Customer Retention - 10 Essential Tips

April 5th, 2013 Published by: StellarFuture

A Customer Retained
is a Customer Gained
- 10 Essential Tips for
Customer Retention

Learn Vital Tips to Improve your Customer Retention -
10 Essential Tips for Customer
Help Automate the Process with High Tech - High Touch Retention
Tools Source: http://www.downsteam.com/10-tips-for-customer-retention/

Customer Retention – 10
Essential Tips
Is Customer Retention Important?
Wow, seems like such a simple question and one with an oh so
obvious answer.
But first before we get into it lets define our terms. Just what is
“customer retention“? According to the ubiquitous Wikipedia
…
Customer retention is the activity that a selling
organization undertakes in order to reduce customer
Customer retention – think about it. Reduce customer
defections. Successful customer retention starts with
churn and your customer base grows. Eliminate client
the first contact an organization has with a customer
turn-over and your repeat business grows. Build
and continues throughout the entire lifetime of a
customer retention or lose your up-sale opportunity.
relationship. A company’s ability to attract and retain
As marketers we are often so intent on gaining new new customers, is not only related to its product or
customers that we fail to service and hold onto those services, but strongly related to the way it services its
we already have. We work so hard on the front end but existing customers and the reputation it creates within
neglect to maintain that effort and focus on the back and across the marketplace. From Wikipedia, the free
end. As quickly as they walk in the front door we lose encyclopedia
them out the back door.
Attrition. It’s a dirty word but often the death knell of a
business.

Don Downs
DownsTeam.com
donandvonda@downsteam.com So, back to our original (obvious!) question. Of course
customer retention is important. Customer retention starts
303-684-9186
with the pre-sale and ends … well, it doesn’t end – at least not
on your part. It only ends if and when the prospect says it does.

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And even that is open for debate and readjustment as we shall companies realize that it’s far more expensive to find
see. new customers than keep existing ones, and therefore it
has become absolutely mandatory to invest in existing
Customer retention – think about it. Reduce customer churn
customer relationships and ensure that they keep growing
and your customer base grows. Eliminate client turn-over and
in a mutually-beneficial manner. Experiential marketing
your repeat business grows. Build customer retention or lose
attempts to connect consumers with brands in personally
your up-sale opportunity.
relevant and memorable ways.
As marketers we are often so intent on gaining new customers
that we fail to service and hold onto those we already have. Your daily activities reflect the value you
We work so hard on the front end but neglect to maintain that place on customer retention.
effort and focus on the back end. As quickly as they walk in The truth as they say is in the pudding. The evidence speaks –
the front door we lose them out the back door. loudly I might add – for itself. Unfortunately knowing a truth
Attrition. It’s a dirty word but often the death knell of a does not necessarily translate into the corresponding action.
business. If merely knowing right and wrong, merely knowing good,
bad and better were the only issue the world would be a very
It has been found that, generally speaking, a businesses makes
different place indeed and doing business, including customer
80% of its revenue from 20% of its customers – therefore
retention, would have gotten a whole lot easier.
it is essential that you at least become effective at customer
retention with that high revenue producing 20%. Alas, there IS more to it. Texting while driving is dangerous
but many still do it. Smoking kills but most smokers continue
As your business improves and perfects it’s ability to keep
to do so. Living by a personal budget is a good idea. Exercising
existing customers from leaving and going to the competition
regularly is a healthy habit. No argument – retaining my
you will earn more money from each customer you bring in.
clients and customers IS really important …
In light of the truth that the total expense of acquiring new
You might begin by asking yourself the obvious questions
customers is many times that of servicing existing ones – it
about customer retention?
is no wonder that at the core of most business strategy is
the essential priority of retaining their current business – i.e., • How much is a new customer or client worth to me?
customer retention.
• What is the lifetime value of that customer?
It is estimated that is costs a business 6 to 7 times more money
to acquire a new customer than it does to retain an existing • How will a continued customer benefit me in terms of:
one. Studies also suggest that a salesperson is 4 times more o repeat business
likely to close additional business with an existing client than
with a brand new prospect.
o upsale revenues

