Company News
Building Customer Loyalty: Double Sales Without Adding a Single New Customer
by DW Green — July 15, 2010
We are often asked about our position on loyalty card programs. Some retailers swear by them, and some swear at the mere mention of them. We advise on their advantages and their drawbacks. If you’re considering a loyalty card program, or if you already have one, ponder this personal approach to building customer loyalty.
To build a loyal customer base, the challenge is not just serving customers:
- It’s understanding customers.
- It’s being prepared to serve customers.
- It’s helping an angry customer immediately.
- It’s asking customers for information.
- It’s listening to customers.
- It’s being responsible for your actions when customers call.
- It’s living up to your commitments.
- It’s being memorable.
- It’s surprising customers.
- It’s striving to keep customers for life.
- It’s getting unsolicited referrals from customers regularly.
Building customer loyalty through actions such as these is a new-old way of succeeding—a return to the day when the customer was both a friend and a neighbor. Management and employees should view each customer visit as an opportunity to earn another visit by providing an exceptional, memorable service experience. The more a store extends a personal relationship to its customers, the more likely it is that customers will increase their patronage. Theoretically, it’s possible to double sales without adding a single new customer. All that must be done is to make current customers feel so good about doing business at a store that they come in twice as often.
An added benefit is that happy, loyal customers are your best salespeople. Not only are they likely to increase their patronage, loyal customers are also likely to generate new business through word-of-mouth advertising. It is said that 80% of American business is done by word-of-mouth advertising. Imagine the potential for increased sales!
Filed Under: Company News
