goods and services. Beauty parlors, payroll services, and office cleaning services usually can predict when clients will come back. Here are ways on how to keep customers coming back.
Make one’s business easy to deal with. When businesses respond quickly to the needs of the client, the client will notice and appreciate. It is a must for businesses to have a regular schedule to check their emails and voicemails. Owners must be able to respond, at most two hours, from top clients. If there are major concerns, cell phones or office numbers can be provided. Clients must know upgrades on product, process, or technology that can assist them in increasing their profit, improve their operations, and become more competitive.
Customize to suit client’s needs. Companies can obtain benefits if they know their clients as individuals in order to provide them with customized experiences. Services that are bespoke are trending. Clients desire products and services that cater to their specific needs and wants.
Admit faults. Often, companies fear that their direct competitor can beat them with the sale of their products and services if they let their faults be known. However, when companies alert their clients with their faults, this creates a client who will stay for life. Stating one’s mistakes will build relationships. There are many instances when clients just want to hear the word sorry and that a company has a plan for getting back on track. Thus, companies must apologize immediately and give a proposal in order to fix the problem. When the mistake is minor, then a company can return a small portion of the fee or add services to the client at no extra cost.
Build brand loyalty. Building brand loyalty can keep customers coming back. Companies can obtain this by giving customers what other direct competitors do not. Another is to obtain customer advice and give them credit for these. Allowing clients to be able to make suggestions make them feel valued by the company.
Add value. Improving one’s pricing, customer service, reliability, and quality can add value to a company’s clients. It is a must for small businesses to offer great service.
Be a good listener. Paying attention displays better virtues to clients than being a big talker. Clients value when a company takes time to listen to customers and understand their point of view. If customers feel that they are being listened to, this can lead to other business referrals that will make the business grow.
Talk using the language of clients. Companies who are well-versed in speaking their target market's language can draw in more attention to their business. If a client works for a phone business, then companies should talk in the language of phone businesses. If a customer works in the retail business, the company must know the language of the retail business. It is crucial that a company listens to how customers talk about their industry as each culture is different. When a person uses their language, then the people feel comfortable as the owner becomes an insider.
Keep a journal. You should travel with a small notebook at all times since you'll be meeting people everywhere. When a customer uses specific words, then the owner or the company must enter keywords in order to find all the individuals who use that keyword. This will result to better keyword mining that can pay a company’s profits in the years to come.
Customers should always be given importance and not to be taken for granted. Following the steps above will help in building brand loyalty for your business.
This guest post is courtesy of Robert Cordray. Robert is a former business consultant and entrepreneur with over 20 years of experience and a wide variety of knowledge in multiple areas of the industry. He currently resides in the Southern California area and spends his time helping consumers and business owners alike try to be successful.