small business

Customer Retention!

Customer Retention is critical to every business!

Today, more than ever before, it’s critical to get and keep customers! Most of the businesses in the United States generate the majority of their revenue by maintaining and cross-selling to their existing customers.   Having a website makes you an international company, so keep in mind you may have customers anywhere in the world. 

Studies show that a mere 5% increase in customer retention can result in minimum profit increases of 20% but could be as much as 80% for most businesses.  Using these increases in your projected cash flows, this should help everyone understand that customer retention is very important.

Here are the seven keys to customer retention and cross-selling.

    1. Know your customer’s world: What makes them unique? What are their specific needs? What causes them to take action, to buy?  What would keep them from buying?

    2. Deliver flawless results: To establish long-term customer relationships it is critical that you flawlessly deliver every benefit and value you promise. That is the key to a customer’s respect, trust and loyalty.

    3. Develop a proactive plan: Understanding your customer’s world and doing first-rate work are essential for creating a loyal clientele. In addition, you must develop a proactive, customer-specific plan that implements how you will retain and grow your customer base. Without a plan, you’ll drift from project to project, relying mostly on luck.

    4. Uncover “needs”: To retain customers, you must focus on driving customer satisfaction. Rather than just making a sale and then moving on to the next customer, savvy salespeople are turning themselves into “account managers” in addition to being salespeople.

    5. Manage expectations: You need to manage expectations. This means from both a positive (proactive communication) and negative perspective. Let me give you an example.  Customers with unrealistic expectations with regard to what they want and/or what you can deliver will never be satisfied. They’ll just waste your time and then ultimately take their business elsewhere.

    6. Keep your name in front of your customer: Maintain communications. Reach out to the customer four times a year at a minimum. Send them a note, call them, drop by, take them to lunch, etc.  Make sure you use technology (i.e., email, social media, etc.) to proactively manage your customer contact.

    7. Assume nothing: No matter how good you are, never assume you’ve got a loyal client.  Complacency never fosters loyalty.  A client’s trust and loyalty can be lost, if a salesperson gets over confident or lets performance slip . . . even on just one interaction.

 Remember:  “You don’t need to provide excellent customer service to all your customers . . . just the ones you want to keep!”                                     American author

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How is your Customer Perception?

As a business owner, one of your first priorities should be customer satisfaction.  This is a very broad area.  It is not just … for the customer to get my product/service TODAY.  Yes, the customer is usually interested in something you have, or they would not be there, but creating a communication with the customer is very important to know how they feel.     Hopefully, they will not leave your business without having made a transaction.  But, the real questions a business owner should want to know are:  Was the customer’s experience in my store a pleasant one?  Will the customer come back again?  Was there customer satisfaction with the entire shopping experience?  Will this person recommend the business’s services to another?   Receiving the answer to these questions are sometimes very obvious.  Though keep in mind, in this modern day setting, having a courteous smile returned from a customer doesn’t always mean their experience was a positive one.   Most local business owners have their own unique ”saying” to invite the customer to share their experience.   Training of your employees in public communication is very important .  As your employees , they are a strong reflection of your business and “you”.  If there is communication training  or other employee training provided in your region, encourage your employees to attend.  Help pay for their training, if possible.  The long term, positive impacts on your business will far outweigh any short term costs.  The type of service given is always remembered by the customer, especially if it is negative.  Think of the service satisifaction issue “you” personally had as a ”customer” at a business other than your own.  How did that business react to “your” issue?  If they did not react in the best way for you as a customer, I bet you had several “ideas” you were ready to suggest to them … “That they should have done”.  These are the same answers you can implement in your own business, either by you personally or by instructing your employees, which will improve customer satisfaction.   The Kansas Small Business Development Center has classes throughout each year that cover many areas of interest for businesses, including customer service.  Also, the E-center located in the Fischer building of Phillipsburg, Kansas has periodic classes for different business development activities, if enough businesses have a particular educational interest. 

Posted by Jeff Hofaker – PCED Director

Small Business and Contractor Tax Workshop

Kansas Department of Revenue will be holding a Small Business and Contractor Tax Workshop on Wednesday, April 29th, 2009 at the Sternberg Museum Conference Room in Hays, Kansas.  Small Business Workshop will be held from 1:00 – 4:00 pm.  Contractors work shop will be held from 6:00 – 8:30 pm.  Topics include:

Small Business Workshop Topics:
Kansas Retailers Sales Tax
Kansas Retailers Compensating Use Tax
Goods and Services subject to Sales Tax
Record Keeping and Filing Requirements
Form Preparation
Exemption Certificate
Withholding Requirements

Contractor Workshop Topics:
Sales Tax on Materials
Sales Tax on Labor
Project Exemption Certificates
Sales Tax Returns
Billing

Cost:  $20 in advance/per person.  $25 late registration.

Limited space is available.  Please registar in advance at Kansas Small Business Development Center.  (785) 628-5615.  Or online at http://ksbdc.ecenterdirect.com/