We all know the well worn adage, “People do business with
o and Referrals
people they know, like and trust.” Well surely a current client
Add up the numbers. Numbers don’t lie. So, how much time,
or customer is much higher on the “know, like and trust” scale
how much energy, how much planning, how much execution
than a new prospect.
in your business strategy is targeted at customer retention?
It is painfully obvious is it not? In fact not only is client
So, what are some customer retention ideas? There are of
retention important – it is absolutely vital to almost every
course many aspects to an effective client retention strategy.
business. Consider the fast food king McDonald’s. What if
But let’s take a look at these 10 tips.
every customer that ever walked through their doors never
came back but only made that one initial purchase? What if the 10 Customer Retention Tips
legendary Sam Walton only managed to bring in his customer
to Wal-Mart for just a single shopping visit? Of course the 1. Increase the frequency and regularity of customer touch.
answer is so obvious it needn’t even be stated. In fact one of Simply staying in touch more consistently with your
the pervasive truths about these two retail giants is that they customers will help keep you and your business top of
have and continue to do so well at bringing their customers mind. When they have a need in your area of expertise, in
back again, and again, and again. your niche, do they think of you, your product, and your
But how do you do it? Fantasize? Hope? Wish? service first?
2. Make your marketing unique and memorable.
Customer retention is customer Information overload – we all get way too much
relationship maintenance which in the email. How could you package your marketing in a
long run – produces loyalty. more memorable way? Are you effectively branding
Pradeep Narasimh writing on the Experiential Marketing yourself and your company or do you just blend in?
Forum says Once the buying decision has been made and Differentiating yourself and your business is key. As
a customer has been acquired, a different process begins: Brian Tracy has said, “Your company’s most valuable
relationship maintenance. Customer retention techniques asset is how it is known to it’s customers.”
can help ensure that the customer stays loyal to the 3. Keep your customers informed. Do you have a new
brand and is not lured away by competitors. Modern product or new service? Are you offering a price cut?

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Do you have a new incentive? Are they aware of your 10. Implement faithful follow-up. If the average sale is made
customer loyalty program? Do you have an upcoming only after the 7th contact why have you only contacted
event they might want to know about? Engaged your prospect 3 times? Often times an unclosed sale is
customers are definitely more loyal. merely a future sale in the incubator. It is coming … just
4. Proactively stay in touch. “An ounce of prevention is not yet. Let your prospect turn their wandering eyes and
worth a pound of cure.” Head your customers’ problems fickle fancy elsewhere and you will have lost them. So be
off at the pass. Don’t wait for the problem to surface and faithful. Don’t give up to soon. As they say, the fortune
dissatisfaction to mount. Give them the solution before is in the follow-up.
they even encounter the problem. Again as Brian Tracy
has so aptly stated, “”Offer your customers a long-term But I’m so busy with everything else how
relationship, then do everything possible to build and can I effectively and consistently work on
maintain it.”
customer retention?
5. Befriend your customers by getting personal. This one As an essential and in fact vital part of your business strategy,
is hugeNo one wants to be just another number or just you need a commitment to procuring customer retention.
another revenue source. Remember your clients and Then you need a well-oiled process and plan to ensure it
customers in a personal way on their birthday, during the actually happens. If there is any way you can automate the
holidays and on any date apropos to your relationship process, any way you can make it more efficient, any way to
with them – perhaps as a Realtor remembering them and help effectively accomplish it “en mass” then that is the way
keeping in touch with them on the anniversary of their to go.
home closing would be a nice personal touch. But don’t
make it just another marketing piece. Take the time to If it is cumbersome, difficult, tedious or mundane –it will be
“get personal” and express your honest appreciation for done half-heartedly if at all and most likely will eventually just
them. You will get back what you give. Building personal not get done. How many Januarys have come and gone with
relationships with your customers can result in fierce the simple commitment made and broken to simply send your
loyalty and a steady stream of ongoing business referrals. customers, clients and prospects Thank-You cards on a regular
basis? It’s not that you don’t recognize it to be a good habit.
6. Provide education & instruction to your clients. Jim It’s not that you don’t want to do it. But as always the tyranny
Rohn has said, “One customer, well taken care of, could of the urgent crowds out this important task – especially that
be more valuable than $10,000 worth of advertising.” of customer retention efforts.
Are you taking care of your customers? Are your clients
fully aware of how they might implement and utilize your Do you have a Customer Retention system in place to help
service or product most effectively? The more value they assure you are doing your very best not only to acquire new
perceive your product or service to offer the more loyal customers but to retain your existing ones?
they will be towards continuing to use it. If your product Ask yourself these client retention questions about you and
or service has a learning curve … shorten it. your company?
7. Re-connect with your lost customers. In many ways a
Do you and your company need to:
lost customer is more valuable than a hot lead. They
know you. They’ve already come through the door. Have • Increase the frequency and regularity of customer touch
you found out what might have gone wrong if anything?
• Make your marketing unique and memorable
Why have you lost them as a customer? Is it something
you might easily remedy? Timing is everything and • Keep your customers informed
perhaps now IS the time for them – but you’ll never know • Proactively stay in touch
if you don’t try to re-connect.
• Provide education & instruction to your clients
8. Send a giftand secure their second visit. It is true
that there is a huge drop off between a customer’s first • Befriend your customers by getting personal
and second visit. Getting them to come back just one • Re-connect with your lost customers
more time is often the bridge towards a permanent
relationship. Is there a special something you can send • Provide education & instruction to your clients
them, perhaps a welcome kit, a gift basket, or a coupon? • Befriend your customers by getting personal
Sending a gift just might provide the impetus to turn
• Re-connect with your lost customers
your one time visitor into a repeat customer.
• Send a gift and secure their second visit
9. Campaign your inactive clients. Like a loveless marriage
these customers may not have filed the divorce papers • Campaign your inactive clients
but the thrill is definitely gone. Did they leave because • Implement faithful follow-up
they flew into a cost cutting frenzy but now things have
improved on their fiscal front? Were they looking for a CLICK TO LEARN ABOUT A GREAT CUSTOMER
service or feature you didn’t have but now you do? Get RETENTION TOOL
back in touch with them. You may find them ready to
renew their vows!

