Customer Acquisition and Retention Initiatives

Without your customers, your business wouldn't stay in business very long. Keeping your customers happy is one to keep them, but being able to skillfully address problems when they arise is the best way to improve customer retention. Not only do you run the risk of losing an angry customer's business, but that they'll share their poor experience with your company with other customers. By executing a few customer retention techniques, you build better relationships that serve your customers and support your business' goals.

Balance Quality, Pricing and Customer Care
If you want to improve customer retention and retain customer for the long term, be sure you're providing a product or service that balances quality, pricing and customer care. Striking that balance is a challenge for many business owners and may prove to be a bit of moving target depending on the individual customer.

Once you've determined what the right balance is for your company, be aware that it may not be right for all customers and be prepared to address any issues on a case-by-case basis. Some customers may be more focused on turnaround, while others are more focused on quality than meeting a deadline.

Is the Customer Always Right?
Business owners know that customers aren't always right, however when you or your staff approach a customer who's wrong with a defensive attitude, it's a lose-lose situation that can cost you dollars and taint your reputation.

Business often lose customers who are in the wrong because:

• Staff takes customer complaints personally, especially when customers personally accuse them of wrongdoing
• Staff members who interact with clients only occasionally haven't developed or been taught effective listening and communication skills
• Staff members follow company policy too strictly and lack the critical judgment skills needed to determine when to break the rules to save a customer; for example, refusing to waive a service charge for a customer who consistently pays on time
• Customer complaints aren't followed up on in a timely manner or worse, no expectation for a resolution or solution is offered, and no follow up call is placed after the resolution to ensure the issue was resolved to their satisfaction and subsequent orders have been handled properly

Issues like these can be stopped before they start, by hiring staff that's committed to delivering superior customer service and teaching them good listening and communication skills. Additionally, outlining a procedure for handling customer complaints, including clear guidelines for follow up communication, helps ensure all employees know what's expected of them when it comes to dealing with customer complaints.

While it's tempting to view customer complaints as problems, a closer look reveals them to be opportunities to identify any weaknesses in your company and put plans into place to correct them.

Treat All Customers Equally
Treating all of your customers as your number one customer regardless of how much money they actually spend with you not only contributes to short-term customer satisfaction, but sets the stage for building a long-term relationship. That entry-level customer:

• May experience growth in his or her own company that leads to an increase in orders
• May move on to a larger company that becomes a new customer for you
• Has a network of contacts that become new leads or referrals for your business

Additionally, In addition, develop a program that entices your employees to stay with your business. People are creatures of comfort. We like talking to the same people and hearing the same voices. Frequent turnover not only unsettles customers who like to work with someone that they "know," frequent turnovers can lead to speculation about the health of your business.

Finally, don't wait until there's a complaint to follow up with your customers. Generally, only a handful of clients will come to you with an issue while other keeps their dissatisfaction to themselves. Check in with all of your customers regularly to ensure the happy customers stay happy and you're able to improve the service you provide to those that aren't.

Who to Keep, Who to Let Go
Remember, it's virtually impossible to please all of your customers all of the time and that sometimes, losing a customer isn't the worst thing that could happen. Customers who are consistently challenging and a drain on your organizations time and other resources may ultimately not be worth the revenue they bring in.

You need to be practical in your assessment of a customer's value, including intangible costs that don't translate easily to your bottom line. In these cases, losing that customer your competition might just be the best thing that could happen. What you'll lose in dollars, you'll make up for by having more resources to devote to building better, long-lasting relationships with new and existing customers.