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together High tech convenience and automation with High
Touch personalization and uniqueness.
Click here to learn about a tool and service that will help
simplify and automate your customer retention strategy. This
system allows you to streamline your customer retention
efforts in a cost effective, time saving, unique and memorable
way. With this service businesses can automate their client
and customer retention efforts towards a single client or to
5,000 customers at the same time – at the click of a mouse.
Among other features with SendOutCards you can send top
quality cards easily and quickly – personalized with your
photo, company logo, personal handwriting font and personal
signature. They will be stuffed, stamped and mailed out for
Among various tools and tips hailed as essential to you the very next day, affixed with a first class stamp.
maintaining and improving quality customer retention efforts
is the power and simplicity of the personal note or card. Top Take the advice of the worlds most successful leaders and
business persons, thought leaders, coaches, entrepreneurs, find a way to connect with your clients both past, present and
trainers and motivational speakers the world over extoll the future. Don’t just get by (or worse fail miserably) , excel and
virtue and power of the written note and card to profoundly become an expert at client and customer retention.
influence people and make an impact on them. And as Paul Rolich, a contributing editor of Tech
For 12 straight years, automotive salesperson and eventual Decisions magazine smartly notes …Never let go.
author of “How To Sell Anything to Anybody”, Joe Girard sold Getting customers in the door is the hardest thing we
more vehicles than any other person in history and garnered can do. Consumers are fickle and capricious. They
a spot in the Guinness Book of World records, 12 times as don’t always make rational decisions. If using a lizard
well as becoming the only salesperson to be inducted into the or a cute girl in your advertising brings customers
Automotive Hall of Fame. His secret … the Greeting card. your way you must be doing something right. But the
proof is in retaining that customer. Customer service
Harvey Mackay, a successful businessman, New York Times after the sale is the real measure of success. And that
best-selling author, world renowned speaker and civic leader is what keeps great businesses successful.
has said, “I still value and use hand-written notes. The power of
the personal note cannot be underestimated. In my first book,
Swim With the Sharks Without Being Eaten Alive, Lesson 10 If we can answer any questions or help you in any
is about how “Short Notes Yield Long Results.” In sales, never way please drop us a line by email or give us a call.
underestimate the importance of the personal gesture, and at We’d be happy to help! Contact us at 303-684-9186 or
the top of the list: the handwritten note.” donandvonda@downsteam.com if you’d like to know more
about SendoutCards or if there are any questions we can
Those handwritten Thank-You notes are worth their weight in answer. We can walk you through what our system has to offer
gold” according to Tom Hopkins - Developing the Thank You for you and even let you try it out with a free test drive.
Note Habit, ©Copyright 1998 Tom Hopkins International,
Inc.
The power of a heartfelt card, the genuine thank you, is the Don and Vonda Downs
power behind Appreciation Marketing. It is the glue and the downsteam.com
fabric of what builds strong relationships. And in the business
303-684-9186
world this in turn creates repeat business and frequent
referrals because your recipients have genuinely come to donandvonda@downsteam.com
know, like and trust you. You don’t need to manipulate or
scheme, you need to give. Truly, give and it will be given to you.
If you found this article helpful we’d love it if you passed it
Think about it. along through some of the social networks below. Also, feel
Does your business need to save limited resources while at free to leave a comment or submit a review below.
the same time providing top notch service and products to
your customers? Do you desire to reduce consumer turnover If you need help with this all important task of client retention
and drastically enhance your client loyalty? Do you require a and would like to learn more – watch our Free Webinar on
continual, predictable stream of revenue? Would you like to Client Retention.
sell your product and service with less effort? Do you strive to
obtain more profits out of your existing customers? Is it your Click here to learn the Straight Scoop on SendOutCards
goal to considerably enhance your referral business?
If any or all of your answers to these questions are yes – and
I am sure they are – then take a look at SendOutCards and
what this company can do for you. SendOutCards has brought

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Downs Team
5549 Wetlands Drive Frederick, CO, 80504 USA
donandvonda@downsteam.com

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